Mass Merchant

Louisville, Colo. -- Ace Hardware is America’s favorite home improvement store and Costco is the favorite for home furnishings, according to a new nationwide survey by Market Force Information. The findings are based on consumers’ satisfaction levels and their likelihood to recommend the retailer to others.

In the home improvement sector, Ace Hardware earned the top spot with a composite loyalty score of 61% (out of a potential 70%). Menards came in second, at 50%, followed by Lowe’s, Home Depot and Walmart.

Framingham, Mass. – Bernard Cammarata, 75, founder and chairman of The TJX Companies Inc., will retire June 11, 2015 after nearly 40 years with the company. Carol Meyrowitz, 61, who has served as CEO of TJX since January 2007, been a board director since 2006 and joined the company in 1983, will succeed him as chairman.

What’s wrong with the retail Industry? Corporate Responsibility Magazine is out with the 2015 version of its 100 Best Corporate Citizens and only three, that’s right, only three retailers were worthy of inclusion on the list.

New York -- New York and Los Angeles may be the largest U.S. markets in terms of apparel sales, but online and smaller markets such as Orlando, Florida, and Washington, D.C., are the top markets driving both growth rate and dollar volume increases for the industry, according to global information company The NPD Group.  

Both Orlando and Washington had strong performance across in-store and online channels.

New York -- Target Corp. is responding to customers frustrated by their inability to buy items from the chain’s Lilly Pulitzer collection. The limited-edition line went live in the stores and online Sunday morning, with most of the items selling out within minutes.

TargetExpress, the retailer’s newest and smallest format store yet, is now open in San Francisco and Berkeley and designed with local city dwellers in mind.

The 12,000-square-foot Berkeley store, a former Walgreens, and the San Francisco location, 18,000 square feet and housed on Bush Street in the financial district, feature a refined and modern concept. With an edgy design, high ceilings and commissioned artwork and custom graphics, MBH architects created a shopping environment that will attract loyal Target customers and on-the-go millennials.

New York -- The launch of Target Corp.'s hotly awaited Lily Pulitzer collection on Sunday caused a shopping frenzy, both in stores and online. It also provoked a firestorm of criticism on social media from shoppers and Lily fans, who found themselves shut out of being able to buy product, in some cases, minutes after the line became available.

Staples Inc. has made a change in a key executive position even as the company awaits regulatory approval for a pending merger with Office Depot.

Staples said it has named Peter J. Scala as executive vice president, merchandising, effective immediately. Scala will report to Demos Parneros, president, North American stores and online, and will be a member of the company’s executive committee.