Corporate Governance

Kendal King Group has created a unique event to be held in Northwest Arkansas later this summer that is designed to simultaneously benefit local charities while commemorating the firm’s 25th anniversary.

The past few months have seen Walmart leverage its 50th anniversary with a wide range of tactics, but one of the company’s most visible actions may occur this weekend.

Philadelphia -- Ascena Retail Group CEO David Jaffe has pledged to preserve the jobs of 7,500 employees at soon-to-be-shuttered Fashion Bug stores, as well as 600 workers at the headquarters of Charming Shoppes, according to an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Ascena, which owns the Dressbarn, Justice and Maurices banners, acquired Charming Shoppes – and its Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug and Catherines brands – on June 15.

Greensboro, N.C. -- High-end grocer The Fresh Market is making a stand in California, as it prepares to open its first three stores in the state.

According to a Tuesday report by Investor’s Business Daily, Fresh Market has signed leases and begun construction on one store in Santa Barbara, one in Palo Alto and a third in Roseville. The grocer said it expects to open its first store in the state either late this year or early 2013.

Chelmsford, Mass. -- The Kronos Retail Labor Index edged up to 4.2% in June from a reading of 4.1% in May. The June reading reflected sharp declines in both applications and hiring. (The index is defined as the ratio of hires to applications within a given month, expressed as a percentage. A level of 3.0% means that for every 100 applications received, three hires occurred.)

Washington, D.C. -- A report issued Thursday by the Labor Department showed that applications for jobless benefits fell 14,000 in the week ended June 30, to 374,000.

The news eased some concern that the labor market is faltering further.

“Before today it was pretty clear the labor market had softened over the past few months,” Daniel Silver, an economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co., told Bloomberg. “Today’s reports show a little bright spot.”

 

New York -- Sears Canada will deploy CloudApps’ sustainability performance management software across the chain’s 122 department stores, 48 home stores and 11 outlet locations. CloudApps said it will capture carbon, energy and waste data from the sites, encouraging site managers to be responsible for reducing usage.

Fort Worth, Texas -- Dallas-based Cypress Equities said that drycleaner The Laundry will open at the mixed-use development West 7th, located in Fort Worth, Texas.

The 963-sq.-ft. shop is slated to open later this year.

West 7th’s retail and office components are being developed by a Cypress Equities company and the residential component by Columbus Realty Partners.
 

Greenwich, Conn. -- Private investment firm Starwood Capital Group announced that an affiliate of Starwood has completed its acquisition of a 90% majority interest in seven U.S. shopping centers from the Westfield Group.

Westfield retained a 10% minority interest in the portfolio.

Starwood also announced that it has formed a new subsidiary, Starwood Retail Partners, to be based in Chicago, to oversee the management of the newly acquired assets and has named Scott Wolstein, co-founder of DDR, as its CEO. 

New York -- As discounters such as Target, Stein Mart and warehouse club operator Costco posted disappointing same-store sales results in June, TJX Cos. and Ross Stores shone with gains that surpassed Wall Street estimates. TJX saw a same-store sales rise of 7% in June, beating the 4.2% rise predicted by analysts. Ross was up 7% for the month, after Wall Street forecast a 4.8% increase. Sales rose 12% to $886 million in June. Both chains raised their second-quarter profit forecasts.