Corporate Governance

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. posted a 16% drop in first quarter earnings as costs related to its data breach and the company's troubled Canadian operations continue to take a toll on its overall performance. The retailer also cut its annual profit forecast and released a second quarter projection below Street expectations. On a positive note, Target's same-store sales metric improved from the last quarter.

New York - Foot Locker Inc. is introducing Eastbay Performance Zone at Champs Sports. The new shop-in-shop destination brings together direct-to-customer athletic apparel retailer Eastbay and Champs Sports.  

Rand Corporation has appointed former Bloomingdale’s chairman and CEO Michael Gould and Paul Kaminski, who has held high-level posts in U.S. Department of Defense, to its board of trustees.

“Michael Gould and Paul Kaminski are talented leaders and each has a passion to help Rand deliver rigorous and objective analysis to policy and decision makers in all corners of the world,” said president and CEO Michael D. Rich. “I know they will be valuable additions to our governing board.”

Mooresville, N.C. – Lowe’s Companies Inc. had a generally successful first quarter fiscal 2014 with earnings and sales both rising from the same period a year earlier, although sales missed Wall Street estimates. Net earnings rose 16% to $624 million from $540 million, while net sales increased 2% to $13.4 million from $13.1 million and same-store sales climbed 0.9%.

Amazon.com took second place overall and was the highest-ranked retailer in the 2014 Temkin Customer Service Ratings, which rates 233 companies across 19 industries with 10,000 U.S. consumers. Other retailers in the top 12 include Chick-fil-A, Publix, H-E-B, Starbucks, Costco, QVC, and Trader Joe's.

Retailers with the most improvement over last year's ratings are Apple Store, KFC, and Food Lion. Ace Hardware and Staples saw their Temkin Customer Service Ratings fall by 15 points or more between 2013 and 2014: No retailers placed at the bottom of the rankings.

Atlanta – Lease-to-own retailer Aaron’s Inc. has named Sharon Lawrence VP finance and Kirby Salgado as VP merchandising. Lawrence, formerly Aaron's director of franchise finance, joined Aaron's in 2012 after a 25-plus year career at SunTrust Bank, while Salgado most recently served as VP/general merchandise manager for Sears Holdings.

Fort Worth, Texas — Founders Properties has hired Trademark Property Co. to handle management, marketing, accounting and construction for Burr Ridge Village Center, a 232,000-sq.-ft. mixed-use lifestyle center in Burr Ridge, Illinois.

Located 15 miles west of Chicago, the center forms a downtown for the affluent Burr Ridge community. It includes 195,000 sq. ft. of retail and restaurants, 37,000 sq. ft. of office and 196 luxury residential units.

While many retailers were still reeling from a prolonged winter that hurt their first quarter results, Michaels saw solid results in its first quarter, posting increases in both net and comparable-store sales.