Strategy

Seattle -- TC Global Inc., which operates 47 Tully’s Coffee Shops, announced that it is a step closer to exiting from bankruptcy with the sale of its assets to Global Baristas, the investment group led by actor Patrick Dempsey, star of television’s Grey's Anatomy.

Detroit, Mich. — Greeting card publisher Avanti Press has named Kari Knowlton as its new director of business development.

Founded by Rick Ruffner in 1980, Avanti Press publishes the Avanti and A*Press greeting card collections. The Detroit-based publisher’s everyday and seasonal card collections are carried in leading regional and national retail outlets as well as independent retail outlets throughout the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and other countries worldwide.

Beachwood, Ohio -- DDR Corp. announced that senior executive VP and CFO David J. Oakes has been named president of the company, effective Jan. 1.
 
Oakes will remain CFO, and will continue to report to CEO Daniel B. Hurwitz.
 
Oakes joined DDR as executive VP of finance and chief investment officer in April 2007. He was promoted to senior EVP finance and chief investment officer in December 2008, and CFO in February 2010.

Wal-Mart Asia CEO Scott Price is among the feature speakers participating in this year’s World Retail Congress event scheduled for March 19-21 in Singapore.

Indianapolis -- Simon Property Group and Institutional Mall Investors (the co-investment venture owned by an affiliate of Miller Capital Advisory and The California Public Employees' Retirement System [CalPERS]), on Thursday announced that they have formed a joint venture to own and operate The Shops at Mission Viejo in the Los Angeles suburb of Mission Viejo, Calif., and Woodfield Mall in the Chicago suburb of Schaumburg, Ill.

Oak Brook, Ill.-based Ace Hardware launched Instant Savings, a program for Ace Rewards members that allows them to receive instant discounts at the register.

“We have made it even easier for our customers to shop with Ace by delivering more value and convenience for them,” said John Surane, senior VP, merchandising, marketing, advertising and paint. “We constantly look for ways to add value for our customers, and Instant Savings is a major new exclusive benefit to our Ace Rewards loyalty program that does just that.”

Paris -- A Friday report by Reuters said that Virgin Megastore’s French division will declare insolvent next week, slated to unveil a plan to file for payments suspension on Jan. 7.

The French operation is the latest victim of the slump in CD and DVD sales.
 
Virgin France is owned by private equity firm Butler Capital Partners, and operates 26 Virgin-branded stores in France.

Hyphen Solutions has appointed Ken Pinto, a former supply chain executive for Toll Bros. and other national home builders, as its VP supply chain.

Pinto brings 21 years of supply chain management expertise to Hyphen's real estate and software management team. He most recently served as the director of supply chain at Toll Bros. and has held similar positions at Standard Pacific and Pulte Homes. Pinto also heads the Supply Chain Benchmark Group, which is a coalition of the purchasing leaders of some of the largest home builders in the United States.