Corporate Governance

Digital transformation is accelerating the pace of change within the store environment.

A retail legend has passed.   Costco Wholesale Club announced "with great sadness" that co-founder and chairman Jeff Brotman died Tuesday morning. He was 74.   "The thoughts of Costco’s board, management and employees are with Jeff’s wife and family,” Costco said in a short statement.    Brotman co-founded Costco Wholesale with Jim Sinegal. The two opened the first Costco warehouse club location in 1983, in Seattle.

Westlake Ace Hardware has announced two executive promotions.   The company promoted current COO Joe Jeffries to president and COO, continuing to support CEO Tom Knox. In addition, Andrew Schmitt will be promoted to the position of VP of operations for Westlake Ace Hardware. Schmitt currently holds the position of director of retail operations – Western Division, for Ace Hardware Corporation.  

Florida's largest supermarket chain on Tuesday reported higher sales and revenues for its second quarter. Prior to releasing its results, the company cut the price of its stock.   Publix’s sales in the second quarter rose 3.6% to $8.4 billion, from last year’s $8.1 billion. Same-store sales increased 1.6%.      Net earnings increased 3.5% to $495.1 million, compared to $478.2 million in the year-ago period.    

A new service is helping retailers adhere to newly introduced interoperability standards related to QR code-based payments.   In a move to standardize emerging cashless payments, EMVCo, the global technical body that manages the EMV Specifications, released new global QR Code Payment standards — a move that will allow retailers to process mobile payments made through the two-dimensional machine-readable barcodes. Visa and the other EMVCo members worked to develop these new globally interoperable EMV specifications. 

West Elm is expanding its hotel portfolio — even before it opens its first location.   The retailer, a division of Williams-Sonoma, announced Portland, Maine as the newest location for its West Elm Hotels collection. Expected to open in 2020, the 150 room, full-service boutique hotel  will be developed on Portland’s waterfront by Portland Foreside Development Company LLC, and operated by hotel development and management company DDK, which is West Elm Hotels’ exclusive operator.  

Nest, a leading consultative advisor and technology provider specializing in multi-facility maintenance and construction services, announced the promotion of James Porreca to director of estimating and construction.    Due to recent growth and client demands, Nest made the commitment to add a new division to the company that will help serve their clients’ needs in a more enhanced way.  

Formed just three years ago, an aggressive acquirers of grocery-anchored centers has purchased its 34th property.   New Market Properties, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Preferred Apartment Communities, has acquired Irmo Station, a Kroger-anchored center in Columbia, South Carolina. The company targets high-yield suburban markets in Texas and the mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions and market-leading grocery anchors such as Publix, Kroger, and HEB.