JCPenney Co.

NEW YORK — Kohl's is the recipient of the People’s Pick award in The Harris Poll Customer Relationship Series, conducted by Harris Interactive. The award cognizes the strength of consumers' bonds with mid-tier department stores and reflects the customers' connections and future intentions.

New York City -- Kohl's is the recipient of the People’s Pick award in The Harris Poll Customer Relationship Series, conducted by Harris Interactive. The award cognizes the strength of consumers' bonds with mid-tier department stores and reflects the customers' connections and future intentions.

Target may have floundered a bit in December, but many retailers reported solid sales gains for the month. Overall, retail sales rose 3.4% at the 22 retailers tracked by the Thomson Reuters same-store sales index, compared with the 3.3% analyst forecast, however results were mixed.

That was the case with the nation’s discounters and department store retailers, with many chains citing unseasonably warm weather that sapped demand for cold-weather merchandise.

PLANO, Texas — JCPenney announced that Thomas Engibous will become chairman of its board of directors on Jan. 28.  Engibous was named to the board in 1999 and has served in presiding director and lead independent director roles since 2008.  He will assume the chairman's role from Myron Ullman, III, JCPenney's former chief executive officer, who will step down as executive chairman.

Well, the holidays are finally over and the verdict is in: Retailers reported a 3.5% year-over-year sales increase in December — that’s better than I thought we would see — and a 3.3% increase overall for the season. While slightly more than some analysts anticipated (myself included!), it wasn’t the happiest holiday for everyone. Certain sectors (electronics) and brands (Macy’s, Nordstrom) did better than expected, while others (Target and J.C. Penney) did worse.

Plano, Texas -- J.C. Penney Co. announced Tuesday that Thomas J. Engibous will become chairman of its board of directors, effective Jan. 28.

Engibous was named to the board in 1999 and has served in presiding director and lead independent director roles since 2008. He will assume the chairman's role from Myron E. (Mike) Ullman, III, J.C. Penney’s former CEO, who will step down as executive chairman.

Engibous is the retired chairman of Texas Instruments Inc.

Richmond, Va. -- Atlanta-based Jones Lang LaSalle said Thursday that it has been selected as the property and leasing manager for Regency Square Mall, an 820,000-sq.-ft. regional shopping center located in Richmond, Va.

Jones Lang LaSalle will work with the current Taubman management team for a one-month transition period.

New York City -- The nation’s discounters and department store retailers turned in mixed results for December, with many chains citing unseasonably warm weather that sapped demand for cold-weather merchandise.

“Cold-weather categories, which are highly profitable and represent approximately 25% of our business in December, were down mid-teens on a percentage basis,” said Tony Buccina, vice chairman, president – merchandising, The Bon-Ton Stores, whose December same-store sales fell 0.7%. The company widened its loss forecast.

New York City -- Liz Claiborne Inc. said Wednesday that it will change its name to Fifth & Pacific Cos., effective May 15, to reflect the divestiture of its namesake brand as well as a newly honed focus on its core banners.

The owner of Juicy Couture, Kate Spade and Lucky Brand agreed last October to sell its Liz Claiborne and Monet brands to J.C. Penney Co. for $267.5 million in a move to reduce debt. It also sold its Dana Buchman brand to Kohl’s Corp.

Ann Arbor, Mich. -- Survey results released Wednesday by customer experience analytics firm ForeSee found that Amazon has continued its trend of high customer service, while other online retail experiences suffered in 2011.

According to ForeSee’s annual Holiday E-Retail Satisfaction Index,
Amazon climbed two points to score 88 on the study’s 100-point scale, registering the highest score from any retailer in 14 consecutive studies.