Corporate Governance

Nearly 50 years after it opened its first location, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store has landed on the West Coast.    The chain, which combines a family-friendly restaurant with an old-fashioned country store, has opened Tualatin, Oregon. The location marks a key expansion of the company’s footprint.  

In “Democracy in America,” political theorist Alexis de Tocqueville wrote, “there is hardly a political question in the United States which does not sooner or later turn into a judicial one.” Nearly 200 years later, this statement rings true — maybe now, more than ever.   

The retail industry is ramping up its efforts against House Republicans’ proposed border-tax proposal.      The National Retail Federation has launched the next phase of a television and digital ad campaign against the tax, which is included in the House Republican tax reform plan.   The campaign features three small retailers who tell their own stories and convey their fears that the BAT would put them out of business.   

7-Eleven is putting all of its policy data in one place — a move that will enable it to better mitigate risks connected to insurance and claims.   The convenience store chain added the Risk Management Information System (RMIS) from Riskonnect, to power its claims management, policy management and property data collection processes in the U.S. and Canada. The cloud-based system breaks down silos to provide a holistic view of risk management.  

Two menswear brands founded online are growing their brick-and-mortar operations.   Made-to-measure men’s clothing maker Indochino, which was founded in 2007, plans to open eight new locations in 2017. Three are slated to open in the brand’s home territory of Canada, and five in the U.S.    “This year, we’re almost doubling our showroom network as we focus on significantly expanding our experiential retail model,” stated Drew Green, CEO, Indochino.  

Shoppers hoping to get some great bargains at the 138 stores J.C. Penney has slated for closure will have to wait a little while longer.   The retailer told CNBC that due to improving traffic and better-than-expected sales at the locations on the closure list it has postponed the liquidation sales and shutterings.   The new closure date for the stores is now July 31, which is about six weeks later than Penney originally planned, the report said.   

With its profits taking a hit in 2016, Prada Group is placing a stronger focus on digital.   The luxury goods retailer’s net revenue for the year ended January 31, 2017, while revenue across its retail channel plunged13%.    Based on these results, the company plans to focus on more digital initiatives to better respond to an evolving marketplace, according to Prada’s CEO, Patrizio Bertelli.  

A new survey confirms what many retailers are already living: getting up to speed with digitally speaking is a priority.   The most in-demand new technology for retailers is mobile payment capabilities (65%), followed by self-checkout (49%), scan as you shop (44%), click and collect (41%) and in-store customer analytics (37%), according to research from Zynstra, a U.K.-based enterprise-grade IT software provider, which polled 300 IT managers and c-level professionals in the retail space across the U.S. and U.K.  

Walmart recently announced that, starting April 19, it would order a discount on select items that are ordered online and then picked up in the store. Here is commentary on what the new initiative means for Walmart in terms of last-mile delivery as well as its competitors.  

American Girl is building a new and bigger flagship in the Big Apple.     The specialty retailer will open a new, 40,000-sq.-ft. American Girl Place at 75 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan. The new location, scheduled to open in fall 2017, will replace the brand’s existing flagship at 609 Fifth Avenue.    The new location is being built by Englewood Construction, and is the 12th project Englewood has completed for American Girl.