Corporate Governance

Jacksonville, Fla. - Firehouse Subs, a fast-casual restaurant chain with more than 860 locations, is enacting a nationwide rollout of Apple Pay. Firehouse Subs now offers customers the option to make mobile payments from their iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and soon Apple Watch.

Ann Arbor, Mich. – Pizza retailer Domino’s, which recently shortened its name from “Domino’s Pizza,” is reportedly turning to social media to promote the name change and also locate out-of-date signs. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Domino’s is encouraging consumers to upload photos of signs with the old Domino’s Pizza logo and name to Instagram using the hashtags #LogoInformants and #Sweeps.

New York -- Jay Carney, former White House press secretary for the Obama administration and current CNN analyst, has been appointed senior VP of worldwide corporate affairs for Amazon, effective March 2. The newly created position brings Amazon’s worldwide public relations and public policy shops into one department under Carney.

The news was first reported by Politico, which noted that Carney will leave CNN and divide his time between the online retail giant’s headquarters in Seattle and Washington, D.C.

Austin, Texas - The credit card industry is lagging behind its own deadline to get more secure microchip-enabled credit cards into consumers’ wallets by October 2015. According to a new survey from CredtCards.com, just three out of every 10 U.S. credit cardholders have a chip card.

The adoption rate is significantly higher among high net worth cardholders, but at 49%, it still means more than half of the richest Americans ($100,000 or more in investable assets) lack chip-based card security.

Conshohocken, Pa. -- Ikea announced that it has chosen VCC to serve as construction manager both for the site work and store development of its new, larger store in Burbank, California. The new location will replace the chain’s existing Burbank store, which is also Ikea’s oldest store in the Western United States.

Pending remaining approvals and permits, groundbreaking is on track for fall 2015 and store opening in spring 2017. Until the new, roomier store opens on the new site, customers can continue to shop at the existing Ikea Burbank.

Watsonville, Calif. – Expenses in benefits, share-based compensation, and inventory that exceeded forecasts helped keep West Marine Inc. in the red during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014. West Marine reported a net loss of $10.3 million, a small improvement from the $11.3 million net loss it reported in the same quarter the prior fiscal year.

Net revenues grew 9% to $129.4 million from $118.8 million. The addition of a 53rd week in fiscal 2014 helped boost that figure. Same-store sales rose 2.8%.

Lawrenceville, N.J. - GS1 US has published a GS1 US National Data Quality Program framework, which outlines the key components to help companies establish and sustain effective data quality programs based on GS1 standards. The framework offers detailed information about the assessment criteria and scoring for the three pillars of data quality: data governance process, education and training protocol, and attribute audit.

Washington, D.C. -- Walmart and the Walmart Foundation announce an initial investment of $16 million to seven national nonprofit organizations, as part of a new Opportunity initiative, a $100 million commitment to help increase the economic mobility of entry level workers in retail and adjacent sectors. The $100 million commitment was first announced last week by Walmart president and CEO Doug McMillon, in conjunction with the roll out of new opportunities and enhanced benefits for Walmart associates.

Jacksonville, Fla. - Stein Mart is opening 11 new stores this year as part of the company's accelerated store growth that began in 2014. The new stores include the company's March opening of the first-ever San Francisco Bay area location in Cupertino, California, and 10 additional stores opening in the fall.

This is an increase from the company's earlier estimate of 10 new stores for 2015 announced in November. In 2014, Stein Mart opened nine new stores.

New York – Barnes & Noble Inc. is separating its college business from its retail and Nook digital businesses. The planned separation of Barnes & Noble Education (which comprises the Barnes & Noble College business) will, when consummated, create two independent, publicly traded companies.

The separation is intended to be a tax-free distribution to Barnes & Noble shareholders and is anticipated to be completed by the end of August 2015, subject to customary conditions.