Corporate Governance

Sears Holdings has appointed former Tesco executive Alasdair James as president and chief member officer for the Kmart business.

In this role, James will be responsible for driving the Kmart format strategy, managing the Kmart P&L and aligning merchandise, marketing, pricing and selling with the needs and wants of Shop Your Way members.

New York -- Barneys New York has settled its profiling and racial discrimination case, agreeing to pay $525,000 and implement measures to address potential future profiling chances.

The retailer’s Madison Avenue store has been under investigation by the New York State Attorney General’s office for the past nine months.

Fort Worth, Texas -- Calloway’s Nursery has named Alicia Hicks as VP marketing, effective Aug. 5. Hicks formerly served as Calloway's director of retail marketing.

With her promotion, Hicks will oversee marketing for all aspects of Calloway's Nursery, which includes 17 Calloway's Nursery locations in Dallas/Fort Worth, as well as two Cornelius Nursery locations in Houston. She will develop strategic marketing plans and customer experience initiatives for both Calloway's and Cornelius brands across all retail locations.

Office Depot’s is looking to elevate its business performance with a range of new insights and operational capabilities resulting from an expanded relationship with Teradata.

Office Depot had an existing relationship with Teradata, a leading provider of analytic data platforms, marketing applications and related services, but its involvement with the technology leader is expanding at a time when Office Depot is looking to elevate its performance in the wake of last year’s merger with OfficeMax.

Phoenix – Sprouts Farmers Market Inc. reported net income of $30.2 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2014, more than double the $12.5 million profit reported in the same quarter a year earlier. The elimination of pre-tax loss on extinguishment of debt of $8.2 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2013 helped boost Sprouts’ net income.

A more cautious consumer led to weaker-than-anticipated traffic at Hibbett in the second quarter, prompting the sporting goods retailer to revise its earnings expectations for the full year.

Net sales for the 13-week period ended August 2 are expected to increase 4.2% to $194 million compared with $186.2 million for the year-ago period. Comparable store sales are expected to increase 0.1% for the quarter.

Redmond, Wash. – Microsoft Corp. is reportedly negotiating to open a new store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. According to the New York Daily News, the site is only a few blocks from Apple’s large “glass cube” store in New York.

Conway, Ark. -- The Central Landing retail development now underway in Conway, Arkansas, has added Dillard’s as a key anchor for its first phase, according Jim Wilson & Associates and partner the Conway Development Corp.