Corporate Governance

Less than three years after opening stores across the pond, American Eagle Outfitters is closing up shop in the United Kingdom.   The specialty retailer operates three stores in the U.K. It has already closed one location, and is winding down operations at its remaining two stores, as well as its British e-commerce site, according to the Telegraph.  

A specialty retailer continues to expand its breadth.   See’s Candies plans to open nearly a dozen new or relocated stores by the end of 2017. All new locations will set up shop in California.    The new stores will be located in San Jose, Castro Valley, Manhattan Beach, Paso Robles, Laguna Hills, Glendale and Calabasas. The new locations come on the heels of new shops that have previously opened or moved this year into new or larger locations in Escondido, Windsor and Pleasant Hill, California.

J.C. Penney has a new finance chief.   The department store retailer named Jeffrey Davis as executive VP and CFO. Davis will report to Marvin R. Ellison, Penney’s chairman and chief executive officer.   

A casual clothing and workwear retailer has ended its hunt for a new finance chief.   Duluth Holdings has appointed Dave Loretta as senior VP and CFO. Loretta will succeed retiring CFO Mark DeOrio.   Prior to joining Duluth Trading, Loretta launched and operated his own company, Pacific Time, LLC, a unique food and beverage business, from 2014 to 2016. Prior to managing his own firm, Loretta held various roles at Nordstrom.  

Michael Kors expects its newest acquisition to give it a stronger hold in the luxury sector.   The brand, which built its reputation on lines of high-end apparel, handbags, shoes and fashion accessories, has acquired luxury shoemaker Jimmy Choo for approximately $1.350 billion. The transaction, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2017, has been approved by the boards of directors of both Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo.  

The recipe for success in food retail is changing at breakneck speed. Economic drivers, such as commodity deflation, make revenue growth difficult. At the same time, demographic trends – including the rise of both millennials and centennials – undermine tried-and-tested business models. And now they are faced with the game changing move by Amazon with its planned acquisition of Whole Foods.  

Consumers across the globe agree that volume of criminals trying to steal their credit and debit card data is increasing — and retailers aren’t equipped to fight back.   This was according to “Consumer Payment Card Data Security Perceptions, from Transaction Network Services (TNS). The study interviewed 1,037 U.S. adults, 1,002 Australian adults, and 1,010 U.K. adults between May 4-May 8.  

Walmart is stepping up efforts to drive energy efficiency across its distribution network.   The discount giant is adopting fuel cells and hydrogen stations from provider Power Plug — a move that will bolster its energy efficiency at up to 30 more locations. Walmart already has Plug Power fuel cells installed at 22 distribution centers, according to USA Today.