News Briefs

[READ MORE: Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s upgrade digital loyalty program]

Based in Franklin, Tenn., CKE Restaurants operates more than 3,600 franchised or company-operated Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s restaurants domestically and more than 35 international markets and U.S. territories.

A group of activist investors have issued a letter to Target shareholders  urging them to vote against the reelection of executive chair — and former company CEO — Brian Cornell at the company’s annual meeting on June 10. 

The group — composed of Mercy Investment Services, SOC Investment Group and Trillium Asset Management — also want shareholders to vote against the reelection of Christine Leahy, who is lead independent director.

Cornell stepped down as Target CEO in February, succeeded by 20-year company veteran Michael Fiddelke, who formerly served as COO. In its letter, the investors voiced their displeasure with the selection of Fiddelke. They also asserted that Target has "clearly underperformed" under Cornell’s leadership as CEO and Leahy’s tenure on the board. 

 “In our view, Target has endured years of strategic and operational missteps that have led to significant underperformance compromising long-term shareholder value,” the letter reads. “The recent CEO succession does not signal that the Board is focused on the genuine reset we believe is critical to turn the Company around. Instead, the Board’s decision, under Ms. Leahy’s leadership, to promote longtime executive Micheal Fiddelke to CEO while also retaining former CEO Brian Cornell as Executive Chair and Special Advisor suggests continuity."

 To read the letter, click here.

A new mixed-use retail development is slated to arrive in South Florida next year.

NoLi will be Miami Beach’s newest retail, office, café, and lifestyle destination, spanning over 150,000 square feet at Lincoln Road, Meridian Avenue and North Lincoln Lane. Developed by The Comras Company, the project is slated to be completed by the final quarter of 2027.

The firm says NoLi will introduce a “boutique passage” connecting to North Lincoln Lane, transforming a former alley into a lively “street off the street” lined with curated shops, outdoor cafés and experiential uses. North Lincoln Lane is being reimagined with distinctive storefronts, expanded pedestrian walkways, café seating, lush landscaping and at its center, NoLi Plaza.

The Comras Company says that retail spaces at the property will range from approximately 400 to 4,000 square feet, strategically reconfigured for "modern boutique operators." Leasing efforts for the property are currently underway.

NoLi’s design is led by Touzet Studio, a Miami-based firm that has designed five buildings on Lincoln Road, including the Nike Flagship Store and Apple Store. Touzet Studio is collaborating with Beilinson Gomez Architects P.A., known for its expertise in historic preservation, adaptive reuse, urban infill, hospitality, mixed-use and more.

[READ MORE: Mixed-use redevelopment project underway at Westfield Garden State Plaza]

Land for the development was acquired in November 2025, while interior demolition for the adaptive reuse of the project began earlier this year.

One of the nation’s largest owners and operators of grocery-anchored neighborhood shopping centers has added a new executive to its team.

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. (PECO) has hired Dan Sutherland as VP of acquisitions for the West region encompassing Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. He brings more than two decades of experience sourcing, structuring and executing retail real estate transactions across both public REITs and private equity platforms to the firm, which was founded in 1991.

Dan most recently served as the senior VP of retail investments, West, at Sterling Organization. Previously, he held senior leadership roles at Brixton Capital and Brixmor Property Group. 

“Dan is a highly respected industry leader with a proven ability to source and close complex transactions,” said Dave Wik, senior VP of acquisitions at PECO. “His deep relationships and strong execution capabilities will be instrumental as PECO continues to scale its acquisition platform and deliver long-term value for our shareholders.”

[READ MORE: 5Qs for Phillips Edison's Bob Myers on the pulse of grocery-anchored centers]

As of March 31, 2026, PECO managed 326 shopping centers, including 299 wholly-owned centers comprising 33.7 million square feet across 31 states, and 27 shopping centers owned in three institutional joint ventures.

Boasting a 95% grocery-anchored composition, PECO’s anchor tenants include Kroger, Publix, Albertsons and Ahold Delhaize.

Wayfair is showing no signs of slowing down its brick-and-mortar expansion.

The online home furnishings giant will open 130,000-sq.-ft., single-level location the Center of Cincinnati, growing its footprint in the Midwest. The store will serve a metro area of approximately 2.3 million residents. 

Expected to open in 2027, the store will feature Wayfair's wide assortment across furniture, décor, housewares, appliances and more, alongside curated Wayfair Verified products and dedicated free design services to support projects of any size.

The Cincinnati location will be Wayfair's second store in Ohio, behind the retailer’s upcoming Columbus location. Set to open later this year, the 70,000-sq.-ft. store will be a test of a smaller-format prototype.

The planned Ohio expansion builds on the company's growing fleet of stores, which includes locations in Wilmette, Ill., and Atlanta. Wayfair has announced plans to open locations in Denver; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; and Westchester, N.Y. 

Wayfair says the recent brick-and-mortar expansion reinforces its commitment to “expanding its omnichannel experience and meeting customers wherever they choose to shop for home.”

"Cincinnati is an exciting market for us, not only for its strong retail environment but also for its reach across the broader tri-state region," said Liza Lefkowski, VP of merchandising and stores at Wayfair. "We're looking forward to serving customers across Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana and helping them create homes they love.”

[READ MORE: Wayfair narrows Q1 loss, returns to active customer growth]

Headquartered in Boston, Wayfair Inc.’s brands include Wayfair, AllModern, Perigold, Birch Lane, Joss & Main and Wayfair Professional.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. is optimizing how it measures and analyzes its exposure to cybercrime.

The specialty apparel retailer utilizes the Kovrr cyber risk quantification (CRQ) platform to analyze its cyber risk in a structured and iterative manner. The initiative began with the creation of a customized “Cyber Sphere” for Abercrombie & Fitch within the Kovrr CRQ platform. This process established an initial quantified baseline to support further analysis.

The quantified cyber risk metrics became a structured component of the Abercrombie & Fitch reporting process. By incorporating potential loss insights into its updates, the retailer could generate information such as top-level organizational indicators and peer benchmarks, providing executives with a deeper understanding of its risk profile.

[READ MORE: Cybersecurity spending rises as attacks increase]

Abercrombie & Fitch also incorporated Kovrr's quantification insights, such as fluctuations in ransomware costs, into what had changed most with security quarter over quarter. In conjunction with reporting, quantification outputs also supported discussions around control improvements. 

The retailer was also able to assess how gradual, calculated upgrades would influence its cyber risk exposure levels. Ultimately, the ability to tie cybersecurity resources to modeled changes in risk provided greater visibility into cybersecurity initiatives being funded and how approved investments were expected to influence the organization’s overall risk. 

"Kovrr’s CRQ outputs gave us another way to frame cyber risk, not as a replacement for existing reporting, but as a complementary input that executives and the board could more easily relate to and incorporate into broader enterprise risk discussions," an Abercrombie & Fitch executive said.

Founded in 1892 and headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Abercrombie & Fitch operates more than 800 stores worldwide across its portfolio of brands.