Corporate Governance

Photo: Michael K. Bloom   Fred’s announced it has promoted COO Michael K. Bloom to chief executive, effective Aug. 29.      Bloom succeeds CEO Jerry A. Shore, who became chief executive in October 2014 and intends to retire in February.   

Chain Store Age unveils its first-ever SPECS/2017 Ambassadors Club, created to recognize 12 retailers who have made significant contributions to the industry and to SPECS, the annual Retail Event for Store Innovation. Produced by CSA, SPECS is attended by retail and food-service executives involved in the planning, design, construction and maintenance of stores and restaurants nationwide.    

Things are looking bleaker for bankrupt Aeropostale.   A bankruptcy court judge on late Monday rejected a request from Aeropostale to blame its bankruptcy on Sycamore Partners and block an offer from the private equity firm.   Sycamore Partners confirmed it submitted a bid for the chain after the judge issued the opinion. The amount of the bid is unknown, but it may have been $150 million, which is how much Aeropostale owes two affiliates of Sycamore, Aero Investors and MGF Sourcing Holdings.

Fred’s Inc. named Craig Barnes, executive VP of supply chain, global and domestic logistics, to the newly created role of COO — front store.    In his new role, Barnes will be responsible for merchandising, marketing, supply chain, store operations and real estate, and will report directly to CEO Michael K. Bloom.    

Howard Hughes Corporation this week topped out the second of three residential towers destined for Ward Village, a 60-acre, master-planned community in Honolulu that will deliver 4,000 new residences when completed.    The finished Anaha tower, set to welcome residents in 2017, will house a Merriman’s restaurant and Oahu’s flagship Whole Foods Market.  

In effort to protect its organization from potential data breaches and prepare for the delivery of new omnichannel services, David’s Bridal is modernizing its failover network.   

Target Corp. is losing its top marketing honcho just months before it enters its most important selling season.   Jeff Jones, executive VP, chief marketing officer at Target, will depart the discounter effective Sept. 9. Jones will be joining Uber as president, ridesharing. He will responsible for Uber’s operations, marketing and customer support globally.   Target is conducting an external and internal search for Jones' replacement.  

DSW Inc. on Tuesday posted better-than-expected results for its second quarter and reaffirmed its full-year outlook.    The company also said it expects to see $25 million of annualized savings in 2017 as a result of a restructuring program it launched earlier this year, with about $7 million of the total to be realized this year. The retailer said the savings would result “from organization realignment and improvements in procurement and other business processes.”