Strategy

BRUSSELS, Belgium — Belgian international food retailer Delhaize Group announced that Roland Smith, CEO of Delhaize America, and Pierre-Olivier Beckers, CEO of Delhaize Group, are leaving the company.

Dallas -- Corner Bakery Cafe continues to expand as it moves forward on its goal to more than double its U.S. footprint in the next three to four years. The company announced plans to expand in several areas, including Northeast Florida, Tampa, and San Diego.

Corner Bakery Cafe said it will open as many as ten new restaurants in Northeast Florida as part of a new multi-unit restaurant franchise agreement with Lee-Wesley Group. These will be the first Corner Bakery Cafes in the Northeast Florida area.

New York -- Drugstore operator Duane Reade in late August passed an important milestone: It surpassed 1 million Twitter followers. The drugstore chain, which is owned by Walgreens, is most-followed retailer on Twitter in the food, drug and mass arena.

Duane Reade has garnered five times more Twitter followers than its parent company Walgreens (180,390 followers), the second-most followed drug store retailer. CVS/pharmacy, No. 3, is followed by 117,931 Twitter followers.

Nashville, Tenn. - Harwood Feffer LLP is investigating potential claims against the board of directors of Genesco Inc., concerning whether the board has breached its fiduciary duties to shareholders. On August 29, 2013, Genesco disclosed that it may be forced to restate certain financial statements due to potential violations of generally accepted accounting principles.

Retailers were already leery about the outlook for consumer spending this holiday season and reports Wednesday of record auto sales in August only add to the concern.

Both Walmart and Target reported disappointing second quarter sales and tempered their outlook for the full year. Conversely, car salespeople across the country were clinking champagne glasses and cashing commission checks as their employers, everyone from Mazda to Honda to Porsche and Ford, said August was a record month.

Brussels, Belgium – Delhaize Group has named Franz Muller as CEO, effective Nov. 8. Muller will succeed Pierre-Olivier Beckers, who will remain available to advise the new CEO until year-end and continue to serve on the board of directors in a non-executive capacity thereafter.

Muller, 52, has more than 15 years of senior leadership experience in retail, most recently as a member of the management board of Metro AG and CEO of Metro Cash & Carry. He will start with Delhaize on Oct. 14, prior to assuming the role of CEO.

Multichannel integration hasn’t exactly been Target’s strong suit to date, but this holiday season could be different if the company is able to successfully roll out an order online, pick up in store service.

Columbus, Ohio — DSW has opened two new footwear, handbag and accessories stores, one in Norman, Okla., and a second in Victor, N.Y.

The new stores bring the total number of DSW stores to 379. Locations include 42 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.