Corporate Governance

Vera Bradley has named Angel Ilagan as EVP, chief marketing officer, effective July 21.

Since 2010, Ilagan has served as marketing chief and VP of marketing in the Americas for Pandora Jewelry, where he oversees consumer advertising, promotions, marketing research, public relations, co-op advertising, Web management, customer relationship management (CRM) and social media management. His additional global responsibilities at Pandora include branding, strategic marketing and e-commerce content.

Washington, D.C. — The National Retail Federation (NRF) presented its annual Ring of Excellence, Law Enforcement Retail Partnership and Retail Case of the Year awards during the NRF Loss Prevention Conference and Expo on Thursday, June 12.

San Francisco — La Boulange, the bakery-café chain owned by Starbucks, has opened its first restaurant outside its base of San Francisco, in Los Angeles. The new all-day menu offers breakfast, lunch and dinner, using local California-sourced ingredients wherever possible, as well as tap wine and beer and specialty cocktails.

Toys “R” Us reported a 4% same store sales increase during the first quarter, a surprisingly strong figure given the weather related challenges cited by other retailers who experienced weak sales.

Scottsdale, Ariz. — P.F. Chang’s China Bistro Inc. is the latest retailer to investigate a possible data breach.

The retailer emailed has been contacted by banks and law enforcement agencies about online reports that credit card and debit card numbers matching ones used at P.F. Chang’s locations between March and May 2o14 have appeared for sale on underground hacker websites.

Media reports indicate the U.S. Secret Service is also investigating the potential breach, although the Secret Service has not publicly commented.

Corte Madera, California — Furniture and housewares retailer Restoration Hardware reported a profit of $1.8 million in the quarter ended May 3, compared with a loss of $161,000 last year. Results topped Wall Street expectations and prompted the company to raise its outlook for the year.

Revenue grew 22% to $366.3 million, from $301.3 million in the year-ago period. Wall Street predicted $346.7 million.
 

Dollarama said that its first-quarter results were adversely affected by challenging weather conditions, but the company reported continued growth in sales and net earnings.

Canada's leading dollar store operator of 899 locations across the country reported sales for the quarter of $501.1 million, an 11.8% increase from $448.1 million in the prior-year periord. The increase in sales was driven by the growth in the number of stores in the past 12 months and strong Easter sales and continued organic sales growth driven by comparable store sales growth of 3.3%.

Lululemon Athletica Inc.'s first-quarter net income plunged 60%, impacted by a one-time tax adjustment. Although its adjusted profit and revenue beat Wall Street's expectations for the quarter, the retailer lowered its full-year earnings forecast.

Lululemon said that CFO John Currie plans to retire by the end of its fiscal year (February 2015).