Corporate Governance

Lidl, the German no-frills grocery chain, is shaping up as a potential retail powerhouse even before it opens its first U.S. store.   The company will generate $8.8 billion in sales by 2023, larger than Wegman’s 2016 value of $8.1 billion, according to a just-released forecast by Kantar Retail.  

Dick’s Sporting Goods has cast its eye on another bankrupt sports retailer and former competitor.   In June, Dick’s acquired the intellectual property of the bankrupt Sports Authority. Dick’s is now preparing a bid for the U.S. business of Golfsmith International Holdings Inc., according to Reuters.      In making a bid, Dick’s is going up against an offer by Worldwide Golf Shops, according to the report.     

Stater Bros. continues to grow its footprint in Southern California.   The San Bernardino, California-based company announced that the Ralphs Supermarket in Riverside (California) will be converted to a “Blue Ribbon” Stater Bros. supermarket. (Stater’s “Blue Ribbon” units are energy efficient and environmentally friendly.)   At 46,000-sq.-ft., the Riverside store will undergo an extensive remodel, and reopen under the Stater banner in spring 2017.  

Arsenal Park, an often overlooked historical site in Pittsburgh, is now destined to re-emerge as Arsenal 201, a residential and retail project.   Milhous Development broke ground last week on the $100 million first phase of the project, which encompasses and entire block between 39th and 49th Streets in the city’s Lawrenceville section. That was the site of the Allegheny Arsenal, a key manufacturing and supply facility for the Union Army where an 1862 explosion took the lives of 78 workers -- the largest civilian disaster of the war.

It was in 1983 that Steve Lemmon and David Rubenzer brought on Ray Barton as a partner to franchise the cheap haircut concept they started on the University of Minnesota campus. They chose well. Barton’s wife Mary Lou was one of the first franchisees, and Barton himself remains chairman of the board as the company celebrates the opening of its 4,000th franchise in Flat Rock, Michigan.   “The company continues to grow with happy franchisees who open multiple salons,” said Great Clips CEO Rhoda Olsen.  

More than 200 million Americans will shop online this year. Statistically, nearly 10 million of those shoppers will be visually impaired, more than 10 million will have a hearing impairment and more than four million of those will have severe limitations to their dexterity. For these shoppers, many goods and services offered online might be out of their reach.   

Amazon gave some very special visitors a tour of its top secret drone testing laboratory in Cambridge, England.  

New York investment management firm Alden Global Capital is not happy with the board — or the CEO — of Pier I Imports.     Alden, the retailer’s largest active institutional investor, is demanding a shakeup of the Pier 1 board, reported the Dallas Business Journal.