Retail

Foothill Ranch, Calif. -- The Wet Seal announced today that retail veteran Lesli Gilbert has been appointed executive VP, stores and operations, effective immediately. Gilbert replaces Barbara Cook, former senior VP store operations, who resigned in February.

Most recently, Gilbert was senior VP of stores at The Talbots, where she was responsible for developing the stores strategy and framework to reposition the business

Salmon Arm, British Columbia – Affiliate health-and-wellness retailer Salkam Online Solutions LLC is opening a new online store at YouNeedIt.biz. The site offers products including health and wellness books, exercise machines, weights, footwear, in-home training items and vitamins and supplements. YouNeedIt.com recommends products from partner retailers and does not maintain its own inventory.

MATTHEWS, N.C. — Family Dollar has named Brad Rogers as the company's SVP of real estate. Rogers replaces Keith Gehl, who announced his retirement from the company at the end of June. Rogers will report to chairman and CEO Howard R. Levine.

Chesapeake, Va. – Dollar Tree has promoted former COO Gary Philbin to the new position of president and COO. Philbin, who has served as COO of Dollar Tree since 2007, spent 30 years in various merchandising and operations executive positions in the grocery vertical before joining Dollar Tree as SVP of Stores in 2001.

ORRVILLE, Ohio — The J. M. Smucker Company's board has announced that a new director nominee will be included in the company's proxy statement for election at the next annual shareholders meeting to be held Wednesday, Aug. 14.

The nominee is Robert B. Heisler Jr., the now-retired dean of the college of business administration and graduate school of management at Kent State University, former CEO of McDonald Financial Group and retired chairman and CEO of KeyBank, N.A.  

Camp Hill, Pa. -- Rite Aid projected that it would turn a profit in the first quarter of fiscal year 2014, results of which it will announce next week. The company has also moved to refinance its debt, announcing that it would buy half a billion dollars in notes using proceeds from a new loan, while also

The retail pharmacy chain said it would buy $500 million worth of 7.5% Senior Secured Notes, due 2017, using the proceeds from a $500 million second lien term loan.

The offer will expire on July 5 unless it's extended, the company said.

Washington, D.C. -- U.S. retailers added almost 28,000 new jobs in May, according to statistics from the Department of Labor. This followed 20,000 new retail hires in April.

Restaurants hired another 38,000 people last month.

New retail and restaurant hires helped drive the addition of 175,000 total new jobs to the U.S. economy in May.

Hordes of spend-happy young Mexican shoppers are successfully attracting specialty apparel retailers from the U.S. and Europe – and, as mentioned in a recent report by Wall Street Journal, Walmart is feeling the pain.