Corporate Governance

MarineMax in exec promotions
MarineMax, the nation’s largest recreational boat and yacht retailer, has promoted longtime associate Brett McGill to COO, effective October 1, 2016. McGill has served as executive VP operations at MarineMax since October 1, 2015 after serving as VP of West operations since May 2012. He began his career with MarineMax at its formation in 1998 and served in several roles with the company in positions that included director of information services and eventually VP of information technology, service and arts, before
Retailers face labor shortages
The nation’s improving job market has a down side for the retail industry, particularly as the crucial holiday season arrives. With the U.S. employment rate declining and minimum wages rising, it’s getting more challenging and more expensive for retailers to attract the best workers, reported CNBC.

Walmart vet joins online retailer

Photo: Vidya Jwala Overstock.com has nabbed a Walmart VP. The online retailer named Vidya Jwala as senior VP of demand fulfillment, responsible for overseeing the e-commerce leader’s sourcing, merchandising, supply chain and customer-care businesses. Jwala joins Overstock from Walmart, where, as VP of merchandising and operations, he focused on merchandising planning, category management, pricing and costing.
Custom menswear start-up expanding in U.S.

Hot on the heels of its first U.S. store, Surmesur, a made-to-measure online men’s clothing retailer, has brought its original custom menswear concept to Chicago. The Chicago store is the eighth for the custom menswear retailer and the second outside Canada's borders, with the recent opening of a store in Pittsburgh.
Discounter in more store closings

Kmart continues to shrink. The chain is closing another 64 stores, Marketwatch.com reported. The latest round of closings are in addition to a decision by Kmart parent Sears Holdings Corp. last April to close 68 Kmart stores this year, the report said. Kmart operated 941 stores as of Jan. 30, meaning it has now announced plans to close about 14% of its locations.
Safe Stores: Five Design Ideas to Help Customers Feel Safer

With the FBI calling the attack at Crossroads Center in St. Cloud, Minn., that injured eight people a “potential act of terrorism,” the public’s fear about safety has been heightened. In fact, the news these days is saturated with danger signals. Some people feel the threat of public spaces more acutely than others.
Mattress Firm and Steinhoff — done deal

A South African-based company is now the owner of the largest mattress retailer in the United States. Steinhoff International Holdings NV announced it completed its acquisition of Mattress Firm Holding Corp. As a result of the completion of the transaction, which was first announced in August, Mattress Firm’s common stock will no longer be traded on the NASDAQ stock market.
Luxury home furnishings retailer in Austin debut

Restoration Hardware Holdings has entered the Austin market with the latest generation of its design gallery store format. The new RH Austin, The Gallery includes an entire floor dedicated to the retailer’s new RH Modern concept, with an integrated contemporary art gallery. It also includes an interactive design atelier, a professional workspace that allows customers, designers and architects to conceptualize and customize a home.
Tory Burch taps former Burberry exec

John Douglas has been named chief technology officer at Tory Burch LLC. In this newly created position, Douglas will be responsible for leading the company’s global technology and IT functions. Previously, Douglas was the CIO with MCM Fashion Group. Prior to that position, he spent nine years as CTO at Burberry.
Pet giant lures former Restoration Hardware exec

Petco appointed retail veteran John Zavada as senior VP and CIO. In his new position, Zavada will lead Petco's information technology strategies, teams and projects, including the company's business process optimization and enterprise program management office. Prior to joining Petco, Zavada served as senior VP and CIO at Restoration Hardware. He also held CIO positions at Guitar Center, Big Lots, Limited Inc., and Victoria's Secret Stores.
Store traffic is down and it may not come back. What should retailers do about it?

By any measure, empirical and anecdotal, the number of people visiting retail stores is down. There are plenty of theories about why: it’s the mass movement of shoppers to online; it’s changing consumer preferences; it’s the weather; it’s those pesky, hard-to- figure-out millennials who would rather hunt for Pokémon than bargains at the mall.
Casto’s focus shifts to urban projects

Casto has been successful building shopping centers in Ohio for 70 years because it’s not afraid to shift with the times, Don M. Casto III said in yesterday’s edition of the Columbus Dispatch. The company has increasingly joined forces with other developers on mixed-use projects and turned back to its roots of building residences and retail buildings in downtown Columbus, the paper reported.