Corporate Governance

Retailers will reveal their 2015 holiday strategies in the weeks ahead and as they do so the National Retail Federation is offering a powerful new resource filled with industry best practices to benchmark against for this year and beyond.

The newly released document is called the 2015 Holiday Planning Playbook and was compiled by top retailers over the course of the past year who served on various NRF councils focused on retail industry disciplines.

After a monthslong search for a new president and chief executive, the Fresh Market Inc. has turned to a retail veteran to provide leadership at a time when the company's growth has been stagnant. 

The Fresh Market announced that its board of directors has named veteran food retail executive Richard Anicetti as the company’s president and CEO, effective immediately. Anicetti has also been elected to the company’s board of directors.

Elgin, Ill. – The latest retail breach to become public knowledge targeted a small chain, but involved a third-party vendor.

Village Pizza & Pub, a two-store local pizza chain headquartered in Elgin, Illinois, was notified on July 27 of a security breach by TransformPOS, the company that provides its POS payment card processing system.

Cincinnati – The Kroger Co. has about 20,000 open positions it would like to fill with veterans and their relatives.

Kroger is holding open interviews for veterans and their families on Tuesday, Sept. 15 for 20,000 permanent positions across all of its supermarket banners.

Westborough, Mass. – Has BJ’s Wholesale Club found its next CEO?

The retailer named Christopher Baldwin, former CEO of Hess Retail, as president and COO, a position in which Baldwin is poised to succeed Laura Sen, current CEO of BJ’s.

Baldwin will assume his new responsibilities at the chain on Sept. 8, where he will oversee merchandising, logistics, membership, marketing club operations.

Mooresville, N.C. – Lowe’s Companies Inc. is making a big purchase that will enable it to build a big store on one of Hawaii’s biggest islands.

The retailer is purchasing an 11-acre property in Kahului, Hawaii for $18.7 million from A&B Properties Inc., a subsidiary of Alexander & Baldwin.

Lowe’s plans to build a 167,000-sq.-ft. store on the site, located on the island of Maui. The new store will be 16% larger than Lowe’s current store in Kahului, which it leases from a third party.

Pittsburgh – Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. continues to expand its portfolio.

The retailer plans to open three new stores Sept. 11. Two of the stores will be located in Alabama and one in Arizona.

Dick’s will open its 13th and 14th stores in Alabama at the Shoppe at Legacy Park in Tuscaloosa and Cullman Shopping Center in Cullman, and ninth store in Arizona at Wilmot Plaza in Tucson. Dick’s will have 628 stores across the U.S. with these openings.

New York - Macy’s Inc. is reaching out to fashion-minded millennials by providing an online link to up-and-coming independent designers.

The retailer is entering a new collaboration with online fashion technology start-up company Nineteenth Amendment on Macys.com.

Bellport, N.Y. – Perfumania wants to be sure investors hear about its growth potential. The specialty fragrance and beauty retailer has retained JCIR, a New York City-based investor relations firm, to expand its investor relations and financial community outreach program.

Retailers invest in a variety of systems to track a wide range of supply chain and sourcing activities, but often overlook the need for technology to track ethical sourcing. Ethical sourcing refers to ensuring that products retailers sell do not involve exploitation or mistreatment of workers, unsafe facilities or production processes, stolen or counterfeit goods, or environmental hazards.