Retail

Dewitt, Mich. -- Dentco, a leading exterior services management company, has appointed David Arthur to serve as its new national sales manager.

Arthur comes to Dentco with 12 years of sales experience, which includes direct sales, product knowledge, forecasting, and vendor relation proficiency. More recently, Arthur was an architectural sales manager for six years, in which he coordinated sales for commercial jobs, negotiated pricing, and managed marketing efforts.

Dallas -- PeopleAnswers and New York & Company announced a software licensing agreement for the specialty apparel chain with more than 500 stores nationwide to use the PeopleAnswers HR-focused business solution to recommend employee candidates who can guide their customers to make smart fashion purchase decisions.

Toronto -- Hudson’s Bay Co. (HBC) has appointed Marigay McKee, chief merchant of Harrods, as the future president of Saks Fifth Avenue. The appointment follows the news that Saks chairman and CEO Stephen Sadove and president and chief merchant Ronald Frasch will leave the company once it is acquired by Hudson's Bay.

New York -- Private-equity firm Sycamore Partners disclosed through a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday that an affiliate, Hummingbird LLC, had taken an 8% stake in Aeropostale.

Sycamore through its Hummingbird LLC unit, bought about 6.3 million shares of Aeropostale, according to the filing. That would make it the retailer’s fourth-largest shareholder, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

St. Petersburg, Fla. -- HSN has appointed Matthew Rubel, senior advisor with TPG Capital, to its board of directors.

Rubel previously served as chairman, president and CEO of Collective Brands, where he worked from 2005-2011. Before that, his executive roles included serving as president and CEO of Cole Haan from 1999 to 2005, as well as serving as executive VP of J. Crew Group and CEO of Popular Club Plan.

Ottawa, Ontario -- The Canadian government is reportedly seeking to boost penalties for retailers caught using “zapper” software that can delete or modify transactional data in electronic POS systems to illegally hide sales.

Plano, Texas -- Legal wrangling about J.C. Penney Co. selling Martha Stewart-branded home goods is reportedly continuing. According to The Motley Fool, a hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 25 to review allegations in the New York Post that J.C. Penney plans to terminate its contract with Martha Stewart Living.

Pleasanton, Calif. -- Safeway Inc. announced that it has adopted a one-year stockholder rights plan, or a “poison pill,” to discourage an unfriendly takeover.

The company adopted the plan after it became aware that unnamed investors had accumulated “a significant amount” of its stock. The investor turned out to be hedge fund company Jana Partners, which disclosed in a filing that it has accumulated a 6.2% stake in the supermarket retailer.