Corporate Governance

Staples wants to help its associates pay back their student loans.   The retailer is launching a new student loan repayment plan for sales associates as part of a broader recruiting effort. The first part of the program initially targets specific new hire sales associates and existing internal candidates who have been identified as high potential and top performers. Staples said it will expand the program to additional groups in the future.  

Macy’s Inc. is living up to its promise to downsize.   The department store giant announced it has sold five stores to General Growth Properties for $46 million. All but four of the locations will be closed by spring 2017.    

Phillips Edison, a major player in grocery-anchored centers, has acquired the Mission Hills Shopping Center in Naples, Florida, according to The Real Deal, a south Florida real estate site.     The 11-year-old, 85,078-sq.-ft. center anchored by Winn-Dixie and Anytime Fitness is 97% leased, according to the seller, The Hampshire Companies. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.   More than 3,000 homes are under construction within two miles of the Mission Hills center, according to Hampshire.

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Phillips Edison & Company announced the signing of three new tenants at its 117,006-sq.-ft. Coronado Center in Santa Fe.   Orangetheory makes its debut in the New Mexico capital in a 2,640-sq.-ft. space and gets a wellness accompaniment from Nutrishop, which inhabits a nearby 1,000-sq.-ft. store.   The New Bakery Company, a Santa Fe fixture for 19 years, is re-opening at Coronado Center with a renovated space and new ownership.  

DLC Management Corp.’s joint acquisition of 16 properties with DRA Advisors this month increased the square footage of its portfolio by 26% and its dollar value by 17%. DLC president and CEO Adam Ifshin aims to increase that dollar contribution in the years to come.    “We don’t buy value-add properties and baby-sit them,” he told Chain Store Age. “We come to them with a business plan and ask ourselves ‘How do we add value?’”  

Amazon’s cloud services business is on fire.   Amazon Web Services holds a 45% market share of the worldwide public market for Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), which is greater than Microsoft, Google and IBM’s shares combined, according to a quarterly analysis by Synergy Research Group.  

Lumber Liquidators widened its net loss in the third quarter, though the retailer did move the needle on net sales, which rose 3.4%.   Lumber Liquidators reported a bigger-than-expected net loss of $18.4 million for the quarter, compared to a loss of $8.5 million in the year-ago period, amid higher-than-expected expenses, including legal fees, as the company continues to rebound from last year's investigation into formaldehyde levels in flooring it had previously sold.  

American Apparel Inc. reportedly is preparing to file for its second bankruptcy just nine months after it emerged from its first one.     According to Bloomberg, the beleaguered retailer, whose sales continue to slide, could file as early as in the next few weeks.  

One of the retail industry’s most environmentally-activist brands is shutting down operations for Election Day.   Patagonia will close its 30 U.S stores and headquarters in Ventura, Calif., on Election Day, Nov. 8, in an effort to encourage customers, employees and citizens to head to the polls. The company, which is giving its employees a paid holiday for the day, will also shutter its distribution and customer service center in Reno, Nevada.  

A big mall developer thinks Aerospostale still has plenty of life left in it.   Simon Property Group, along with General Growth Properties and several other companies, bought the failing chain out of bankruptcy in September.  Speaking to a group of investors last week,  CEO David Simon expressed confidence in Aeropostale’s ability to regain momentum.