Corporate Governance

Pittsburgh — GNC Holdings has announced that it is expanding its retail presence in China with the opening of its first stand-alone store in Shanghai. GNC plans to open an additional 25 locations in China over the next 12 months.

The company currently operates more than 60 store-within-a-store locations in eight grocery, convenience and health and wellness chains in China.

New York -- Paragon Theaters has announced plans to bring a 10-screen theater to Posner Commons in Davenport, Fla. The theater will serve as the entertainment anchor for the 630,000-sq.-ft. regional power center, offering Target, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Best Buy and other. Paragon said the new theater would open in the summer of 2014.

National retail tenants at Posner Commons include Target, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Best Buy and others.

New York -- Berkowitz Development Group has inked a lease renewal with Sports Authority for 43,000-sq. ft. at Kendallgate Shopping Center in Miami.

As part of a nationwide effort, the retailer will redesign the store’s interior and incorporate updated exterior signage.

Pittsburgh – American Eagle is opening what it calls a “progressive technology” office in San Francisco. The almost 10,000-squ.-ft. office, located at 49 Stevenson Street, will offer a space for engineers, designers and digital marketing teams to work on American Eagle’s omni-channel initiatives.

Eden Prairie, Minn. -- Supervalu has named Bruce Besanko as the company’s executive VP and CFO, effective Aug. 7. Besanko joins Supervalu after serving as executive VP of finance, CFO and CAO for OfficeMax since 2009.

Grand Rapids, Mich. -- Meijer will open its first supercenter in the city of Detroit, at the Gateway Marketplace shopping center, on July 25. The 190,000-sq.-ft. store will include fresh produce and a full-service, drive-thru pharmacy walk-in health screenings, immunizations and specially trained diabetes-care pharmacists.

Brampton, Ontario -- Loblaw Companies Limited reported higher earnings and revenue in the second quarter of fiscal 2013 as compared to the same period in fiscal 2012. Lolbaw’s net earnings for the quarter totaled USD $173.2 million, up 14% from $151.8 million.

The retailer reported revenues of $7.31 billion, a 2% increase from $7.18 billion a year earlier. Same-store sales improved 1.1%.

Houston – The Men’s Wearhouse, Inc. has reached an agreement to repurchase $100 million worth of common stock from JPMorgan Chase Bank, NA under an accelerated share repurchase program. The retailer will buy the shares as part of an ongoing $200 million share repurchase program announced in March of this year. Men’s Wearhouse expects to close the transaction by the end of fourth quarter 2013.

Toano, Va. – Lumber Liquidators reported impressive gains in net income and sales during the second quarter of fiscal 2013. Net income rose almost 68% to $20.4 million from $12.2 million in the second quarter of the previous year, while net sales grew 22% to $257.1 million from $210.3 million.

Same-store sales increased 14.9%, driven by a 9.1% increase in the number of customers invoiced and a 5.4% increase in the average sale.  

Naperville, Ill. – OfficeMax Inc. is promoting Deb O’Connor, senior VP of finance and chief administrative officer, to interim CFO. She will replace Bruce Besanko, executive VP and CFO, who will leave the company to become the executive VP and CFO of Supervalu Inc. His last day at OfficeMax will be Aug. 6. A five-year veteran of OfficeMax, O'Connor previously served as senior VP and controller of the ServiceMaster Company.