Corporate Governance

New York - Kenneth Cole Productions Inc. has appointed apparel industry veteran Marc Schneider as CEO, effective Feb. 23. Schneider will assume responsibility for the company's retail, outlet, e-commerce, international, licensing and wholesale businesses. He takes over from founder Kenneth Cole, who has served as interim CEO since February 2011.

Washington, D.C. - Retail CIOs agree that security and digital innovation are top priorities for 2015, according to a new report by the NRF and Forrester Research.

The study, the Retail CIO Agenda 2015: Secure and Innovate, finds that managing data security is the most urgent focus area for retail CIOs, with 97% of respondents placing it at the top of their 2015 priority lists.  

San Francisco – The mobile payment market continues to heat up. On the heels of Samsung’s news that it will acquire mobile payment firm LoopPay, Visa Inc. announced it is expanding its online payment service, Visa Checkout. The financial services giant said the digital checkout service, which launched in three markets in summer 2014, will be available in a total of 16 markets by the end of 2015.

New York -- The Kmart store in Chillicothe, Ohio, has scaled back its hours and grocery offerings in preparation for its switch from a 24-hour supercenter to the retail chain's new K-Fresh concept, according to a report by the Chillicothe Gazette.

The newspaper reports that the K-Fresh concept has been piloted at two stores, one in suburban Chicago and another in Hawaii.

New York – Foot Locker Inc. is investing in the future. The company’s board of directors has approved a $220 million capital expenditure program for 2015, maintaining the level of investment in the business that Foot Locker initiated in 2013.

In recent years, the Foot Locker has invested in a variety of strategic growth initiatives, including new store formats, continued expansion of its European banners, capabilities in its direct-to-customer segment, and various technology initiatives.  

Boston – Nail and beauty care chain MiniLuxe, which operates eight stores in the Boston area, is coming to North Texas. MinLuxe has opened the first of 10 stores planned for North Texas in the West Village shopping center in Dallas.

The investor group behind MiniLuxe also backs Chipotle, with Silverado Interests' founding partners Rick and Dan Slaven also participating.
 

London - Fat Face a lifestyle clothing and accessories retailer with 212 stores in the U.K. and Ireland, is leveraging NetSuite's next-generation responsive Web design e-commerce solution to deliver a digital shopping experience optimized for multiple devices to its customers across all channels and geographies.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Increased traffic and better than expected same-store sales growth at Walmart’s U.S. stores were bright spots in the retailer’s fourth quarter earnings. But the big story in Thursday’s earnings release was the announcement that approximately 500,000 full-time and part-time associates at Walmart U.S. stores and Sam's Clubs will receive pay raises in the first half of the current fiscal year.  

Columbus, Ohio -- Vineyard Vines, a retailer of preppy inspired clothing and accessories, has opened a 3,000-sq.-ft. store in Easton Town Center. The store is the brand’s third Midwest location after Chicago and St. Louis, and is part of a plan to open 10 more stores in major U.S. markets by the end of 2015.

Dallas -- Cypress Equities announced the acquisition of The Strand, a 96,000-sq.-ft. mixed-use development located in Huntington Beach, California.  

The transaction was secured by a fund managed by Cypress’ real estate investment management group, which has acquired more than $500 million dollars of retail properties during the past two years.