Corporate Governance

Muji, the low-cost, high-design Japanese retailer that had heretofore concentrated its stores in fashionable districts of New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, is making a move into New Jersey.   Muji will open an 8,600-sq.-ft. store next month at the Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, its first mall location in the Greater New York area. Current shops are found on Fifth Avenue and in Soho and Cooper Square in Manhattan.  

Toys “R” Us may have closed its New York name brand stores, but the retailer still has a fondness for the city.    According to Fortune, Toys “R” Us CEO David Brandon has indicated he would like to add new Toys “R” Us stores to the company’s existing Babies “R” Us New York footprint. Just don’t mention the word “flagship.”  

Bob Mariano, CEO of the Roundy’s Supermarkets Inc. division of The Kroger Co., will retire effective Sept. 1, 2016.   After retiring, Mariano will serve as strategic adviser to Kroger and Roundy's for two years. Don Rosanova, president of Mariano's, and Michael Marx, president of Roundy's Supermarkets Wisconsin, will continue to serve in their current roles leading the two supermarket divisions.  

DLC Management announced several promotions within its national leasing team, chief among them the naming of Chris Ressa as senior VP of the department.   A one-time Sherwin Williams real estate rep, Ressa joined DLC as a leasing rep in 2007 and rose through the ranks to become VP of the Midwest region and senior VP of the Northeast/Midwest region before being put in charge of nationwide leasing for this major owner and operator of open-air shopping centers.  

The National Retail Federation (NRF) has been actively campaigning to keep federal caps on debit card swipe fees, and now its constituents are speaking out.  

One day after announcing a general salary increase for all U.S. corporate store employees, Starbucks Corp. is preparing to increase some prices.   As of July 12, Starbucks made what it calls a “small price adjustment” in U.S. company-operated stores. Depending on the market, customers will experience increases of 10 to 20 cents on select sizes of brewed coffee, and 10 to 30 cents on espresso beverages and tea lattes.  

After two years of benefitting from gasoline price tailwinds, still-stressed consumers will generate only a sluggish 3.3% year-over-year increase in this year’s back-to-school sales, according to Customer Growth Partners’ 14th Annual BTS Forecast.    Total BTS sales for the season will reach $540 billion — a new record, but the lackluster 3.3% growth represents a marked slowdown from the 4%-plus BTS growth seen in both 2014 and 2015, when sales were boosted by declining gasoline prices.  

Amazon.com is continuing its aggressive strategy of launching new distribution facilities and physical pickup centers.   The retailer will open a new fulfillment center in Kansas City, Kansas by the end of 2016. The 855,000-sq.-ft. facility, the second large-sized fulfillment center Amazon has announced within a span of four months, will create more than 1,000 full-time roles. In addition to this center and an upcoming facility in Edgerton, Amazon has existing Kansas facilities in Lenexa.  

Newegg.com is expanding its physical footprint, this time in Canada.   The online electronics retailer opens its Hybrid Centre in Richmond Hill, Ontario on Friday, July 15. The facility serves a dual purpose of allowing customers to pick up their will-call orders, as well as browse tech products or attend an educational seminar. Some of the products on display are available exclusively through Newegg, many of which are making their North American debut at the Hybrid Centre.  

Walmart’s Lifelong Learning Program is getting a boost from a new partnership with educational technology and services company Cengage Learning.