Corporate Governance

The founder and CEO of Edible Arrangements has bought back equity ownership of the company.    Tariq Farid announced Monday that he has completed a buyback of equity of the company, which had been held by private equity firm L Catterton, Greenwich, Connecticut. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.  

J.C. Penney is expanding its partnership with beauty giant Sephora, online and offline.    The retailer announced it will open 70 new in-store Sephora shops in Penney locations and also expand 32 existing shops by nearly 50% to accommodate more products and services. As part of the expansion, Penney will hire 800 beauty consultants. Sephora shops will be featured in nearly in nearly 650 Penney stores in 2017.  

Walmart’s tech start-up has added a new leader.   The retail giant’s newly launched startup investment arm, called Store No. 8, has named Jenny Fleiss as one of its chief executives, according to Reuters. Fleiss is the co-founder and former head of business development for Rent the Runway.   

Sears Holdings has a new finance chief — again.   The struggling retailer announced that Rob Riecker, currently controller and head of capital market activities, has been appointed CFO, effective immediately. He replaces Jason Hollar, who resigned “to pursue another career opportunity,” the retailer said. Hollar was appointed to the role in October 2016.  

Retailers concerned over the pending border-adjusted tax have boosted their lobbying efforts in Washington.   Target Corp., Gap Inc., and Best Buy Co. Inc. spent nearly $3.2 million combined on lobbying during the quarter – as opposed to just $830,000 in the same period a year ago – according to federal lobbying disclosures filed Thursday, Bloomberg reported, while Wal-Mart spent almost $2.2 million in the first quarter, an increase of $140,000 over the same time last year.   

Much like 2016, the first quarter of 2017 has seen a slow start to consumer spending. However, just like last year, this is expected to be a temporary setback. Strong consumer confidence and income growth have set the stage for a spending bounce back in the second quarter.   

Things aren’t getting any better at Sears Holdings, at least not sales wise.   The struggling chain on Friday provided an update on its restructuring program, increased its cost-saving target, and also gave a first quarter update. Since the beginning of the fiscal year, same-store sales at Sears and Kmart declined 11.9% on a combined basis, 10.8% when excluding consumer electronics, compared to the year-ago period.  

99 Cents Only Stores turned in a strong sales performance for its fourth quarter, even as its net loss grew amid rising expenses.   The retailer reported a net loss of $20.9 million for the quarter, versus a net loss of $18.4 million in the year ago period.   Net sales increased 6.7% to $552.5 million, while same-store sales rose 6.4%. Average ticket gained 4.4% and customer traffic increased 1.9%. Operating loss was $6.5 million versus $2.7 million in the period a year prior.  

The nation’s largest department store has increased its deployment of renewable energy.    Macy's Inc. said it installed 21 solar energy systems during the past year at Macy's and Bloomingdale's locations in seven states, totaling 15 meg-awatts. The deployments were done in partnership with SunPower. Elec-tricity generated by the new solar power systems will ultimately be sold to others.  

CVS Pharmacy has entered a new arena by adding audio and optical services to its in-store offerings.    The retailer has opened seven hearing and five optical centers in its drug stores in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. area, with plans to expand to 50 locations by the end of 2017, Morgan Diaz, senior director, health services division at CVS Health, told Chain Store Age’s sister publication, Drug Store News. The centers are housed adjacent to pharmacies.