Human Resources

Foothill Ranch, Calif. – Teen retailer The Wet Seal reported a new loss of $22 million for its second quarter, up from $1 million to $22 million in the year-ago period. Lower merchandise margins, higher occupancy costs, costs related to exiting its Arden B business, and non-cash asset impairment charges all helped increase Wet Seal’s net loss.

Net sales decreased 11.6% to $121.2 million, from $137.2 million. One bright spot was e-commerce, where sales rose 25%.

North Plainfield, N.J. — David Reiner has joined retail real estate services firm Levin Management as VP of leasing. Most recently, Reiner served as director of real estate for Body Central Stores Inc.

During the past 25 years, he has also has held executive- and management-level retail leasing positions with property owners such as Urban Retail Properties, Colonial Properties Trust, and Simon Property Group.
 

Hhgregg has added Robert J. Riesbeck to its executive team as CFO, as part of the retailer’s continued focus on transforming the business.

Riesbeck has more than 25 years of experience in financial and operations management. Most recently, he served as operations executive/group CFO at Sun Capital Partners where he was responsible for financial and operations oversight of a diverse group of portfolio companies with combined revenues exceeding $5 billion.

Seattle – Starbucks Corp. is reportedly considering changing its policy that forbids visible tattoos on baristas. According to CNNMoney, more than 21,000 employees have signed an online petition asking Starbucks to allow baristas in its stores to display visible, non-offensive tattoos.

North Bergen, N.J. - Tony Truesdale, who has served as CEO of Vitamin Shoppe Inc. since 2006, has announced his intent to retire on June 27, 2015 to spend more time with his family and his external board work. The board of directors of the Vitamin Shoppe will be commencing a search for a new CEO, which will include both internal and external candidates, who will then implement the next stages of the company's long-term growth plans.

Phoenix — Vestar, a privately-held real estate company in the western U.S. that acquires and manages retail and entertainment destinations, has named Jenny Cushing as assistant VP of leasing. Cushing will be responsible for overseeing and growing the leasing efforts throughout Vestar’s California, Arizona & Nevada projects.

The Vitamin Shoppe’s CEO Tony Truesdale plans to retire June 27, 2015, to spend more time with his family and his external board work.  

The board will start searching for a new CEO, who will be charged with implementing the next stages of the company's long-term growth plans. It will be considering internal and external candidates.

Seattle — Starbucks Corp. is reportedly considering changing its policy that forbids visible tattoos on baristas. According to CNNMoney, more than 21,000 employees have signed an online petition asking Starbucks to allow baristas in its stores to display visible, non-offensive tattoos.