Strategy

Fresh off the resignation of CEO Brian Dunn and the revelation that the company lost a not-so- insignificant sum of $1.7 billion last quarter, Best Buy’s recent announcement to close 50 stores by the end of 2012 probably didn’t come as a surprise to anyone in our industry. What may have been surprising to some — myself included — is their plan to roll out 100 Best Buy Mobile stores.

New York -- Whether your company is already in the cloud or still on the fence about making the move, retailers can gain additional insight at “Legacy Modernization to the Cloud,” a FREE roundtable luncheon moderated by Chain Store Age. Attendees will learn how to move legacy workloads to the Cloud at a low cost and repurpose the savings on strategic imperatives like loyalty, mobile, and seamless digital connections.

WASHINGTON — The National Retail Federation has named Bill Thorne SVP communications and public affairs. He will join NRF on June 1 to oversee the organization’s industry and public affairs communications strategy, including NRF’s Retail Means Jobs campaign, a multi-million-dollar initiative to demonstrate the power of retail to America’s economy and the career opportunities within the industry. Thorne currently serves as senior director, community affairs at Walmart.  

PALM BEACH, Fla. — The charitable arm of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores has elected three new members to its board of directors.

The board, which now will expand to 23 members for 2012-2013, include Rite Aid's SVP and chief communications officer Susan Henderson; GlaxoSmithKline VP channel development and sales Joseph Kucharski; and Pfizer Worldwide Pharmaceuticals VP corporate government customers David Moules.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target is investing more than $12 million in schools in 2012 through its library makeover program, and said it plans to give more than $1 billion for education by the end of 2015.

As part of its 2012 library makeover program, Target will renovate libraries at 32 elementary schools and revisit each of the 118 schools that previously received a Target School Library Makeover to provide additional reading resources for students and teachers.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Amidst allegations of bribery at its Mexican affiliate, Wal-Mart Stores has created a new position. The global FCPA compliance officer will be responsible for ensuring that all Walmart divisions comply with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. This person will also oversee five FCPA compliance directors based in the international markets.

Bentonville, Ark. -- In response to the New York Times article about compliance with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Wal-Mart VP corporate communications, David Tovar on Tuesday made the following statement:

Toronto -- Sears Canada Inc. said Tuesday it has agreed sell its Cantrex Group operations to Nationwide Marketing Group.

Sears Canada will maintain ownership of appliance brand Corbeil Electrique.

Cantrex was purchased by Sears Canada in 2005 in order to further develop its merchandising, buying, and logistics services in the furniture and appliance sectors. Corbeil became part of the Sears portfolio through this purchase and recently Sears has announced its plans to expand Corbeil's operations to the Greater Toronto Area this year.

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. said it has initiated remodels to expand the fresh food offerings at 90 stores across the nation, with the work expected to be completed on June 24, 2012.

The June stores will be the second of three cycles of remodels for Target this year. Stores scheduled for the June remodel cycle span markets across the country, from Des Moines, Iowa, to El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.

By the end of the year, more than 1,100 Target stores will offer the expanded fresh food layout.

New York -- RadioShack Corp. on Tuesday reported a loss for the first quarter of $8 million, hurt by weakness in its Sprint postpaid wireless business and weak demand for prepaid wireless handsets, laptops and home entertainment accessories.

The electronics retailer said its net loss for the quarter ended March 31, 2012, was $8 million compared with net income of $35.1 million a year earlier.

Sales fell 0.9% to $1.01 billion, while analysts had expected $1.06 billion.