Department Store

Dramatic growth and purchasing power of U.S. Latino population demands retailer attention

Improvements in the housing market that have lifted the fortunes of Home Depot and Lowe’s so far this year extended to leading home goods retailer Bed Bath & Beyond, which reported solid sales growth late Wednesday.

The company produced earnings per share of 93 cents that met analysts’ consensus estimate and fell with the guidance range of 88 cents to 94 cents, on sales that grew 17.8% to slightly more than $2.6 billion. Same store sales rose 3.4% during the first quarter ended June 1, on top of a prior year comp increase of 3%.

Jacksonville, Fla. – Stein Mart has named Jay Stein, its interim CEO since September 2011, as permanent CEO. Stein has been chairman of Stein Mart’s board of directors since 1989 and will remain in that position. He also served as CEO from 1990 to 2001.

Annual study tracks cost of building and outftting stores

The cost of building and outfitting stores is on the rise, according to Chain Store Age's 2013 Store Construction and Outfitting Survey.

Seattle – Brad Smith, president and CEO of Intuit Inc., has joined the board of directors of Nordstrom. Smith, who has been with Intuit since 2003, was named president and CEO in 2008. Prior to joining Intuit, Smith held sales, marketing and management roles with companies including ADP, PepsiCo, Seven-Up and Advo. He is also a former director of Yahoo.

SEATTLE — Nordstrom has appointed Intuit president and CEO Brad Smith to the company’s board of directors. 

His addition brings the total number of directors to 12, 9 of whom serve as independent directors. Nordstrom directors serve one-year terms and the company requires annual elections of all board members.

Smith was named president and CEO of Intuit in January 2008, culminating a five-year rise through the company where he led several of its major businesses. 

New York – Closing arguments for the lawsuit Macy’s filed against JC Penney and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia last year are scheduled to commence Aug. 1, according to a report in Reuters. The suit claims a December 2011 agreement to create Martha Stewart boutiques in JC Penney stores violated Macy’s exclusive right to sell Martha Stewart Living products.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Stein Mart’s interim CEO Jay Stein has been named CEO. 

"It has been my pleasure to return and lead Stein Mart after nearly two years as interim CEO. Working side-by-side with our wonderful leadership team, we are now enjoying these great results," said Stein. "This is an important time in our company's history and I am very happy to be part of this great organization."