Corporate Governance

Philadelphia – Five Below Inc. reported healthy profit and sales gains in the first quarter of fiscal 2015 and is planning to open 155 stores in the next two fiscal years. The retailer’s net income totaled $4.28 million, up 39% from $3.08 million a year earlier.

Higher gross profit and the elimination of debt extinguishment loss helped Five Below reach above in net income. Five Below plans to open 70 stores and enter six new states in 2015, and plans 85 openings for 2016.

Kohl’s is stepping up again to make summer activities free for families this summer through a partnership with Summerfest.

The partnership will offer educational, fun and creative activities for children of all ages and their families, as well as the opportunity for patrons to gain free admission to the Summerfest festival.

Lawrenceville, N.J. - GS1 US has recognized three companies with GS1 US Apparel and General Merchandise Retail Industry Achievement Awards. The awards, which honor organizations that have implemented GS1 standards to deliver outstanding achievements in innovating the retail supply chain, were presented to the following winning companies in three categories:

• GS1 US Retailer Excellence Award: Macy’s Inc.
• GS1 US Supplier Excellence Award: PVH Corp.
• GS1 US Solution Provider Excellence Award: OpenText|GXS

San Jose – A new privacy policy which will take effect at PayPal Inc. on July 1 will require users to allow PayPal, its affiliates and service providers to contact them at provided telephone numbers via autodialed or prerecorded call or text message. While the policy prohibits PayPal from sharing user contact information with outside third parties, contracted billing and collection companies are permitted to use customer phone numbers.

Gap Inc. is eyeing the 110,000-sq.-ft.

Redmond, Wash. – Microsoft Corp. recently held a press tour of its Redmond, Washington campus that included briefings on the future of technology. Two items that may be of particular interest to retailers are a transformation to an IT networking model based on interconnected nodes, and a world where encryption-based security is obsolete.

“Peripherals will become nodes on an interconnected network,” said David Baumert, senior program manager technology & research, Microsoft. “They will sense the meaning of interactions.”

For the third year in a row, Amazon has claimed the top spot in the Reputation Institute’s annual survey of America’s 50 most reputable companies in the retail industry.

Minneapolis – The corporate restructuring that has led Target Corp. to lay off 17.600 Canadian workers and 2,200 U.S. workers has reportedly hit the retailer’s Indian operation. According to the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, Target has laid off 180 Indian employees and closed 125 open positons in India this week.

Target has pledged to eliminate several thousand positions, many from its corporate headquarters in Minneapolis, as part of a $2 billion restructuring plan instituted by CEO Brian Cornell.