Corporate Governance

A German discount grocer is buying up land in the Grand Canyon State — but not to open stores.    Aldi is planning to open a regional fulfillment center in Goodyear, Arizona. The facility will house an office and distribution center, and will create 132 jobs, according to the Phoenix Business Journal.  

The import tax proposal has officially been removed from the tax reform plan — which is welcome news for retailers across the industry.   On Thursday, congressional and administration leaders announced they would remove the Border Adjustment Tax (BAT) from consideration, and announced an outline for comprehensive tax reform. The BAT provision would have ended importers’ ability to deduct the cost of merchandise purchased from other countries.   

Brands just can’t escape a challenging retail environment — a main reason Starbucks is pulling the plug on its Teavana operation.   Just hours after the coffee giant announced it would buy out the remaining 50% share of its East China business from its joint venture partners for about $1.3 billion — its biggest acquisition, ever — Starbucks is cutting loose its Teavana division.  

Amazon is making good on its promise to hire 130,000 workers by 2018.   The online giant announced Wednesday that it plans to fill more than 50,000 roles across its fulfillment network in the United States. Amazon is hiring “tens of thousands” full-time associates who will pick, pack and ship customer orders from its fulfillment centers. It will also fill supporting and managerial roles within its facilities, including human resources managers, IT specialists, and operations leaders, among other positions, the retailer said.

The nation's largest specialty candy retailer may soon get even bigger.    BBX Capital Corp. has acquired It’Sugar for approximately $57 million. BBX said it plans to expand It'Sugar, which currently operates 95 locations in 26 states, by opening new retail stores in high-traffic leisure locations.   

A specialty retailer continues to expand its breadth.   See’s Candies plans to open nearly a dozen new or relocated stores by the end of 2017. All new locations will set up shop in California.    The new stores will be located in San Jose, Castro Valley, Manhattan Beach, Paso Robles, Laguna Hills, Glendale and Calabasas. The new locations come on the heels of new shops that have previously opened or moved this year into new or larger locations in Escondido, Windsor and Pleasant Hill, California.

Death knells for B-Class malls are rung regularly by the general business press and tech pundits, but a major ratings service is telling investors to hold off on funeral plans.   “There’s certainly been far more store closings in 2017 than in previous years…but I think it’s fair to say that investors are comfortable that bricks-and-mortar retail won’t disappear,” said Fitch Ratings managing director Huxley Somerville in a video released by the company this week.  

Investors at the nation’s largest rent-to-own company are their losing patience.   Activist hedge fund Marcato Capital Management LP demanded in a letter on Tuesday, July 25, that Rent-A-Center start the process of selling itself. If the company doesn’t, the hedge fund threatened to throw out board members up for re-election at next year's annual meeting, according to Reuters.  

Less than three years after opening stores across the pond, American Eagle Outfitters is closing up shop in the United Kingdom.   The specialty retailer operates three stores in the U.K. It has already closed one location, and is winding down operations at its remaining two stores, as well as its British e-commerce site, according to the Telegraph.  

Sprint continues to expand its presence — this time in the Midwest.   The wireless carrier plans to add 30 new retail stores and more than 200 jobs throughout Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and Nebraska by the end of 2017. The new jobs will include a combination of retail, operations and technical experts.