JCPenney Co.

PLANO, Texas — JCPenney has made a number of key appointments in the areas of real estate, supply chain, communications, marketing and philanthropy.

Plano, Texas -- On Thursday, J.C. Penney and CEO Ron Johnson announced a new lineup of executive players to join the department store retailer’s team, one of them from the ranks of Apple.

Benjamin Fay, senior director of retail real estate, design and development for Apple, has been named executive VP real estate, store design and development for J.C. Penney.

Houston -- Stage Stores announced the appointment of Steven Lawrence as chief merchandising officer, effective April 30, 2012. Lawrence will be responsible for all of the merchandising, planning and allocation functions of the company.

Prior to joining Stage Stores, Lawrence spent 11 years with J.C. Penney, where he was most recently co-chief merchant executive VP GMM men’s, kids & home.
 

Bridgeport, W.Va. -- Youngstown, Ohio-based Cafaro Co. announced that Planet Fitness will open a new gym at the company’s Meadowbrook Mall, located in Bridgeport, W.Va.

The 23,000-sq.-ft. facility is slated to open in September, in a space currently occupied by High Point Furniture.

The Meadowbrook Mall Complex, at nearly one million sq. ft., is anchored by Elder-Beerman, J.C. Penney, Target, Sears and Marshalls.
 

To be truly fashion-forward, a closet must be refreshed periodically. This is equally true for premiere, class “A” regional malls that pride themselves on offering the hottest apparel and most fashionable retail the industry has to offer. If wardrobe success depends on what’s hanging in your closet, shopping centers hang their success on merchandising savvy and tenant mix.

While there still is not enough new shopping center construction to warrant a “Fastest-Growing Developers” ranking system — as Chain Store Age provided for 20 consecutive years, from 1989 to 2008 — progress continues to be made.

PLANO, Texas — Personnel changes are quite common these days at JCPenney, the latest involving CFO Michael Dastugue,  who is leaving the company effective April 13. The company has named COO Michael Kramer as interim CFO while a search for a new CFO is conducted.

New York -- J.C. Penney Co. on Wednesday said that CFO Michael Dastugue will depart the company, effective April 13. Dastugue, 47, has been at J.C. Penney since 1991. He was named CFO in January 2011. His departure is the latest shake-up in management as new CEO Ron Johnson works to transform the chain.

Mike Kramer, COO, will assume the CFO duties on an interim basis while a search for a replacement is conducted. Kramer joined J.C. Penney in December, shortly after his former boss at Apple Inc., Ron Johnson, became J.C. Penney's CEO.

If you’re like me and watch more TV than you should, you’ve probably seen the unusual new Target commercials with the hot air balloon. These “Color Changes Everything” spots feature a troupe of lively individuals landing in a hot air balloon (which, when seen from above, sports a gigantic version of the distinctive Target bullseye logo) and cavorting through an urban setting in acrobatic fashion, magically transforming the clothing, accessories and household goods of the people they encounter into stuff that is brighter, hipper and generally cooler and more fun.

NEW YORK— The ax has fallen at JCPenney. The company on Thursday laid off 600 workers from its corporate headquarters Plano, Texas, as its looks to streamline its business model amid a major reinvention of the business. The staff reduction, which equaled 13% to 14% of the headquarters staff, did not include any senior executives, according to The New York Times.