Corporate Governance

Minneapolis – Women’s specialty retailer Christopher & Banks Corp. swung to a profit of $3.4 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2014, compared to a net loss of $285,000 in the prior year period. Higher pretax income and income operating, as well as a tax benefit, helped push Christopher & Banks into the black.

Just two days after reporting second-quarter results, Fred's posted August results. Improved sales and traffic in the month were driven, according to CEO Bruce A. Efird, by initiatives that the company implemented for the first time in August.

Total sales for the month increased 6% to $147.6 million from $139.4 million in August 2013. Comparable store sales for the month increased 2.3% compared with flat store sales in the same period last year.

Houston -- In a deal that will create a national specialty bedding retail powerhouse, Mattress Firm Holding Corp. has agreed to acquire rival The Sleep Train Inc. for about  $425 million. As part of the deal, Mattress Firm said that it will also assume certain additional liabilities totaling about $15 million.

Sleep Train operates approximately 310 specialty mattress stores, primarily in California, Oregon, and other Western states. It reported net sales of $471 million for the 2013 fiscal year.

Walgreens reported August sales of $6.4 billion, an increase of 3.6% from the same month in fiscal 2013. Total sales for fiscal 2014 were $76.4 billion, an increase of 5.8% from fiscal 2013.
 
Total front-end sales increased 2.1% in August compared with the same month in fiscal 2013, while comparable-store front-end sales increased 1.4%. Customer traffic in comparable stores decreased 1.7% while basket size increased 3.1%.
 

Chain Store Age makes no secret of the fact that we are a retail publication – and have been since 1925. Our readership is retail headquarters executives and our content is directed toward, and influenced by, that very group.

In the September 2014 issue, however, we looked at another group – one that is integrally involved with retailers and often determines the success of a single store or an entire market:  retail brokers.

Tiffany & Co. has named Jill Beraud as an EVP, effective Oct. 13. Beraud will be responsible for global retail operations, including all sales channels in every region, as well as oversight of strategic store development and real estate.

“We are delighted that Jill will join our management team and believe that she can further enhance our regional and global capabilities to support Tiffany’s continued sales and earnings growth,” said Michael J. Kowalski, chairman and CEO.

Beachwood, Ohio -- DDR Corp. announced the addition of Nordstrom Rack to The Shops at Midtown Miami, a 98% leased, 645,000-sq.-ft. urban, value-oriented power center in Miami.

DDR created space for Nordstrom Rack through its Project Accelerate initiative announced in May of 2014, whereby DDR is recapturing below-market leases from underperforming anchor tenants and backfilling these locations with best-in-class retailers.

Atlanta – The alleged security breach that recently hit The Home Depot Inc. may have compromised credit and debit card data at nearly all of the company’s stores. According to the security website Krebsonsecurity.com, the unique ZIP codes of a large batch of new cards listed for sale on underground hacker sites shows a more than 99% overlap with nearby Home Depot stores, suggesting a widespread breach.