Corporate Governance

Las Vegas -- The Hershey Company has opened a retail flagship, Hershey’s Chocolate World at New York-New York Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

The store, which occupies two floors and has an eye-catching 74-ft. high Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar that visitors can walk through, is designed to provide shoppers with an experiential concept that immerses them in more than 800 candy and chocolate offerings.

Suffern, N.Y. -- Ascena Retail Group Inc reported its fiscal third-quarter profit rose to $33.2 million, from $31.2 million in the year ago period.

Revenue inched up 0.3% to $1.145 billion, compared to $1.142 billion a year earlier, driven by new store growth at Justice and Maurices, along with higher comparable sales at Lane Bryant, Maurices and Catherines, mostly offset by comparable sales declines at Justice and Dressbarn.

Total same store sales rose 1%.

Chicago -- ShopperTrak, a leading global provider of consumer behavior insights and location-based analytics, announced it has signed Journeys as its 1,000th customer.

Green Bay, Wis. -- Shopko announced that veteran pharmacy executive Michael Cantrell has joined the company as senior VP, retail health. In this role, Cantrell will provide strategic direction for Shopko's pharmacy, optical and Rx e departments.  

Cantrell, a registered pharmacist and licensed attorney, is joining Shopko from Delhaize America, where he was VP of pharmacy. Prior to Delhaize America, Cantrell held various executive positions at AmerisourceBergen and Longs Drugs.

New York -- This spring, The Mall at Short Hills in Short Hills, New Jersey, welcomes four new boutiques: The Art of Shaving, Calypso St. Barth, Geox and Maje.

Now open on the lower level, The Art of Shaving offers men’s luxury grooming products.

New Jersey’s first Calypso St. Barth boutique is now open on the upper level. Inspired by travel, culture and the arts, Calypso offers women’s apparel, accessories and home décor.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Sam's Club announced it will launch a new credit card using EMV chip-enabled technology on June 23, beating Target as the first mass retailer to move to the new technology. The new card — co-branded with MasterCard Inc. and issued by GE Capital Retail Bank — has an embedded chip that makes the card more difficult to duplicate, which provides enhanced security from fraudulent activity, according to Sam’s Club.

By J. Kent Smith, Galleria RTS

The long established buzzword, “localization” is more important today than it has ever been. The approach of ever broadening assortments has clogged shelves, exaggerated mark-down costs and compromised returns; with slotting fees no longer sufficient to bridge the gap. Put simply, retailers are out of space, capital and resources; urgent action is required.

Toronto -- Hudson's Bay Co. (HBC) swung to a profit in its first quarter, boosted by strong sales at Saks Inc., which it acquired last year. Hudson's Bay has announced plans to bring Saks to Canada, starting with two locations in Toronto in 2015.

Senior editor Katherine Boccaccio and editor-in-chief Marianne Wilson sat down with retail real estate leaders and analysts in Las Vegas at RECon 2014.  See what each industry expert had to say about the retail landscape, trends in the industry, and projects to keep an eye on.

Watch videos.

The J. M. Smucker Company has elevated John Denman to VP of human resource operations, effective July 16, and has also elevated Jill Penrose to VP of human resources, effective July 1.

Denman currently serves as VP, controller and chief accounting officer, and has been with the company for more than 30 years in various leadership positions in accounting and finance.