Corporate Governance

New York -- The U.S. National Labor Relations Board has filed a formal complaint charging that Wal-Mart Stores violated labor laws in 14 states by taking action against striking and protesting workers.

The NLRB said the retailer illegally fired, disciplined or threatened more than 60 employees in 14 states for participating in legally protected activities to complain about wages and working conditions.

New York -- Sears Canada Inc. has entered into an arrangement with IBM to have the supplier take over the work currently performed at three internal Sears customer contact centers. The outsourcing move will take place over the next nine months and affect 1,345 employees.

Dallas -- J. C. Penney Company announced that as part of its turnaround efforts it will close 33 underperforming stores across the country. The shutterings, which will result in the elimination of about 2,000 positions, are expected to result in an annual cost savings of approximately $65 million, beginning in 2014.

King of Prussia, Pa. -- Rigid technology can be a prohibitor in omnichannel growth, especially for mid-market retailers, according to a new study by eBay Enterprise. The report, 2014 Omnichannel Benchmark Study, found that that mid-sized retailers are behind their larger competitors in implementing omnichannel experiences and inflexible technology is the biggest factor in prohibiting retailer maturity and growth.

Other key findings include:

Seattle -- Nordstrom plans to open a full-line store in the heart of downtown Toronto, at Toronto Eaton Centre.

Construction of the approximately 213,000-sq.-ft., three-level store is set to begin in March 2014, with the store opening slated for fall 2016. Toronto Eaton Centre is owned and managed by The Cadillac Fairview Corp. Ltd.

London -- Verizon is migrating Tesco to a single global network infrastructure, which will underpin Tesco’s ongoing application and infrastructure centralization program.

Duluth, Ga. -- Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores has selected NCR Corp. to install NCR point-of-sale software and technology in its more than 300 locations across 39 states.

Traditionally, Love’s has replaced a quarter of their POS devices each year. But the retailer decided a complete refresh of 1,800 devices to solid state technology with greater processing power and screen size, gives them an immediate ability to create a better customer experience across their footprint.
 

Aston, Pa. -- Action Services Group, a national lighting, sign and electrical maintenance company will present its wide-range of services at the upcoming 2014 TopSource Summit Supplier Showcase, January 27th – 29th in Dallas.

TopSource, a Boston-based strategic sourcing company, assists grocery, retail, and wholesale companies manage their indirect spend to help provide significant savings and innovative solutions in multiple business areas.

Los Angeles — PizzaRev has signed agreements with four franchisee groups covering territory in five states. The deals will lead to the opening of new units in San Diego and Orange counties in California plus Utah, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. Here are brief profiles of each group:

Atlanta — Moe’s Southwest Grill has signed a deal to bring 18 new restaurants to Sacramento and Santa Cruz over the next seven years. This is the franchiser’s first push into California.

HKM II is the franchise group behind the California expansion. HKM II owns 42 quick-serve burger restaurants throughout Northern California, Southern Nevada and Arizona.