Strategy

Chicago -- True Value Company, one of the world’s largest hardware cooperatives, announced that Deborah O’Connor will join the company as senior VP and CFO, succeeding current CFO David Shadduck who left True Value effective April 30.

Oak Brook, Ill. – McDonald’s Corp., which recently reported a 33% year-over-year decline in profits for the first quarter of fiscal 2015, is revealing the first steps of its turnaround plan. Beginning July 1, 2015, McDonald's will operate under a new organizational structure with the following market segments:

• U.S.: The company's largest segment, accounting for more than 40% of the Company's 2014 operating income;

Chicago - Potbelly Corp. has promoted Julie Younglove-Webb as its new senior VP of operations. Younglove-Webb will oversee all aspects of company operations.

Younglove-Webb joined the Potbelly 2008, as a general manager and then a district manager before assuming various operations roles and being promoted to her latest role as Central Zone VP, overseeing 250 shops. She replaces John Morlock, who will now serve as senior VP of ops growth.

Oak Brook, Ill. - McDonald's Corp. is trying to make fast-food even more convenient for New Yorkers. The retailer is launching a delivery test with Postmates, a direct-to-consumer delivery service, in the boroughs of Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn.

Customers can go to Postmates.com or download the Postmates mobile app to order McDonald's food for delivery within an hour. The test involves 88 select McDonald's restaurants.

Toronto - Canadian Tire Corp. is opening its new “'Digital Garage” in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, in Canada's “Silicon Valley North.” The new facility is the second digital innovation lab for Canadian Tire, situated near its Communitech lab, and will allow the company's top digital innovators to develop new in-store and online technologies at a faster pace.

Issaquah, Wash. – Costco Wholesale Corp. is reportedly off to a litigious start in the first half of 2015. According to the Wall Street Journal, Costco is suing Johnson & Johnson’s Vision Care division for allegedly fixing prices on contact lenses.

San Francisco – The Gymboree Corp. shrank its net loss in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014 to $7.4 million, from $167.2 million in the same quarter a year earlier. The elimination of a non-recurring $157.2 million non-cash impairment charge in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013 contributed to the reduction in net loss.

Net sales rose 7% to $375.6 million, from $351 million. Same-store sales rose 5%. In fiscal 2015, Gymboree plans to close 30-40 stores and open about 12 stores.

Hibbett Sports’s expansion plan hit an important milestone in Texas this month.

The retailer announced the opening of its 1,000th store in Sealy, Texas, at 2290 Highway 36 South in Brazos Village.

True Value Company has selected a specialty retail veteran as its next chief financial officer.

Hancock Fabrics’s CEO says the company is “heading in the right direction” after reporting an increase in same store sales for the fourth quarter.

The financial news comes just a few weeks after the retailer announced the refinancing of the company’s existing senior debt under a new credit agreement with Wells Fargo Capital Finance and Great American Capital Partners.