Sales & Marketing

Camp Hill, Pa. – Same-store sales increased 4.6% at Rite Aid Corp. in July 2014. Total drugstore sales for the four-week period increased 4.1% to $1.97 billion, compared to $1.9 billion for the same period the prior year.

July front-end same-store sales increased 1.5%. Pharmacy same-store sales increased 6%. Prescription count at comparable stores increased 3.9% from the prior-year period.

HH Gregg president and CEO Dennis May expected the company’s first quarter to be challenging, but he did not envision a 10.2% same store sales decline or a $10.3 million loss.

Atlanta – The Home Depot Inc. has promoted Ted Decker to executive VP of merchandising, effective Aug. 4. Decker is a 14-year veteran of The Home Depot, where he most recently served as senior VP of retail finance, pricing analytics and assortment planning.

The Bon-Ton Stores has elected Daniel T. Motulsky to its board of directors.

Motulsky was a managing director and global head of consumer & retail of Lazard from 2000 to June 2014, having joined the firm in 1998. Lazard is a global financial advisory and asset management firm that engages in investment banking, asset management and other financial services primarily with institutional clients.

Wayne, N.J. – Babies “R” Us has introduced a comprehensive series of services and solutions designed to help new and expectant parents with newborn feeding. The company has partnered with Medela, a manufacturer of breast pumps and postnatal supplies, to provide the Medela Breast Pump Rental Service to parents nationwide.

Retail and consumer products veteran Brian Cornell was named chairman and CEO at Target to fill two of the three roles previously held by the company’s former top executive Gregg Steinhafel.

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is warning retailers about a new, nearly indetectable computer virus known as “Backoff” that poses a threat to POS systems. According to an advisory from Homeland Security, most antivirus software cannot recognize Backoff.