Sales & Marketing

Edison, N.J. -- Kevin Mead, the former senior VP, director of Stores for The Children's Place, has joined the senior team at Aerosoles as executive VP, retail reporting directly to CEO Jules Schneider. Mead will lead the strategic direction, ongoing expansion and operations of Aerosoles retail and outlet locations.

Sears Holdings’ Shop Your Way membership program and social shopping community has expanded its rewards program with the addition of more than 50 brand-name partners, which means members will be able to earn rewards through more places than ever.

"Members are already shopping for many of these products and services and now they can be rewarded for it," said Eric Jaffe, SVP of Shop Your Way. "Our goal is to make it easy to earn rewards wherever you shop, and our growing partner network shows we are poised to deliver."

Hong Kong - Michael Kors has named Mark Brashear to the newly created role of president of men’s. Brashear was most recently at Hugo Boss, where he held the position of CEO and chairman, Americas. Prior to his five-year tenure at Hugo Boss, Brashear was president of Faconnable from 2001 to 2008 and executive VP, Southwest Unit, at Nordstrom, where he worked from 1993 to 2001.

Toronto -- Town Shoes Limited announced the opening of its first two DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse locations in Canada. DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse will open at Heartland Centre in Mississauga and Woodland Hills in Newmarket, Ontario, on Aug. 7.

The two new Canadian retail locations, each approximately 20,000 sq. ft. will make them the largest shoe stores in the country.

Dodgeville, Wis. -- Lands’ End has brought on San Francisco-based Secret Sauce Partners to help improve the retailer’s online shopping experience.

Lands’ End has deployed Secret Sauce’s Fit Predictor service, which proactively finds a customer's best fit in seconds using existing data, without the need for physical measurements.  

The Container Store saw same-store sales in the first quarter slip 0.8%, putting an end to a 16-quarter streak.

“We thought our sluggish sales were all because of weather and calendar shifts that began last November and continued into the spring, but now we’ve come to realize it’s more than weather and calendar. Consistent with so many of our fellow retailers, we are experiencing a retail ‘funk,’” said chairman and CEO Kip Tindell.

Minneapolis — The Opus Group announced plans to build three 52,000-sq.-ft. retail buildings for St. Paul, Minnesota-based Gander Mountain. The new retail stores will be located in Augusta, Georgia; Newnan, Georgia and Algonquin, Illinois.

The nonprofit charity arm of Stater Bros. Markets has promoted Nancy Negrette to executive director.
 
In her new position, Negrette will work with Stater Bros. Charities CEO Sally Atkinson to oversee the nonprofit’s efforts in the areas the company’s employees work.