Mergers & Acquisitions

As the acquisition of Family Dollar moves closer to resolution, would-be acquirers Dollar Tree and Dollar General maintain widely differing views on the superiority of their respective offers and the opinion of federal regulators.

CROSSMARK, a leading provider of marketing and merchandising services, has appointed Steve Schuckenbrock as CEO.

CROSSMARK’s current CEO, Ben Fischer, will become the company's chairman and will play an integral role in the leadership transition. These leadership changes are effective immediately.

Schuckenbrock has more than 30 years of executive leadership experience at such high-performing, global companies such as Dell, EDS, PepsiCo, Frito-Lay and IBM. He also has deep knowledge in the areas of customer satisfaction/retention and innovation.

Challenging times continue for teen retailer Aeropostale, as an 11 percent drop in same-store sales leads the company to report its eighth straight quarterly loss.

The retailer also said it would close 75 stores in the fourth quarter.

Houston - Baker Katz, an X Team International partner and full-service commercial real estate brokerage firm, announced that it has negotiated five Chipotle leases in Texas.    Jason Baker negotiated the leasing of the five Chipotle locations, ranging in size from just over 2,000 sq. ft. to 3,000 sq. ft. with a variety of different brokers.  

New York - On the heels of its eight straight quarterly loss, Aeropostale said it would close about 75 stores in the current quarter, and could close 50 to 75 more namesake locations in 2015, and 126 P.S. from Aeropostale stores by the end of January.   The struggling teen retailer reported a net loss of $52.3 million in the third quarter ended Nov. 1,  up from $25.6 million, in the year ago period. It also forecast a bigger-than-expected fourth-quarter loss.  

New York - Deb Stores Holding LLC, owner of Deb Shops, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware, with plans to close  stores and sell inventory if it can’t find a buyer for the business.   

Walgreens Walgreens has named Linda Filler as president of retail products and chief merchandising officer effective Jan. 1.

Walgreens President and CEO Greg Wasson said: “With the addition of Linda, our retail products division will be well-positioned to join with Alliance Boots to deliver the unique combination of products and services that will set apart our future combined company.”

Atlanta - Avison Young has completed the $15 million sale of Brannon Crossing, an upscale shopping center with 60,780 sq. ft. of leasable space located at 405-435 Peachtree Parkway in Cumming, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta.    The transaction comes on the heels of the firm’s recent disposition of the 27,057-sq.-ft. Lindbergh Crossing Shopping Center in Atlanta for $7.06 million.