Corporate Governance

Seattle – Nordstrom Inc. plans to open two new Nordstrom Rack stores in Pittsburgh and Novi, Michigan. The 40,000-sq.-ft. Pittsburgh store is scheduled to open in fall 2016 at The Block Northway mall.

Atlanta - Sales for first quarter 2015 at Havertys Inc. increased 5% to $191.3 million, compared to $181.7 million for first quarter 2014. Same-store sales rose 3.8%.

Havertys plans to open three new stores in 2015, including a store in Rogers, Arkansas that will open this week and a showroom in Waco, Texas slated to open in mid-May. This expansion into two new markets for Havertys will occur as Havertys strengthens its position in southeast Florida, with a new store in Fort Lauderdale slated for July,

Rockaway, N.J. – Party City is joining the initial public offering (IPO) party. The retailer has filed paperwork for an IPO that could raise as much as $428 million and value the company up to $2 billion.

One of the main reasons Party City wants to take its celebration public is to support planned growth of 350 new North American stores. The retailer currently operates 900 Party City stores, as well as the Halloween City, Factory Card & Party Outlet and Party Packagers chains.

Phoenix – Leslie’s Poolmart Inc. will open 15 new retail locations throughout the U.S. on Thursday, April 9. Cities with new stores will include Auburn, Bakersfield, Ceres, Palmdale; San Mateo and San Rafael, California; Rockledge, St. Augustine and Tallahassee, Florida; Gainesville, Georgia; Glenpool, Oklahoma; Hattiesburg, Mississippi; Hudson Oaks, Texas; Queen Creek, Arizona and Monroe, Louisiana.

Boston - Dessange International, owner of Fantastic Sams, Camille Albane and Dessange franchise brands, has promoted Linda Chadwick to president and CEO of Dessange Group North America. Chadwick had previously been the president and COO of Fantastic Sams.

Chadwick will lead Dessange International’s North American expansion of its three salon franchise brands. A veteran franchising executive, Chadwick spent more than 20 years at Burger King Corp., including three years as VP of franchise operations.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recognized Sears Holdings Corp. with a 2015 Energy Star Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence Award. Sears Holdings, an Energy Star partner since 1998, will be honored for its long-term commitment to energy efficiency.

Winston-Salem, N.C. - Lowes Foods, a locally-owned and operated grocery chain, has selected Unata’s customer engagement platform for a pilot which will offer a one-to-one e-commerce experience for its shoppers. Lowes’ new Click & Collect customer experience will include a one-to-one personalized homepage and personalized product recommendations across the shopping experience.

Seattle – A seller of posters on Amazon.com has reportedly pled guilty to antitrust charges from the U.S. Justice Department. According to Reuters, David Topkins of San Francisco conspired to manipulate the price of posters on Amazon Marketplace between September 2013 and January 2014.

Seattle -- Starbucks Corp. is extending its college tuition assistance plan for workers to cover the entire cost of getting an online bachelor's degree. The coffee giant launched the program with Arizona State University in June 2014. At the time, it was limited to juniors and seniors looking to complete their degrees. But in a major expansion of the benefit, Starbucks said it will now cover the full cost of the four-year online degree.

In a column I wrote between Black Friday and Christmas last year, I talked about how “apparel sales have been languishing”, and I mentioned that the “industry buzz is all about the struggles in apparel, where retailers just can’t seem to discount clothing enough to get things to pick up.”