Apparel

Albany, N.Y. -- Veteran retail executive Martin Hanaka has been appointed to the board of directors of Trans World Entertainment. Hanaka recently was the interim CEO of Guitar Center, Inc. from January 2013 to April 2013.

Cincinnati -- Macy’s scaled back its earnings guidance for the remainder of the year in the wake of lower-than-expected net income for the second quarter of fiscal 2013. The retailer reported net income of $281 million, up from $279 million in the year ago period, but short of the roughly $304 million analysts had expected.

Disappointing second quarter sales at Macy’s prompted the nation’s leading department store operator to temper its outlook for the remainder of the year, heightening concerns about the health of the consumer just as other major retailers are due to report financial results in the weeks ahead.

Sales declined 0.8% to slightly more than $6 billion and same store sales fell by a similar amount during the second quarter period ended August 3. Profits increased 7.5% to 72 cents from 67 cents, but that figure was six cents less that analysts forecast.

ALBANY, N.Y. — Trans World Entertainment has appointed veteran retail executive Martin Hanaka to its board of directors. Hanaka recently was the interim CEO of Guitar Center, Inc. from January 2013 to April 2013.

NEW ALBANY, Ohio — Hollister Co., a division of Abercrombie & Fitch Co., is partnering with Keds, a division of Wolverine Worldwide, to release an exclusive line that features signature Hollister patterns on Keds-brand sneakers. 

The exclusive Hollister + Keds sneakers will be available only at HollisterCo.com, but will be on display inside Hollister stores so shoppers can get a closer look.

LOS ANGELES — Virtual Piggy initiated a consumer acquisition campaign to start building its subscriber base. Throughout the past four months, Virtual Piggy has added more than 400,000 new accounts most of which are based in the U.S. and some which were recently added in Canada.  

Deborah Cavanagh has joined women’s specialty retailer Coldwater Creek as SVP and chief marketing officer after serving in a similar capacity at the LOFT division of Ann Taylor.

Cavanagh will join the company September 16 and lead multi-channel brand marketing and creative services, reporting directly to Coldwater Creek president and CEO Jill Dean. Her appointment follows the release of disappointing first quarter results that saw same store sales at the operator of 347 stores decline 10.5%

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Strength in ladies accessories and lingerie contributed to a 1% second quarter same store sales increase that helped Dillard’s exceed profit forecasts.

New York -- Jos. A. Bank Clothiers on Tuesday came under criticism from BeaconLight Capital LLC, which owns more than 1% of the men’s apparel chain. In an open letter to the company’s board, the investment manager called for a reorganization of the retailer's board and return of cash to shareholders, preferably through buy-backs.

Sterne Agee chief economist Lindsey M. Piegza comments on July retail sales gain of 0.2%:

Headline retail sales rose 0.2% in July, slightly less than expected but last month’s sales were revised up two-tenths from 0.4% to 0.6%. This is the fourth consecutive monthly increase in retail sales. Excluding autos, retail sales rose 0.5%, the strongest monthly gain since February.