Strategy

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500 representing the greater New York area claimed victory over Target this week and offered some harsh words following a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board.

Austin, Texas — Specialty golf retailer Golfsmith International has promoted Eli Getson to executive VP, general merchandising manager. In his new role, Getson will be responsible for all North American merchandising activity across the company's U.S. Golfsmith stores, Canadian Golf Town stores and e-commerce channels for both brands.
 

ATLANTA, Ga. — Red Book Connect, a global service-driven technology solutions company serving the retail, restaurant and hospitality industries, has appointed Larry A. Abramson as its CEO, a previously unfilled position since the formation of the company in January 2013.

Los Angeles -- Sport Chalet announced it has retained Financial Profiles as its investor relations firm.

"We have a number of important strategic initiatives in place to drive shareholder value and the time is right to step up our investor relations efforts," said Craig Levra, chairman and CFO of Sport Chalet. "We are pleased to collaborate with Financial Profiles to develop and implement a strategic investor relations program designed to build Sport Chalet's visibility within the investment community."

In the 18 months since I joined the National Retail Federation, I’ve been struck repeatedly by how rapidly our industry continues to evolve. As we all know, retail has always changed and adapted — and in just the past 20 years we’ve advanced from then-radical game changer Amazon.com to more recent models like Hointer, which boasts what amounts to online shopping in a store. 

El Segundo, Calif. -- Big 5 Sporting Goods Corp. reported upticks in net income, sales and same store sales for first quarter fiscal 2013. Net income grew from $156,000 to $7.5 million.
     
Net sales were $246.5 million, up from $218.3 million a year earlier, while same-store sales rose 10.5%. First quarter sales improved despite the negative impact of the calendar shift of the Easter holiday, when the retailer’s stores are closed.
       

BOSTON & ORRVILLE, Ohio — A collaboration between Life is good Company and J.M. Smucker Company will bring a line of coffee products to retail shelves throughout North America.

New York -- J.C. Penney Co. on Wednesday unveiled an advertisement on Facebook that asks customers to return to its stores. The ad will air Wednesday and Thursday on national television, as well as on Penney’s social media platforms.