Retail

New York - Tiffany & Co. has named Jill Beraud as an executive VP, effective Oct. 13. Beraud will have responsibility for global retail operations including all sales channels in every region, as well as oversight of strategic store development and real estate.

Beraud, 54, joins Tiffany from salon product manufacturer Living Proof where she has been CEO since 2011. Prior to that, her experience includes senior-level executive and marketing roles at PepsiCo Inc., L Brands, Inc. and The Procter & Gamble Co., among others.

By Sanford Stein, founder, Stein LLC

With the point-of-sale tucked away in one’s backpack, pocket or purse, how does the store-based retailer expect to survive in an e-everything world? And what is to become of the malls, the meccas of economic indulgence that were driven by the shop-till-you-drop dynamic we thought would last forever? We are currently in a period of just such a change wave, driven by a dramatic demographic shift, corporate downsizing, economic stagnation, and rising costs.

Seattle - Starbucks Coffee Company will launch two new store formats in fiscal 2015, include a smaller-format concept aimed at urban commuters and a more premium store concept — Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room — dedicated to the chain’s highbrow Reserve brand of coffees.

Several Home Depot customers have filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, alleging that Home Depot failed to meet its legal obligation to protect their credit card and personal information and failed to timely warn them that such information had been stolen or that the security and privacy of such information had been compromised.

Starbucks will launch two new store formats in fiscal 2015, include a smaller-format concept aimed at urban commuters and a more premium store concept — Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room — dedicated to the chain’s highbrow Reserve brand of coffees.

Casual apparel brand U.S. Polo Assn. has opened its first location in Brooklyn, in the vicinity of the Barclays Arena.

Designed by Montroy Andersen DeMarco (MADGI), New York, the 2,800-sq.-ft. space has a clean, modern feel and includes  the brand’s signature ‘flag wall’ fashioned out of folded T-shirts,  a jeans island and a T-shirt island, and a 12-ft.-long cash wrap counter

Franklin, Tenn. - Worldwide POS hardware shipments showed a sharp increase in the first half of 2014. According to IHL Group's POS Vendor Data Service, which tracks POS shipments by vendors and retail segments worldwide, in the first six months of the year, Europe, Middle East and Asia (EMEA) and North America showed by far the greatest growth in POS shipments.

This week, a three-year-old Great Dane from Portland made headlines for consuming 43.5 socks. Hanes is capitalizing on the trending story by offering the mischievous pooch free dog treats for the rest of his life. 

“While Hanes believes its socks are tasty footwear,” the company said in a statement, “it hopes this offer will get the Great Dane snacking on something that's much more pleasant for his tummy.”