Corporate Governance

West Sacramento, Calif. -- Raley’s Family of Fine Stores is entering the health and wellness space.

The privately owned supermarket company said it will debut a new, small-format store in the Sacramento, Calif., market in 2017 that focuses on health and wellness.

The 36,000-sq.-ft. store, being done in partnership with Stafford King Wiese Architects and Armstrong Development Properties, will be designed to be state-of-the art with a focus on the most sustainable features. The store is scheduled to begin construction in mid-2016.

Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores raised more than $217,000 for Make-A-Wish this past spring, when it held a two-week charitable program.

San Francisco — Gap Inc. is the latest retailer to say it will cease the practice of assigning store employees on-call shifts with little advance notice.

Gap joins other chains such as Abercrombie & Fitch and Victoria’s Secret in pledging to eliminate the practice from its stores.

While sales at Chico’s appear to be improving, the specialty retailer's turnaround plan also includes selling off one of its divisions.

Memphis —  Fred’s Inc. remained unprofitable for its fifth consecutive quarter as pharmacy continued to weigh the chain down.

Fred’s reported a bigger-than-expected net loss of $4.9 million in the second quarter, down from $16.4 million for the same period last year. 

Reductions in the percent of revenue represented by cost of goods sold and selling, general and administrative expenses helped shrink net loss.

Net sales grew 10%, from $491.18 million to $546.08 million, while same-store sales grew 0.9%.

Washington — The National Retail Federation wasted no time responding to a ruling by the National Labor Relations board concerning the redefinition of the concept of joint employees.

NRF and other business groups are concerned that the redefinition  could be used to make large businesses and franchisors responsible for the actions of subcontractors or local franchisees even when they do not exercise direct control over those companies’ employees.

New York — It was tough sledding for J. Crew Group in the second quarter as its namesake brand continued to decline.   The retailer swung to a net loss of $13.6 million for the quarter, ended Aug. 1,  compared with earnings of $10.8 million in the year-ago period.    Revenue fell 5% to $593.6 million.  

Fred's Super Dollar says it has contacted a consulting firm to help it improve profitability after the retailer remained unprofitable for its fifth consecutive quarter.