Direct To Consumer (DTC)

Duluth Holdings is losing its finance chief.    Mark DeOrio, the company’s CFO, will retire at the end of 2017. DeOrio will remain in his role until the next finance chief is appointed, and he will then assist with his successor’s transition until his retirement. DeOrio has held the role since August 2010. He also served as senior VP of operations from 2010 to January 2015.   

An online clothing brand best known for its signature shirts that are designed to be worn untucked is going to open at Mall of America, in Bloomington, Minnesota.    Untuckit will open a 1,300-sq.-ft. outpost  at the giant mall this fall. It will be the company's first store in Minnesota, and carry shirts for both men and women.      

Peloton, a four-year-old startup that sells exercise bikes tied to a live-streamed workout experience, is revving up for expansion armed with fresh capital.   The company announced it has recently closed a $325 million series E financing round, which brings its total valuation to $1.25 billion. The round was led by Wellington Management, Fidelity Investments, Kleiner Perkins, and True Ventures. Other significant investors in this round included Comcast NBCUniversal, GGV Capital, Balyasny, and QuestMark.  

Despite a rough first fiscal quarter, Express remains committed to its ongoing plan to manage costs, optimize its store fleet and improve profitability.   For the quarter ended April 29, the specialty apparel retailer posted a net loss of $4.5 million, or $0.06 per share. This included a net negative $0.03 per share impact related to certain discrete tax items and the exit of Canada.   

Despite a challenging retail landscape, J.Jill’s same-store sales growth and profits not only climbed, but topped analyst expectations.   For the first quarter ended April 29, the mall-based women’s specialty chain’s overall revenue increased 12.5% to $166.1 million — a jump from $147.7 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2016. This also beat analyst estimates at $162 million.  

PetSmart has been setting the stage to accelerate its digital offerings. Now it can.  

As the International Council of Shopping Centers shut the doors on its RECon show in Las Vegas this week, Chain Store Age asked top brokers and third-party managers for their take on the temperature of physical retail. Not quite sick, not quite well, but certainly out of rehab and hard at work on recovery, was the general diagnosis.  

Hanna Andersson named a former top executive of Sears Holdings Corp. as the specialty retailer's next chief executive.