Retail

New York -- From extreme-value discounters to c-store operators, retailers across the board are expanding their brick-and-mortar portfolios in 2015. Here’s a review:

• Dollar General will open 730 new stores and remodel 875 existing locations.

• DSW Inc. will open 35 stores, including locations in at least 12 new markets.

• Express is ramping up its new outlet format with 30 locations.

Huntington Beach, Calif. -- Quiksilver announced that its CEO, Andy Mooney, has resigned. Mooney had been CEO for just over two years and was appointed chairman in November. The company’s CFO, Richard Shields, has also resigned. The news comes almost two weeks after the company reduced guidance for the current year and finished an investigation into its revenue-accounting practices.

Pierre Agnes, president of Quiksilver and a 27-year-company veteran, has been promoted to CEO and added to the board of directors.   

New York -- There is no let up of bad news for American Apparel. The company’s founder and ousted CEO, Dov Charney, plans to file a lawsuit claiming $40 million in damages related to breaches of his employment contract.

The disclosure came on the heels of news that the Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Charney’s departure.

Cincinnati – John A. Bryant, chairman, president and CEO of Kellogg Co., has been elected to the Macy’s Inc. board of directors. Bryant, 49, became chairman of the board of Kellogg Co. in July 2014 after serving since January 2011 as president and CEO.

He has been a member of Kellogg’s board of directors since 2010. Prior to becoming CEO, Bryant held a variety of key senior leadership roles, including chief financial officer, president of Kellogg North America, president of Kellogg International and COO.

Indianapolis – Lids Sports Group fully understands the importance of the brick-and-mortar channel when it comes to omnichannel commerce and customer experience. As Kevin Thompson, director of application development for Lids, told attendees of the recent Oracle Industry Connect conference, the retailer has implemented the Micros Locate inventory visibility solution to enable full inventory access at stores.

“It’s a customer service issue,” said Thompson. “We don’t want to disappoint customers.”

Atlanta – The Home Depot Inc. was reportedly not in full compliance with data security standards when a major data breach began in April 2014. According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, an investigator working for credit card companies said Home Depot was in compliance with data security standards in 2013, but was still working to obtain compliance certification when the 2014 attack occurred.

Princeton, N.J. -- This year 2015 is shaping up to be another great year for rebates and incentives in North America, particularly when it comes to controls, according to a report BriteSwitch, which helps large national take advantage of rebate programs. Currently, 72% of the country is covered by an active commercial lighting rebate program.

Corte Madera, Calif. -- Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc. (RH) reported that its profit for the fourth quarter increased a better-than-expected 25% to $42.5 million from $34.0 million in the year-ago period. The upscale home furnishings company cited the West Coast port slowdown in providing first-quarter guidance that fell short of projections. But it remained upbeat about the long-term, and disclosed that it is working on two new concepts that will be revealed later this year.