Corporate Governance

Charleston, S.C. - The Running Buddy, a vertical retailer of specialty lifestyle products, have introduced a Brand Ambassador program. Running Buddy Brand Ambassadors are invited and encouraged to share their thoughts and collaborate with other ambassadors in a variety of ways including: social media outreach and engagement, sharing audio or video clips, outreach to potential Running Buddy retailers, writing informative blog posts or articles, sharing photos from marathons and other activities, and more.

As Macy’s undergoes aggressive changes to better compete in an omnichannel retailing world, the company reported a decline in profit for the fourth quarter.

For the quarter ended Jan. 31, profit fell to $793 million from $811 million. Per-share earnings were $2.26 a share, up from $2.16 a share a year earlier. Same store sales grew 1.7% Revenue increased 1.8% to $9.36 billion.

If we wanted to show the struggles of the classic American mall, I don’t think we could come up with a better example than Northland Mall in Southfield, Michigan. When it opened in 1954, Northland was an instant hit: an icon not only for the region, but for the nation. One of the first and largest open air centers in the nation, Northland was enclosed in 1974 and today boasts space for 96 stores and nearly 1.5 million sq. ft. of retail.

Coach has hired Demandware to help re-launch its website on a new platform to better serve its omnichannel needs.

Coach says it switched from its previous platform to Demandware’s cloud solution to gain greater business agility and to fuel growth across channels and geographies.

Walgreens is opening a massive new store, the drug chain's 15th flagship, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The new store is 35,000-plus feet and is Walgreens' 12th store on Oahu and 18th in Hawaii.

The store also boasts culturally inspired design reflective of elements of traditional Hawaiian architecture, as well as components of the natural landscape.

Fairfax, Va. – A competitive promotional environment and delivery problems had a negative impact on net income and revenues at Geeknet, parent company of online retailer ThinkGeek.com and licensed merchandise distributor ThinkGeek Solutions, during the fourth quarter and full year 2014. Net income for fourth quarter 2014 was $1 million, down 80% from net income of $5.1 million in the same period a year earlier.

Total revenue for fourth quarter 2014 was $72.4 million, a decrease of 3% from $74.3 million.

The National Retail Federation and the Retail Industry Leaders Association are celebrating a tentative agreement on a labor dispute that caused problems at 29 West Coast ports.

Retailers have warned for months that the impasse in negotiations was creating an economic challenge, and that a full-scale strike would negatively impact the entire American economy. Farmers and manufacturers were also reporting a heavy toll as agriculture exports suffered and part shortages were leading to factory slowdowns for some automakers.

Los Angeles – Frederick’s of Hollywood is reportedly closing at least 31 of its 93 stores as part of a broader re-engineering effort. According to the Wall Street Journal, Great American Group is overseeing liquidation sales at 31 stores, including the flagship location in Los Angeles.