Strategy

Restoration Hardware Holdings has appointed Dr. Leonard Schlesinger to its board of directors. He will also serve as the chairman of the board’s compensation committee.

Dr. Schlesinger has held executive leadership positions at various retail and consumer brands, including vice chairman and COO of Limited Brands from 1999 to 2007, and is an esteemed leader in academia having served for more than 20 years as a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, and as the president of Babson College.

Toronto - OfficeMax Grand & Toy, an affiliate of Office Depot, Inc., will close all of its 19 Canadian retail stores. OfficeMax Grand & Toy will continue to service its business customers via the company’s e-commerce website, customer service centers and direct sales representatives.

Corte Madera, Calif. -- Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc. has named Dr. Leonard Schlesinger to its board of directors. He will also serve as the chairman of the board’s compensation committee.

Schlesinger has held executive leadership positions at various retail and consumer brands, including vice chairman and COO of Limited Brands from 1999 to 2007, and has served for more than 20 years as a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, and previously served as the president of Babson College.

The challenges for a small/medium CPG company today, competing against the multibillion dollar conglomerates, are greater than ever before. With the skyrocketing cost of freight, manufacturing, raw materials, sales and marketing, the small/medium CPG company does not enjoy any of the economies of scale that the established multi nationals do. Competing in the low margin highly competitive beverage category, as we do at Celsius, only accentuates the challenge.

Atlanta – Severe weather had a negative impact on financial performance at Aaron’s Inc. during the first quarter of fiscal 2014. Compared to the same period a year earlier, Aaron’s net earnings declined 25% to $38.3 million from $51 million.

Revenues dropped 1% to $585.4 million compared to $593.0 million for the first quarter in 2013. Same-store sales shrank 2.1%.

Foothill Ranch, Calif. - The Wet Seal Inc. will begin winding down its Arden B brand. Arden B currently operates 54 mall-based stores and an e-commerce website.

Miami – Consolidated net income at Burger King Worldwide Inc. grew 68.7% year-over-year during the first quarter of fiscal 2014, rising to $60.4 million from $35.8 million. In the same period, total revenues fell 26.5% to $240.9 million from $327.7 million.

Systemwide same-store sales grew 2%. Burger King cited severe weather as negatively affecting North American sales, as well as the net refranchising of 327 company-owned stores during the quarter. The retailer attributed its net income growth to improvement in overseas EBITDA performance.

GNC Holdings latest national brand campaign, called "Beat Average," includes a mix of network prime, premium and targeted cable, out-of-home, newspaper, magazine and online media.