Corporate Governance

Los Angeles — PizzaRev has signed agreements with four franchisee groups covering territory in five states. The deals will lead to the opening of new units in San Diego and Orange counties in California plus Utah, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. Here are brief profiles of each group:

New York -- Despite severe winter weather travails during the holiday shopping season, the National Retail Federation said Tuesday that December retail sales didn’t take the hit that many feared.

In fact, taking advantage of heavy promotions and last-minute deals, shoppers were able to move the December retail sales needle up 0.4% month-to-month, excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants, and up 4.6% year-over-year.



Prism Skylabs, a global leading cloud service provider, has hired former Apple executive Cliff Crosbie as SVP of managed services.

Crosbie comes to Prism Skylabs after overseeing Apple’s global preferred reseller program. In his new role, he will be charged with growing Prism’s visual merchandising and auditing services

“I’ve never seen a merchandising or analytics solution as effective as Prism Skylabs,” said Crosbie. “I couldn’t be more excited to join the team.”
 

Atlanta -- Christine Day, the outgoing CEO of Lululemon, has been appointed CEO at Luvo, a start-up frozen-food company that focuses on healthy, low calorie, low sodium meals. Day’s appointment is effective April 1.

Black+Decker’s consumer branded power tools, outdoor power equipment and home products are sporting a new look. The redesigned logo was designed to modernize the brand which has been around for more than 100 years.

Wayne, N.J. – Babies "R" Us announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with TheBump.com, a leading pregnancy and parenting website that offers advice, ideas, resources and support to first-time parents as they navigate pregnancy.

Under the arrangement, Babies “R” Us’ registry will now be available to a new, expanded audience of moms-to-be who can create and share their registry directly from TheBump.com via its gift registry center.

By Lee Peterson, WD Partners

If a sacred cow exists among retail strategists today, the price-match is undoubtedly it. As the weapon of first resort, it is the most obvious defense against the rapid rise of “showrooming” and the unbridled growth of online retailing behemoths like Amazon, ruthlessly cutting into retailers’ profits.

Tucson, Ariz. — Big-box retail space in Tucson, Ariz., has been leasing up, with the highest demand focused in core regional mall hubs. Big-box spaces in peripheral areas of the city remain vacant.

In the Park Place Mall area, for instance, big box properties are nearly fully leased, with some saying the area is ripe for redevelopment to accommodate future demand.