Corporate Governance

West Elm is expanding into the hotel business. And most everything in the guest rooms will be for sale.   The retailer, a division of Williams-Sonoma, is partnering with hospitality management and development company DDK to launch a chain of boutique hotels.    

Charles R. (Cork) Walgreen III, former president, CEO, chairman of the board, and chairman emeritus of the iconic U.S.-based drug store chain Walgreens, died at on Monday, Sept. 26, at his home in Lake Forest, Ill. He was 80.

Walgreen was the grandson of Charles R. Walgreen Sr., founder of the 115-year-old pharmacy retailer that now is included in the Retail Pharmacy USA Division of Walgreens Boots Alliance.

Staples has chosen a company veteran as its new CEO.   The retailer on Monday named Shira Goodman as its president and CEO and as a member of its board of directors, effective immediately.  Goodman, who has been been with Staples 24 years, has been serving as interim CEO since May when she took over for Ron Sargent, who resigned in the wake of the company’s failed attempt to acquire rival Office Deport.    

The nation’s premier luxury department store retailer posted declines in profit and revenue for fiscal 2016.   For the full year, Neiman Marcus Group posted a $406.11 million loss, compared to an income of $14.95 million in 2015.   For the fourth quarter, the retailer posted a loss of  $407.25, compared to a loss of $32.88 million in the year-ago period.   

One of the country’s oldest online grocers just secured a major cash infusion to help it expand its services.   FreshDirect has received a $189 million investment, led by JPMorgan Asset Management, that will be used to launch its grocery delivery service in more cities, to expand new business units and incubate others, reported RECode.   

Dollar stores and off-price chains account for half of the spots on a list of 10 retailers adding the most new store square footage, according to commercial real estate and analytics firm CoStar.       Walmart tops the list, followed by Dollar General and Forever 21, according to a report by the Chicago Tribune.     Click here to read more.

Chain Store Age will present a webinar on workplace violence — and how to create an emergency response plan to deal with violent incidents — on Thursday, Sept. 29, at 2 p.m. – 3 p.m. (EDT).   The webinar, sponsored by Center for Applied Learning at American Public University System, will present an overview of the different types of workplace violence, best practices for conducting “active shooter” response training for employees and recognizing signs of potential workplace violence and more.

Kohl’s Corp. is expanding its smaller-store format.   The retailer is opening six, smaller-format stores on Sept. 30, all in the Midwest, the Milwaukee Business Journal reported.   The locations are all in the Midwest, with two in Wisconsin, and one each in South Dakota, Minnesota, Illinois and Indiana. The stores average approximately 35,000 sq. ft. each, according to the report.

Office Depot Inc. has agreed to sell its European business to an investment group.   The office-supplies retailer is selling its European operation to German investment firm Aurelius Group.   Office Depot Europe operates more than 100 stores in Europe, under such banners as Viking.  

Accruent, a leading global provider of real estate, facilities and asset management solutions, has acquired Verisae, a provider of cloud-based solutions that connect facilities and assets to the maintenance and service network through the Internet of Things (IoT).