Retail

By John Rossman, a managing director with Alvarez & Marsal

NEW YORK — Delia’s, a multichannel retailer that primarily markets to teenage girls, has hired Daphne Smith as the company’s EVP of operations, reporting to CEO Tracy Gardner.

Smith was previously with J.Crew for 16 years, working in various roles including SVP of direct. She has spent the past 18 months at New York & Company as the company’s SVP of e-commerce.

Fort Worth — Market Street – The Woodlands, a mixed-use project north of Houston is welcoming four new tenants. Kate Spade will open a 1,907-sq.-ft. designer fashion store this fall. Also coming this fall are two more clothing stores: a 2,500-sq.-ft. Lucky Brand and a 3,719-sq.-ft. Vineyard Vines.

Just two weeks ago, Tumi opened a travel, business and lifestyle accessories shop.

In a recent interview, Walgreens’ CEO Greg Wasson spoke at length about the ways in which the drug store chain is evolving. I thought the interview (posted online under the title Walgreens gets a modern makeover), was fascinating, particularly where Wasson explained the company’s bold plans to “reimagine” its stores.

Cary, N.C. -- C-store operator The Pantry reported that net income for the quarter ended June 27 dropped to $5.9 million from $14.8 million in the year-ago period.

Same-store merchandise revenue edged up 1.3%.


 

Roundarch Isobar, the U.S. arm of the global digital marketing agency Isobar, has appointed Steven Moy as the company’s chief commerce officer. He joins from SapientNitro, where he was VP of business and office lead at that company’s Boston office.  

Roundarch Isobar will leverage Moy’s experience in retail to further develop the company’s digital commerce practice. He will report directly to Jeff Maling and Geoff Cubitt, co-CEOs of Roundarch Isobar.

Rockville, Md. -- Goodwill Industries International teamed with AT&T to launch a free “Goodwill Locations/Locator” mobile app, currently available on iOS and Android mobile operating systems.

The mobile application provides users with a tool that currently has information about more than 4,800 Goodwill donation centers and stores across the United States and Canada.

The custom app was built by AT&T's Mobility Solutions Services, using the AT&T Mobile Application Development platform.

Seattle – Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is purchasing The Washington Post from media holdings firm The Washington Post. Co. for $250 million in cash. He is making the purchase privately and Amazon.com is not involved in the transaction. Bezos will reportedly take the currently public Washington Post private.