Apparel

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears Holdings Corp. said Tuesday that it has named Lana Cain Krauter as senior VP and president of its Sears Apparel division. Effective Feb. 1, she will lead the charge in growing the division both in-store and online.

Krauter was previously president and chief merchandising officer for Bealls Department Stores.

She will be based in San Francisco.

CHICAGO - Claire's Stores has announced the appointment of Jay Friedman as president of the North American division, reporting to Gene Kahn, CEO, effective immediately.

In his position, Friedman will lead both the Claire's and Icing businesses and will have direct oversight of buying, planning and allocation, supply chain, stores and overall operations of approximately 2,000 stores in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.  

New York City -- J. Crew is seeking $1.85 billion of debt to help fund its $3 billion buyout by TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners LP.

Bank of America Corp. and Goldman Sachs Group are arranging a $1 billion seven-year term loan, $600 million in senior unsecured notes and a $250 million five-year asset-based revolving line of credit, according to a commitment letter attached to a regulatory filing, Bloomberg reported.

The annual NRF Convention & EXPO has a strong history, and while the show’s early concept has evolved over the last century, its message remains the same: to bring together industry decision makers who want to find ways to drive their business.

Some attendees often question why NRF is held in New York City during January, when the weather can be downright brutal. But the reason is easy.

New York City -- Dress Barn on Monday announced it has been renamed Ascena Retail Group Inc. and will trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker ASNA.

The company said it had reorganized under the new holding company, but was not making changes to operations, directors or officers. The names of its three specialty chains -- Dressbarn, Maurices and Justice, also are unchanged.

San Mateo, Calif. -- DemandTec, the collaborative optimization network for retailers and consumer products companies, announced that it has acquired substantially all of the assets of Applied Intelligence Solutions, LLC (AIS), a developer of intelligent software solutions for the retail enterprise with a specific focus on softline retailers.

Amazon and Netflix are the top scorers in terms on online customer satisfaction, according to the sixth annual ForeSee Results E-Retail Satisfaction Index (U.S. Holiday Edition). Both had a score of 86 on the study’s 100-point scale, with 80 generally considered the threshold for excellence. Here are the study’s top performers:

New York City -- Tommy Bahama will open its first store in New York City, on Fifth Avenue at 45th Street, according to The Wall Street Journal. The 8,500-sq.-ft. store is expected to open by the end of 2011.

The 89-store Tommy Bahama chain is a subsidiary of Oxford Industries, which recently acquired the Lilly Pulitzer brand.