Corporate Governance

Hoffman Estates, Ill. - Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores, Inc. has opened a new Sears Appliance & Hardware Store located in Huntsville, Texas. The store was the fourth Sears Appliance & Hardware Store to open in 2013 and will celebrate its official grand opening Feb. 28-March 1.

The new 18,000-sq.-ft. store offers in-store services such as blade sharpening, key cutting and screen repair, as well as products typically found in local hardware stores, such as fasteners and electrical and plumbing supplies.

New York -- G Asset Management, LLC ("GAM"), a private investment management firm, has made a proposal to acquire 51% of Barnes & Noble Inc., valuing the company at $22 per share, or about $1.3 billion. This is a 10% increase on the $20 per share offer G Asset made for 51% of Barnes & Noble in November 2013.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc. has opened two new Sears Hometown Stores. The stores are located in Longmont, Colo. and Wenatchee, Wash., and will celebrate their official grand openings Feb. 28-March 1.

The stores were the 15th and 16th Sears Hometown Stores to open in 2013. If a product is not available in-stores, Sears Hometown Store associates can order customers any product from the entire merchandise selection offered by Sears.

Dublin, Calif. -- Ross Dress for Less will open its first store in Oakland, Calif. on March 8, bringing the total to more than 250 stores in California, the retailer’s largest state. The new location will be in Foothill Square in Oakland.  

Together, Ross Dress for Less and DD’s Discounts currently operate approximately 1,300 off-price apparel and home fashion stores in 33 states, the District of Columbia and Guam.

Minneapolis – Tile Shop Holdings Inc. swung from a net loss to profit during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013, but still reported a net loss for the full fiscal year. During the fourth quarter, Tile Shop reported net earnings of $1.4 million compared to a net loss of $35.8 million to the same period a year earlier.

San Francisco -- Banana Republic is releasing an omni-channel spring 2014 marketing campaign called “True Outfitters” in March 2014. Styled by Jessica Diehl and shot by Mikael Jansson, the campaign was developed with Laird+Partners, Banana Republic's advertising agency.

The campaign will appear in March and April publications, supplemented by outdoor, online and direct mail. Digital portions include a dedicated website and a special YouTube event on March 2.

Woonsocket, R.I. – CVS MinuteClinic will switch to the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) called EpicCare. MinuteClinic currently uses its own proprietary EMR.

EpicCare will support MinuteClinic's evidence-based model of care and facilitate connectivity with health care providers nationwide that currently use Epic, including many major health systems, hospital networks and physician groups currently affiliated with MinuteClinic. MinuteClinic's full deployment of EpicCare is expected to take 18 months.

Ingolstadt, Germany -- Media Markt – Saturn Holding Netherlands, the Netherlands subsidiary of German electronics retailer Media Markt, has deployed Pricer ESLs in all 45 stores in the Netherlands. This investment in electronic shelf label (ESL) technology is part of Media Markt – Saturn Holding Netherlands’ omni-channel concept, which is based on an active and flexible pricing policy, and on having matching sales prices at any time in the company's brick-and-mortar stores and its online shops.

Seattle – Holiday markdowns and costs associated with growing its Nordstrom Rack outlet brand and planned entry into Canada had a negative impact on net earnings at Nordstrom Inc. during fourth quarter 2013. Fourth quarter net earnings slipped 6% compared to the same quarter the prior year, to $268 million from $284 million.

Net earnings for the full fiscal year remained almost flat, slightly rising to $735 million from $734 million. Both earnings figures fell short of Wall Street expectations.

Dallas — SRS Real Estate Partners has appointed Will Majors senior VO and market leader. Majors will focus on tenant and landlord representation. He will also be responsible for signing new clients and recruiting qualified brokers.

Majors brings more than 12 years of experience in the retail real estate industry to his new post. Previously, he worked at Endeavor Real Estate Group where he was responsible for more than 2 million sq. ft. of transactions.