Apparel

Cincinnati, Ohio — Phillips Edison & Co. has appointed Robyn Capuano Hays senior leasing director for The Shoppes at Parma, a $70 million redevelopment of the former Parmatown Mall, currently underway in Parma, Ohio, not far from Cleveland. The project includes an enclosed shopping mall, power center, strip center, outparcels, restaurants, and office space.

Atlanta — Shapewear wholesaler and retailer Spanx announced that Jan Singer has been named CEO of the company. She joins Spanx from Nike, where she held various senior leadership roles, including corporate VP of global apparel and corporate VP of global footwear.  

Singer, who will report to Spanx founder and owner Sara Blakely, is expected to come on board in early July.  Gregg Ribatt, interim CEO, will assist Singer through a transition, and then continue to serve on the company’s board of advisors.

San Francisco — U.S. retailers reported 5% year-over-year growth in general merchandise, apparel, furniture and other (GAFO) retail sales. According to monthly figures from in-store retail analytics provider Euclid, shoppers made fewer trips to the store than expected, but were very engaged and showed a lot of intent to buy.

Fremont, Calififornia — The Men’s Weahouse reported a decline in first-quarter profit, hurt mostly by expenses. But the retailer’s results still topped Wall Street expectations.
 
Men's Wearhouse, which is acquiring smaller rival Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, reported first-quarter net earnings of $16.5, compared with $33 million last year. Results include $26.5 million in costs related to strategic projects, primarily Jos. A. Bank and cost reduction initiatives.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. — Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc. had a difficult first quarter of fiscal 2014, reporting a substantial decline in net income as well as drops in net sales and same-store sales. Net income declined 75% to $3.7 million from $15 million.

Indianapolis — Lids Sports Group is acquiring Cardboard Heroes, a licensed sports apparel, headwear and novelty retailer headquartered in Dayton, Ohio. The acquisition consists of 19 Cardboard Heroes stores in Ohio and Kentucky, which include four Buckeye Room locations that specialize in Ohio State University sports merchandise, as well as the e-commerce websites cheroes.com and buckeyeroom.com.

New York — Coach Inc. will reportedly start offering 25% discounts on its luxury handbags at its stores in twice-a-year sales during June and December. According to Bloomberg, Coach will reduce prices on end-of-season and discount merchandise from 30-50%.

Fremont, Calif. — The Men's Wearhouse has extended its all-cash tender offer for $65 per share for all of the currently outstanding shares of common stock (including associated stock purchase rights) of Jos. A. Bank to June 19, 2014, unless further amended.  The tender offer was previously set to expire on June 5, 2014.

Mobile shopping, same-day delivery, and growing volumes of data from online channels are forcing retailers to a tipping point to remain competitive and better respond to evolving customer needs and preferences, according to a new research report by Capgemini Group.
 

The Men's Wearhouse expects to complete its merger with Jos. A. Bank in the next few weeks, and looks forward to reaping the benefits of that combination as it closes its fiscal first quarter ended May 3.

Total net sales for quarter increased 2.3% to $630.5 million from $616.5 million in the prior-year quarter. Retail segment sales for the quarter increased by 2.4% and corporate apparel sales increased by 0.8% as compared to the prior year quarter.