Strategy

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Food Marketing Institute on Monday honored three supermarket executives for their achievements in the industry during FMI’s Midwinter Executive Conference here, the association announced.

Paris -- Carrefour, the second largest retailer in the world after Wal-Mart Stores, has selected French retailing veteran Georges Plassat, 62, as its next CEO and chairman.

New York City -- In a break with longstanding company tradition, Walmart is moving its greeters from its lobbies into the stores near the cash registers, Bloomberg reported.

In their new location, the greeters will be able to direct shoppers to products they are looking for, and also to shorter checkout lines, the report said.

Birmingham, Ala. -- Hibbett Sports announced that Gary A. Smith, senior VP and CFO is retiring effective June 1, 2012. The company has started a search for his replacement.

Smith joined Hibbett in April 2001 as VP and CFO when the company had 282 stores in 19 states, predominantly in the Southeast. Today, Hibbett has over 800 stores in 26 states.
 

New York City -- The Talbots is in buyout talks with the private-equity firm Sycamore Partners, according to the Boston Herald. The retailer signed a confidentiality agreement on Friday with the New York-based Sycamore, its second largest shareholder with 10% of the company, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the report said.

The appointment of 16-year Target veteran John Mulligan as the company’s new CFO makes a lot of sense as Target will benefit from continuity of leadership in its finance department.

Rona, the largest chain of home improvement retailers and distributors in Canada, has appointed Dave Carr to the position of VP retail, Western Canada, and François Hardy to the position of VP dealer-owner network development.

After beginning as an employee of a TOTEM store lumberyard in 1992, Carr quickly climbed the ranks to become assistant manager, then store manager. After managing several stores in Alberta, Carr became a regional manager, then general manager, and finally VP of TOTEM in 2008, three years after Rona's acquisition of the company.

Walmart makes a big deal out of its culture, and as a result it invites criticism whenever changes are made to long-standing company policies that are somehow seen as diminishing the culture. That was the case again this week when reports surfaced that people greeters working the overnight shift had been reassigned other duties.