Legislative, Regulatory & Legal

Office Depot put the blame for disappointing first-quarter financial results on its delayed buyout by Staples.

"The protracted regulatory review of the pending Staples acquisition continues to have a substantial disruptive impact on our business," stated Roland Smith, chairman and CEO, Office Depot. “Our North American Business Solutions Division and International Division are more impacted by this disruption and accordingly, both failed to meet our sales and profit expectations this quarter.”

Regardless of the final outcome of its acquisition of Office Depot, Staples just nominated three individuals to its board of directors with unique perspectives on growth.

Curtis Feeny, managing director of Voyager Capital, Deb Henretta, former group president of global e-commerce at Procter & Gamble and John Lundgren, chairman and CEO of Stanley Black & Decker, have been nominated by the Staples board of directors for election at the company’s 2016 annual meeting.

American Family Association has called on its members to boycott Target Corp. over the chain’s decision to allow transgender employees and customers to use bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity.

The group said it had gathered 172,494 signatures on a boycott petition by mid-morning on Friday.

Aeropostale Inc. preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as soon as this month, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Aeropostale has recorded three consecutive years of losses as its struggles to deal with a teen audience whose spending tastes now favor fast-fashion giants such as H&M as well as online retailers. The chain operates some 800 stores nationwide.

Target Corp. weighed in on the national debate about which bathrooms transgender people can use, staking a position that is sure to elicit as much praise as it does criticism.

In a blog post on its company website Tuesday, the discounter said transgender employees and customers can use the restroom or fitting room facility that "corresponds with their gender identity."

PSK Supermarkets, a 14-unit Mount Vernon, New York-based grocer that operates stores under the Foodtown banner, needs to run at maximum efficiency in order to compete with national rivals and keep food prices low for shoppers Controlling expenses is a big part of PSK’s efforts to ensure optimal operations. To stay on top of finances. the retailer leverages cloud-based Dayforce Human Capital Management (HCM) technology from Ceridian.

Target Corp is raising its minimum wage to $10 an hour, Reuters reported.

The reported increase comes amid an increasingly competitive job market and widespread calls by activists and labor groups for retail and restaurant chains to offer higher wages.

It was probably inevitable that somebody at some point would challenge the legality of the Oct. 1, 2015 EMV (Europay, Mastercard and Visa) liability shift.