Hudson's Bay Co. (HBC)

Retailers continue to evaluate their physical footprints in the context of growing online sales in order to find the right balance between the two.

The owner of Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord & Taylor and Hudson's Bay has come under a new round of ire after it announced its chief executive was leaving.

An 11-year veteran of Canadian department store giant HBC is stepping down.    HBC, whose banners include Hudson's Bay, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Lord & Taylor, announced that Don Watros, president of HBC International, has made the decision to leave, effective September 29, 2017. The company did not name a successor.   

The parent company of Hudson's Bay, Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue has appointed a 25-year retail veteran as its new finance head.   HBC named Edward Record as CFO, effective August 28, 2017. He succeeds Paul Beesley, who, as previously announced is leaving HBC.   Record joins HBC after more than three years as CFO of J. C. Penney Company. In July, he announced he was stepping down from the company to "pursue other interests."  

Neiman Marcus is making moves to offset its debt and improve its capital structure.   The luxury department store’s first step was to eliminate 225 positions. Affected employees — which span all brands and operating divisions — will receive severance packages, and also be considered for other job openings within the company, according to the Dallas News.  

Consumers shopping for others bring different expectations and needs than those shopping for themselves. Until now, retailers have turned a blind eye to the enormous sales opportunities in digital gifting, which is estimated to represent $200 billion-300 billion in sales annually.  Leading retailers and brands such as Macy’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Coach, Lilly Pulitzer, Vera Bradley, and others have begun to embrace innovative, new digital gifting solutions and monetize the emerging digital gifting category.   

The CEO of Hudson's Bay Company, the managing director of Harrods, and the president of Pinterest will be among the featured speakers at Shoptalk Europe.    The event will take place on October 9-11, 2017, at The Bella Center in Copenhagen. It will feature more than 125 speakers, according to organizers, with 75% of the speakers being C-level executives, including 65 CEOs. More than 2,000 attendees are expected.   

Sears Canada could file for Chapter 11 sooner than expected.   The struggling offshoot of Sears Holdings Corp., is preparing to seek court protection against its creditors. The filing — which could happen within weeks — will likely lead to a liquidation, with the business sold off in pieces, sources told Bloomberg.