eCommerce

Hudson’s Bay CFO Michael Culhane has resigned his spot following a leave of absence from the company. The news comes two weeks after the company brought in Douglas Scovanner as EVP of finance and accounting on an interim basis to support company president Donald Watros, who assumed the role of acting CFO.

Plano, Texas – Rent-A-Center has opened its newest locations in Panorama City, Calif., and Corinth, Miss. Rent-A-Center operates 162 stores in California and 37 stores in Mississippi.

The retailer also operates more than 3,000 stores in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico. It employs more than 21,000 workers.

Kirkland’s reported improved year-over-year net sales for the full fiscal year 2014 but a decrease in the fourth quarter, thanks to severe weather-related declines in traffic throughout December, which affected important weekend sales days.

Net sales increased 2.7% to $460.6 million during fiscal 2014, compared with $448.4 million the prior fiscal year, while same-store sales rose 0.5%.

During the fourth quarter, net sales decreased 4.2% to $156.1 million, compared with $162.9 million in the previous fourth quarter. Same-store sales were flat.

Virginia Beach, Va. — Ingenuity Development has entered into a strategic alliance with a New York Stock Exchange-traded Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) to combine forces on joint venture opportunities for retail and mixed-use projects in the Mid-Atlantic and the Southeast. Ingenuity will also see opportunities to work with its affiliate, Divaris Real Estate, to lease and manage completed projects.

Nashville, Tenn. – Kirkland’s Inc. reported improved year-over-year net sales for the full fiscal year 2014 but a decrease in the fourth quarter. Net sales increased 2.7% to $460.6 million during fiscal 2014, compared with $448.4 million the prior fiscal year, while same-store sales rose 0.5%.

During the fourth quarter, net sales decreased 4.2% to $156.1 million, compared with $162.9 million in the previous fourth quarter. Same-store sales were flat.

Ann Inc., parent company of Ann Taylor and The Loft, expects net sales and same-store sales to increase for the fourth quarter and full year fiscal 2013, on a year-over-year basis.

For the full year, Ann Inc. issued guidance for total net sales of $2.49 billion, reflecting a total net sales increase of 5% and a same-store sales increase of 2%.

Tractor Supply Company has elected Mark J. Weikel to the company's board of directors. Weikel currently serves as president and CEO of Luxottica Retail Optical North America.

Prior to his various positions at Luxottica, Weikel served as COO of Lord & Taylor. Before Lord & Taylor, Weikel was president & COO of Victoria's Secret Stores at Limited Brands. Earlier in his career, Weikel held several management positions at the May Department Stores Company.

Walmart is marking the 20th anniversary of its entry into Canada this year by spending big bucks to expand physical stores and distribution capacity while devoting a much smaller portion of a $500 million budget to e-commerce.

Walmart said it would spend close to $500 million in Canada this year with $376 million of that amount dedicated to 35 supercenter projects totaling one million square feet of new selling space. Walmart currently operates 389 stores in Canada, of which 247 are supercenters. By year end it expects to have 395 stores of which 282 will be supercenters.