Retail

Phoenix -- Leslie’s Poolmart said Monday it will grand-open eight Leslie’s Swimming Pool stores on April 26-28, part of the company’s pre-stated goal to open 48 new stores in spring 2013.

New stores will open in Bristol, Conn.; South Elgin, Ill.; Kansas City, Mo.; Medford, N.J.; Depew, N.Y.; Huber Heights and Canton, Ohio; and Doylestown, Pa.

With the 48 new stores and its recent acquisition of 24 Warehouse Pool Supply stores in the Houston area, Leslie's will bring its total store count to more than 800 stores nationwide.

CINCINNATI — Tide will get in on the 2013 NFL Draft action by offering an endorsement deal to the first player drafted to each of the 32 NFL teams, in celebration of their new colors. 

Tide will also reward fans with a gift delivered via Twitter by each of the contracted rookies during the first and second rounds of the draft. The rookies will also ask the fans to share what team colors mean to them by tweeting out using hashtag #AboutOurColors.

New York -- Investment firm Starboard Value, Office Depot’s largest stockholder with a 14.8% stake, revealed Monday it has delivered a letter to the office supply retailer’s board of directors, expressing “strong disappointment at the board's failure to work constructively with Starboard to reconstitute the board.”

In March, Starboard nominated six candidates, including former Home Depot chief Robert Nardelli – to Office Depot’s board in an effort to strengthen the company’s direction.

New York -- A Monday report by Forbes said that former Office Depot COO Mark Begelman has been charged with profiting off confidential information.

The SEC leveed insider trading charges against Begelman for allegedly using confidential information for his own gain, concerning the upcoming acquisition of Bluegreen Corp. by BFC Financial Corp.

HOUSTON — Specialty retailer Francesca's has appointed Laurie Ann Goldman and Joseph O'Leary to its board of directors.

Goldman has been CEO of rapidly growing Spanx, makers of slimming intimates and body shapers, since 2002. Prior to joining privately held Spanx, she spent 10 years at the Coca-Cola Company in a number of leading marketing roles. Earlier in her career, she held marketing positions at R.H. Macy and Maison Blanche Stores. Goldman currently serves on the advisory board for Suntrust Banks.

New York -- J.C. Penney announced Thursday that its COO Michael Kramer has resigned, along with chief talent officer Daniel Walker – bringing Penney’s April executive casualty number to five. Both resignations had been previously reported.

Kramer’s resignation was disclosed via a Securities and Exchange filing. He walked away with a $2+ million cash payment.

The two latest resignations follow CEO Ron Johnson’s departure last week, along with product development lead Nick Wooster and marketing VP Sissie Twiggs.

Chairman, president and CEO of Fast Retailing Tadashi Yanai is among the 2013 Time 100, the magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. 

Yanai was the only retail and CPG company executive to make the list. Other notables with a connection to the retail industry included Samsung CEO Oh-Hyun Kwon, Paypal co-founder Elon Musk and fashion designer Michael Kors. The complete list will appear in the April 29 issue of Time, available now.

Strong sales of new products and fleece allowed athletic performance brand Under Armour to grow sales 23% to $472 million during its first quarter ended March 31.

Despite the solid increase in sales, the 12th consecutive quarter of revenue growth in excess of 20%, net income tumbled 47% to $8 million, or 7 cents a share, due largely to the timing of marketing expenses associated with the company’s largest ever global marketing campaign.