Corporate Governance

Walmart exec joins JLL e-commerce team
Matt Powers, who formerly held a high-level real estate executive role at Walmart, is shifting professional gears. Powers has joined real estate services firm JLL Inc. as an executive VP who will serve on the company’s Retail e-commerce Distribution (ReD) platform. He will help advise retailers on their distribution real estate strategies and implement solutions that help clients achieve their supply chain, e-commerce and omni-channel operational goals.
Burlington Stores sees Q2 heating up
Burlington Stores Inc. is upping its guidance for several key fiscal metrics in the second quarter of fiscal 2016. The retailer now expects second quarter adjusted net income per share to total $0.28 to $.30, up from a previously announced range of $0.20-$0.23 per share and compared to $0.19 in the same period the previous year. Burlington Stores also currently anticipates adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) in the range of $88 to $90 million, compared to the prior year figure of $75.4 million.

Ace flushes out manual workforce management

Ace Hardware Corp. is helping independent members of its retail cooperative manage increasingly complex labor regulations. The hardware chain is leveraging the cloud-based Kronos Workforce Central suite of workforce management solutions. In addition to better management of rising labor law compliance requirements, Ace expects the deployment to also enable improvement of store productivity and increase of associate engagement.
Supervalu’s Van Buskirk to depart

A Supervalu executive will be departing the company, according to a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The company’s executive VP merchandising, marketing, retail and pharmacy Mark Van Buskirk’s employment will end effective July 16, the filing says. In the interim, the company is evaluating a succession plan and Van Buskirk’s functional areas will report to Supervalu executive VP, COO and CFO Bruce Besanko.
Amazon keeps California covered with new facility

Amazon.com Inc. cannot be accused of ignoring the fulfillment needs of customers in California. The e-tail giant plans to open its 10th California fulfillment center in Sacramento. The new 855,000-plus-sq.-ft. facility, the fourth California fulfillment center Amazon has announced within a span of four months, will create more than 1,000 full-time hourly roles.
Quiznos tops organization with new CEO

Quick-service restaurant chain Quiznos has promoted global chief marketing officer Susan Lintonsmith as its new CEO. Joining Quiznos as chief marketing officer in 2012, Lintonsmith was instrumental in opening the China market and leading the opening of the Quiznos Grill premium sandwich concept. Previous roles in her more than 25-year career include serving as a consultant to Einstein Noah Restaurant Group and as chief marketing officer of Red Robin Gourmet Burgers.
Retail robot has accident at mall

Accounts of exactly how it happened differ, but a 300-pound security robot collided with a toddler at a mall in Palo Alto, California. According to CNN Money, the robot struck and partially ran over a 16-month-old child in the Stanford Shopping Center on Thursday, July 14. The child was not seriously injured. Mall operator Simon Property Group is investigating.
NRF: Gradual rollout will blunt impact of overtime rules

The National Retail Federation (NRF) is publicly supporting legislation that would phase in the Labor Department’s new overtime regulations.
RKF declares Manhattan’s ‘96th Street divide’ defunct

Having brokered the sale of street-front retail real estate on 101st Street and Third Avenue in New York for $2.2 million, RKF declared the unofficial rule of placing prime retail locations below 96th Street in Manhattan to be null and void.
Cabela’s continues to expand

Cabela’s Inc. announced plans to expand to open two new stores, including its first-ever location in New Mexico. The hunting and fishing retailer will open a 70,000-sq.-ft. store at Legacy at Journal Center, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2017. The store will offer customers an immersive outdoor experience with a 360-degree mountain and wildlife-display feature, dozens of taxidermy mounts, vintage outdoor photos and memorabilia, and a regionally specific theme.
Victorinox Swiss Army expanding its U.S. footprint

Photos: Ric Kallaher Victorinox Swiss Army has opened its doors in New York City’s Rockefeller Center. The store, the brand’s eighth location in North America, is designed to create an immersive experience into the company’s Swiss heritage amid a modern environment that reflects the company’s commitment to quality, functionality, iconic design and innovation.
Coffee giant in two new store expansion moves

Starbucks Corp. is growing its store portfolio on a couple of different fronts. The company plans to open stores under a new banner, called Starbucks-Reserve only, that will have a decidedly upscale twist. The brand will sell premium, small lot reserve coffee in a store space that is about twice the size of a typical Starbucks, zachs.com reported, and feature more of a café atmosphere.