Department Store

Houston -- Charming Charlie announced that Tom Fitzgerald has joined the company as EVP, chief administrative officer and CFO.

Tom most recently was the chief administrative officer of Sears Canada, where he was responsible for store operations, IT, merchandise planning and allocation, logistics, sourcing, and store innovation.

Prior to his role at Sears Canada, Tom held several leadership positions at Liz Claiborne, and Bath & Body Works.  

New York -- Uniqlo, a division of Japan's Fast Retailing Co., will open its second U.S. mall location, at Palisades Center in West Nyack, N.Y., on March 15.
 
The 24,000-sq.-ft. store will showcase Uniqlo's complete offering of products for men and women, as well as its spring kids collection.
 

NEW YORK — Foot Locker's fourth quarter profit rose to $104 million from $81 million a year earlier.

Sales jumped 14% to $1.71 billion, including the benefit of an extra week. Same-store sales rose 7.9%.

For fiscal year 2012, which included 53 weeks, the company reported net income of $397 million, compared to $278 million a year earlier.

Total sales increased 9.9% in 2012 to $6.182 million, compared with sales of $5.623 million last year. Same-store sales were up 9.4% in 2012.

DETROIT, Mich. — Southern department store chain, Belk, has teamed up with ePrize to launch Belk's 125 Days of Prizes, a multi-channel sweepstakes program celebrating Belk's 125th anniversary.

New York -- Saks Fifth Avenue has redesigned the Saks.com homepage to include a longer, more fluid layout that more prominently highlights seasonal trends and most-wanted designers.

New features on Saks.com include large-scale photography, improved navigation, easier access to the editorial area and product pages.

NEW YORK — Macy's exclusive new MADE Fashion Week for Impulse collection is now available at 150 Macy's stores and online at Macys.com. Inspired by New York's MADE Fashion Week initiative co-founded by Jenné Lombardo, Mazdack Rassi and Keith Baptista, MADE Fashion Week for Impulse combines fashion, music, art and pop culture, reflecting the unique street-style of today's tastemakers. 

New York -- After nearly three weeks of testimony, a New York State Supreme Court Judge ordered Macy's, J.C. Penney Co. and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia into mediation to try and reach a settlement in their contract dispute trial.
 
If the three companies do not reach an agreement before April 8, the judge will resume hearing the case.
 
In another development in the ongoing dispute, Penney agreed not to sell certain Martha Stewart-designed goods (products deemed exclusive to Macy’s) until at least April 8.

BURNABY, B.C. — Best Buy has named Ron Wilson as its new president and COO of its Canada operations, effective immediately. In this role, Wilson will lead the business in Canada under the Future Shop and Best Buy brands, including online.