Human Resources

Birmingham, Ala. -- Hibbett Sports announced that effective February 2, 2014, Mickey Newsome will transition from his current position as executive chairman and employee of the company to non-executive chairman.

The retailer also announced that Jeff Rosenthal, president and CEO, has been appointed to the board of directors, effective immediately, thereby increasing the size of the board to ten members.

Chicago -- Although the first government shutdown in 17 years lasted 16 days, it left an impact on more than just the workers sent home after lawmakers failed to arrive at a deal to end the spending and debt stalemate. Total retail store shopper traffic during the week of Sept. 29 to Oct. 5 decreased 7.5% compared to the same time period last year, according to ShopperTrak, a leading provider of shopper analytics.

The Washington, D.C. area saw an even greater decrease, with an 11.4% decline in year-over-year shopper traffic the week of Oct. 6-12.

CTPartners, a leading global retained executive search firm, has appointed Jefferey DeFazio to be a partner in firm’s consumer and retail practice based in San Francisco.

DeFazio has worked with leading global brands in the consumer and retail industry, placing board members and senior executives in multinational companies, and has also recruited for smaller fast-growing private equity- and venture capital-backed organizations. He joins CTPartners from another major search firm where he spent three years leading the consumer practice on the West Coast.

Somerville, Mass. – Merlin Entertainments has reportedly broken ground on a new Legoland Discovery Center location at the 50-acre, mixed-use Assembly Row development in Somerville, Mass. According to the Boston Globe, the 44,000-sq.-ft. store will open in May 2014.

The store will be the only Legoland location in New England and employ about 100 people. Other retailers planning to open stores at Assembly Row include Nike, Brooks Brothers, Chico’s, and J.P. Licks.

Cincinnati -- The Kroger Co. named  Michael L. Ellis, senior VP of retail divisions, as president COO effective January 1, 2014, completing the succession plan announced in September.

In September, Kroger announced that chairman and CEO David B. Dillon will retire as CEO on January 1, 2014, and will continue to serve as chairman through December 31, 2014. He will be succeeded by W. Rodney McMullen, Kroger's president and CO, effective January 1, 2014.

The Bon-Ton Stores plan to close its location in the mall at Steamtown in Scranton, Pa. The company will not renew the lease, which terminates January 31, 2014. The closing will impact approximately 50 employees at this location.

The company acquired the leasehold interests in the Scranton store in 2000. It does not expect costs associated with the closing of the location to be material.

New York -- Twitter has hired J.J. Hirschle, who directed media and entertainment advertising at Google, as its head of retail, according to various media reports. The hire comes as the online messaging giants works to expand its business ahead of its initial public offering. Hirschle will be responsible for the team selling advertising products to retail companies.

Hirschle is to start on Oct. 28, the same day Twitter is expected to launch its investor roadshow. Twitter announced at the beginning of October that it plans to go public.

Kroger has named Michael L. Ellis as the company’s president and chief operating officer, effective Jan. 1, 2014, completing the succession plan announced in September. The company expects its board of directors to elect Ellis at the next board meeting in Dec.