Strategy

ModCloth, a San Francisco-based e-commerce retailer focused on vintage and independent apparel styles, has named Nicholas Genest as CTO.
 
Genest joins ModCloth with more than 15 years' experience across consumer, tech and online retail industries. He most recently served as the CTO for the online luxury consignment retailer The RealReal, where he strategically led the development of their mobile, web and data technologies since 2013.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) is saying thanks to representatives in Congress who back retailers on important issues.

Toys “R” Us Inc. is creating a new position of CTO and turning to a veteran of American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) to fill it.
 
Lance Wills will join Toys “R” Us as executive VP, global CTO effective June 13. He will report directly to chairman and CEO Dave Brandon. In his newly created role, Wills will oversee global and IT digital strategy, including governance and infrastructure.
 

Grocery giant Supervalu Inc. is one step closer to separating its troubled Save-A-Lot banner.
 
Supevalu, which initially announced it was exploring spinning off Save-A-Lot into a standalone, publicly traded company in July 2015, has completed the amendment of an existing $1.5 billion senior secured term loan agreement. This amendment permits the company and its subsidiaries to undertake certain transactions deemed necessary to enable a spinoff of Save-A-Lot.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has named two veteran retailers to head up its divisions.

The teen apparel retailer named Stacia Anderson as president of its namesake brand, and also its abercrombie kids division. Anderson is a 20-year veteran of Target Corp., where she most recently served as senior VP of merchandising.  She will join Abercrombie on June 13.
 

The formerly online only retailer The Wine Cellar Group isn’t afraid of competition. The company is pursuing its brick and mortar ambitions with a new store in the backyard of Amazon.com and Costco, the nation’s largest seller of wine.
 
Born online in 1990, The Wine Cellar Group opened its first store in 2012 and has since grown to nine locations. Its newest store will be a Wine Cellar Outlet and is set to open later this year in the Heritage Square shopping center in the Seattle suburb of Issaquah, Costco’s hometown.
 

Wayfair Inc. has appointed Chad Ghosn VP of IT infrastructure and security.

Ghosn will oversee a large engineering team that is responsible for scaling Wayfair’s infrastructure system to meet customer demands and company needs. Before joining the online home furnishings retailer, Ghosn led the infrastructure team at Expedia Inc.

Prior to his role at Expedia, Ghosn spent more than a decade in various infrastructure leadership positions at Dell Inc. Previously, he led network operations for Kaiser Permanente.

Retail mergers have long been subject to scrutiny by the antitrust authorities at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). But perhaps no two retail chains have found themselves more often in the FTC’s cross-hairs than the two largest office supply providers in the United States, Staples and Office Depot.   
     

Chain Store Age’s annual search for 10 retail real estate stars under the age of 40 years resulted in this: Ten youthful, creative, hard-charging industry executives.

Some are retailers, others are brokers or from shopping center companies. Three are women. One is under the age of 30. There’s a single Canadian in the bunch. Two work for CBRE. Each has studied the business, sought out mentors, and researched and taken on the issues of the day.

A new guest service counter, interactive displays, new food vendors and LED track and valance lighting are just a few of the updates being tested in 25 Target stores in the Los Angeles area.   The initiative, called LA25, features different enhancements Target has been testing across stores and puts them all together to see how they impact stores and the customer experience.