Footwear

LEXINGTON, Mass. — Stride Rite has launched a new line of shoes specifically designed for baby's first months through the crawling and pulling up stages.

New York -- Target announced that it is expanding ongoing remodeling efforts to its stores in the Detroit area. Along with a much greater emphasis on grocery and fresh foods, the new layout include reinventions in several other departments such as beauty, home, shoes and baby.

Target’s  remodeled stores will include approximately 10,000 sq. ft. dedicated to fresh food, including a curated assortment of fresh produce, fresh packaged meat and pre-packaged baked goods, in addition to dry and frozen offerings.
 

Footlocker COO Richard Johnson has joined the board of Maidenform Brands.

Johnson serves as EVP and COO at Footlocker, one of the nation’s leading retailers of athletic footwear, and has been with the company for 16 years.

"We are delighted to welcome Dick to our board of directors," said Maurice S. Reznik, Footlocker’s CEO. "Dick has demonstrated strong leadership at Foot Locker and his broad operating and international experience will serve Maidenform well."

Woodland Hills, Calif. -- Great American Group said Friday it has been selected to handle the liquidation of Bakers Footwear Group, offering discounts for products in 56 of Bakers Footwear Groups’ remaining stores, as well as online at Bakersshoes.com.

Bakers locations in Alabama, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia are part of the sale event.
 

Berlin, Vt. -- Berlin Mall LLC announced it has cleared the last two permitting hurdles to begin an 18,700-sq.-ft. expansion of The Berlin Mall, located in Berlin, Vt. The expansion is part of a planned increase in the size of its Walmart anchor store, which will also expand into existing, adjoining retail space at the mall
     
Construction is slated to start spring 2013.
 

New York -- Douglas Elliman Real Estate's Retail Group said it has arranged for luxury sportswear brand Le Civette to anchor its first U.S. store at 1242 Madison Avenue, between 89th and 90th Streets.  

The Italian-based retailer will locate its new store in the last available space along the block-front; neighbors include Jacadi, Mariana Antinori and Caramel Baby.

The Ecco shoe brand has engaged the services of Demandware to power its new U.S. e-commerce and mobile commerce site. The company also plans to use Demandware’s cloud platform to quickly and efficiently expand internationally, beginning with Canada.

Ecco products are sold online and in 4,000 branded locations in more than 90 countries. 

CITY OF INDUSTRY, Calif. — Jim McGinty, CFO of teen retailer, Hot Topic, has resigned from the company, effective March 29, the company announced Monday. George Wehlitz, VP, Finance, will serve as the interim CFO.

“We are grateful for Jim’s committed service to the company over the past 12 years and wish him well in the next phase of his career,” said Lisa Harper, chairman and CEO of Hot Topic.

City of Industry, Calif. -- Hot Topic announced that its chief financial officer, Jim McGinty, has resigned, effective March 29. The company said that George Wehlitz, VP finance will serve as interim CFO.

McGinty had worked for Hot Topic Inc. for the past 12 years. His resignation is effective March 29.

Wehlitz became VP finance at Hot Topic in 2008. He previously served as CFO at motorcycle clothing and accessories company Cycle Gear Inc.

New York -- From solutions having to do with enterprise business intelligence to mobility, there were a host of retail technology deployments announced at the National Retail Federation’s 102nd Annual Convention & Expo. Here is a quick recap of some key applications: