Legislative, Regulatory & Legal

Washington, D.C. – The Retail Industry Leaders Association elected Ron Boire, president of Sears and Kmart, to its board of directors, during its semi-annual meeting in Washington, D.C. 

The board also re-elected Home Depot chair and CEO Francis Blake, 7-Eleven president and CEO Joseph DePinto, Petco CEO James Myers and J.C. Penney CEO Myron Ullman.

Washington, D.C. -- The National Retail Federation on Wednesday welcomed a letter from lawmakers urging the Internal Revenue Service to back off a proposed accounting rule change that could cost many retailers millions of dollars a year.



Seattle -- Starbucks Coffee Company will start including calorie information on menu boards in all U.S.-based corporate and licensed stores on June 25. The retailer will post calorie counts to accompany each beverage listed on the menu boards, as well as on tags to accompany food in the bakery case. All calorie counts will reflect the item as made by standard recipe and will not include potential extra calories resulting from whipped cream, different types of milk or sweetener, or other customer options.

New York -- Nine owners and managers of 7-Eleven stores across Long Island (New York) and in Virginia were charged on Monday of harboring and hiring dozens of illegal immigrants and paying them using sham Social Security numbers.

NEW YORK — Bowing to pressure from the Partnership at Drugfree.org, fashion retailer Urban Outfitters has agreed to pull merchandise made to look like prescription pill bottles, including prescription label flasks and pint and shot glasses, from its shelves.  

The Sobey’s chain of food stores, whose parent company counts former Walmart Canada head Dave Ferguson among its board members, has added new square footage to its retail portfolio with the acquisitions of Safeway’s Canadian stores.

The $5.8 billion deal, announced late Wednesday will added Safeway’s 223 stores and 12 manufacturing facilities to Sobey’s existing operation which includes about 1,500 stores under banners such as Sobeys, IGA extra, Thrifty Foods, IGA, Foodland and FreshCo.

For anyone involved in retail, it feels like the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) Spring Convention in Las Vegas signifies an important yearly milestone. Those of us in the industry can be forgiven for visualizing a “retail year” that begins immediately after the convention in May and runs until RECon opens its doors the following year.

The entire Walmart board was re-elected last Friday at the company’s shareholders meeting, but a substantial number of negative votes indicate some investors are not happy with long-time board members and key senior leaders.