Corporate Governance

New York -- Fresh off the opening of its store on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, Apple is opening another location in New York City.

The tech giant will open a store on July 11, in the Queens Center mall, in the borough of Queens, giving it a total of eight locations in the city.  

The Queens store will reflect the diversity of the surrounding community. It will feature some 130 associates fluent in 24 languages apart from English.
 

Columbus, Ohio – Express Inc. is naming a new CFO, and not looking far to fill the role.

Perry Pericleous, previously VP, finance, has been promoted to senior VP, CFO and treasurer, reporting to Matthew Moellering, executive VP and COO.  

Pericleous succeeds Paul Dascoli, who has left the company, effective July 7. Pericleous, 42, is a 15-year veteran of Express and most recently served as VP, finance with responsibility for all financial planning and analysis functions.

Hartland, Wis. – Battery, lightbulb and smartphone/tablet repair franchise Batteries Plus Bulbs is expanding its omnichannel experience — and that includes its physical store portfolio.

The company has launched a new e-commerce site, with a new and improved infrastructure, that ties its online presence more tightly to its nationwide network of more than 650 stores. And as part of its omnichannel growth strategy, Batteries Plus Bulbs plans to open 50 new locations across the country in 2015.

Roanoke, Va. – Advance Auto Parts Inc. is shifting into high gear when it comes to finance. The retailer has been selected to join the prestigious Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 stock index at the close of business July 8, replacing Family Dollar Stores Inc.

Seattle – Although coffee prices are on the wane, Starbucks Corp. is facing rising wage and rent expenses. The retailer is passing at least some of those costs along to the consumer with higher prices on some beverages.

Westborough, Mass. – Keeping up the store is never an easy prospect, especially when you operate hundreds of stores with POS applications and peripherals from multiple vendors. To ensure store upkeep, at least from a hardware perspective, BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc. has selected Toshiba TCxCare to manage and be the single point of contact for “wall to wall” maintenance services at its 200 stores.

Dallas – Convenience store purchases are often small, inexpensive items most consumers would prefer to pay cash for. 7-Eleven Inc. is making sure customers always have access to cash through an agreement with Financial Consulting & Trading International Inc. (FCTI) to become its new ATM provider.

FCTI is a wholly owned subsidiary of Seven Bank an ATM provider for all 7-Eleven stores in Japan. 7-Eleven's U.S. company-operated and franchised stores are expected to transition to FCTI's ATM program in 2017.
 

Today, nearly half of the world’s payment cards are EMV-enabled, meaning that the cards are embedded with special computer chips that help reduce counterfeit card fraud. The cards also protect retailers and consumers against losses caused by this fraud. The prevalence of EMV cards will only continue to increase with the upcoming liability shift in the U.S. in October, when merchants that are not EMV-compliant will be held liable for financial losses incurred from counterfeit card fraud.

New York -- High-end luggage and accessories Tumi has selected LED lamps from Solais Lighting, a division of PowerSecure International, has its lighting product of record. Tumi has specified Solais’ Xi20 and Xi24 PAR LEDs featuring the company’s VioLight color-enhancing technology.

Tumi recently installed the LEDs in its store in New York City’s Rockefeller Center.
 

Houston -- Charming Charlie has appointed Melissa Boughton as senior VP of real estate & construction, where she is spearheading the retailer’s real estate, store planning, construction, facilities and lease administration functions.