Corporate Governance

Warby Parker is making a big commitment to brick-and-mortar.    The hip eyewear retailer plans to open at least 25 stores this year, The Wall Street Journal reported.   The new locations, planned for Miami, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and other cities, are expected to bring Warby Parker’s total store count to about 70 by year end.    The stores will range in size and include freestanding as well as mall locations, the report said. 

Some 100 locals from tony Southampton, New York, gathered outside Town Hall yesterday to show their support for the building of a grocery-anchored center in the Tuckahoe neighborhood, according to Newsday.   Demonstrators wearing “Yes Tuckahoe Shopping Center” T-shirts argued that the King Kullen supermarket proposed for the project would give them easier access to affordable groceries.  

Disparate systems have no place in the age of “on demand” shopping.   To continue serving its increasingly demanding shoppers — and fuel its continued expansion — Smart & Final is replacing its homegrown solutions with an integrated end-to-end merchandising, planning and execution solution from JDA Software Group.   

The nation’s leading home storage products retailer is going to try on a smaller footprint.      The Container Store Group on Tuesday said it plans to open locations in Cleveland; Livingston, New Jersey; and Staten Island, New York, as well as relocate its store in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.      

To keep up the pace of its growth — and continue delivering merchandise to the right location at the right time — The Aldo Group is adding a new supply chain platform.   The footwear brand operates a complex omnichannel supply chain that supports wholesale customers, franchise and company-owned retail locations, as well as its direct-to-consumer operations. This requires enterprise-wide visibility, as well as the flexibility to anticipate, plan for and respond to changing consumer preferences.  

After all was said and done, the formerly high-flying and now bankrupt Nasty Gal had only one suitor.   Online British fashion retailer Boohoo moved a step closer to acquiring the Los Angeles-based fashion brand after no other qualifying bidders came forward.  

Starbucks Corp.’s plan to hire 10,000 refugees over the next five years (in its stores in 75 countries around the globe) has proved to be one of the socially progressive retailer’s most controversial moves to date.   The initiative, a response to President Trump’s executive order barring refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, has many conservatives and Trump supporters calling for a boycott of the coffee chain.   

Eastern Outfitters, the parent company of Eastern Mountain Sports and Bob’s Stores, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.     The company listed assets and liabilities in the range of $100 million to $500 million in its filing        British sporting goods retailer Sports Direct International has engaged in extensive talks with Eastern Outfitters to become a stalking-horse bidder in a bankruptcy auction, Reuters reported.