Corporate Governance

Dallas – Alliance Data Systems Corporation will provide private label credit card services for the US brands of Zale’s and acquire the existing card portfolio at a future date. In addition to providing private label credit card services for each Zale brand in the U.S., Alliance Data will provide turnkey credit marketing services to all Zale brands, including omni-channel and mobile services and technologies.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Sears was arguably synonymous with its “Big Book” catalog, but as the world became more technologically advanced and look books went digital, the retailer bade its catalog and catalog stores farewell and shifted to a new retail model of locally owned and operated dealer stores. 

Washington, D.C. -- Import volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to increase a modest 1.1% in July over the same month last year, but a slow summer should be followed by significant increases as retailers head into the holiday season this fall, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released Wednesday by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.


BOISE, Idaho — The Retailer Owned Food Distributors & Associates, the largest cooperative of independent food wholesalers, is showing its support for product safety by endorsing the use of best-in-class recall process management technology from Recall InfoLink. 

The Recall InfoLink solution has been successfully deployed at ROFDA members Affiliated Foods of Amarillo, Associated Grocers-Baton Rouge, Olean Wholesale Grocers and Associated Grocers of the South. Other members are expected to implement the system later this year.

Madrid, Spain – Spanish apparel retailer Grupo Cortefiel is supporting growth across multiple fast-moving product categories and Springfield, Cortefiel, women’secret and Pedro el Hierro retail brands using product lifecycle management (PLM) technology from Centric Software Inc. Grupo Cortefiel will deploy the Centric PLM suite to users in its costing, design, product development and product management departments.

New York -- Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch has resigned, effective immediately. The company said it has appointed Michael P. Huseby as CEO of Nook Media and president of Barnes & Noble. He had served as the company’s CFO since 2012.

Lynch, a technology veteran, took the reins of Barnes & Noble in 2010, and was a driving force in the chain's transition into digital and the expansion of its Nook line of tablets. No reason was given for his departure. 

New York -- Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th announced that it plans to open a new store in Atlanta, Georgia on July 18.

The 28,000-sq.-ft. store will be located in the Outlet Shoppes at Atlanta at Woodstock.

The store will be the third Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th in metropolitan Atlanta, but will be the first store to be modeled after the company’s “luxury-in-a-loft” store design, which highlights the merchandise and facilitates easy shopping.

New York -- Walmart confirmed in an op-ed in the Washington Post that it will pull the plug on three planned stores in the Washington, D.C., area if the D.C. Council passes a bill setting a higher minimum wage for large retailers. The bill, the Large Retailer Accountability Act (LRAA) of 2013, is scheduled for a vote on Wednesday.