Strategy

Five retail chains rank among the top 10 brands doing a poor job when it comes to emotional engagement, a measure of how well brands meet consumer expectations, according to an annual survey.

A surprising decline in retail hiring helped trigger a weak employment report for April.

Job growth in April slowed sharply to a seven-month low. The report gave back growth seen earlier in the year, and the retail industry — excluding automobiles, gasoline and restaurants — showed a decline of 4,900 jobs, the National Retail Federation reported.

Michaels Companies will unveil a 26,500-sq.-ft. Pat Catan’s Crafts and Floral store on May 13 – the first opening since Michaels acquired Pat Catan’s parent company earlier this year.

Aéropostale is closing its 19,000-sq.-ft. flagship in Manhattan’s Times Square.

Teen apparel retailer Abercrombie & Fitch is losing a key member of its executive team.

Jonathan Ramsden, COO, is resigning from Abercrombie effective June 15, 2006. Ramsden, who joined the company in 2008 as executive VP and CFO, was promoted to COO in 2014.

Whole Foods Market reported better-than-expected earnings for the second quarter amid cost controls that helped lessen the impact of slowing sales.

Net income was a better-than-expected $142 million for the quarter ended April 10.

Sales inched up 1.3% to $3.7 billion, slightly below estimates.

The Store of the Year, ShopWithMe (photo above), and all the other winning projects in the Retail Design Institute’s 45th annual International Store Design Competition are highlighted in this special report from Chain Store Age.

Download it here.

Beatrice Lafon, the CEO of teen accessories retailer Claire's Stores, has resigned and been replaced by a current member of the board, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.