Sales & Marketing

PARSIPPANY, N.J. — B&G Foods has acquired Robert’s American Gourmet Food, doing business as Pirate Brands — an all-natural snack foods category — from VMG Partners, Driven Capital Management, founder Robert Ehrlich and other entities and individuals.

B&G will pay approximately $195 million in cash.

Foothill Ranch, Calif. -- The Wet Seal announced today that retail veteran Lesli Gilbert has been appointed executive VP, stores and operations, effective immediately. Gilbert replaces Barbara Cook, former senior VP store operations, who resigned in February.

Most recently, Gilbert was senior VP of stores at The Talbots, where she was responsible for developing the stores strategy and framework to reposition the business

CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Dollar Tree has promoted Gary Philbin to president and COO. He has served as COO since 2007. Bob Sasser continues to lead the company as its CEO.

 St. Augustine, Fla. – Barbecue product retailer Heaton Enterprises has reopened its online barbecue store Barbqrub.com. Although never officially closed, the site has added new products including and rubs and marinades as well as grills and grilling tools and will also soon expand its blog to offer best practices, product reviews and recipes.

New York – Brooks Brothers is connecting data to the customer experience in order to replicate the highly personalized shopping environment of its stores on its e-commerce site.

“We are connectors,” Cindy L. Hicks, director of analytics for Brooks Brothers, told the audience during a session at last week’s Internet Retailer conference in Chicago. “Our job is to connect data to the customer experience with a software package.”

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Lululemon reported results for the first quarter ended May 5, but the news of the day was CEO Christine Day's resignation after five and a half years.

Day will officially step down once the board names a successor. The board has formed a search committee and enacted its CEO succession plan.

New York – Initial Bloomberg estimates indicate US retail sales edged up 0.4% last month, with growth in the job market spurring increased consumer willingness to spend money. The projected increase is the largest in three months and follows smaller increases of 0.1% in April.

Lowe’s is leveraging the popularity of Disney animated films "Monsters University" and "Toy Story" for its nationwide movie-themed Build and Grow clinics for kids.

The special hour-long clinics, recommended for children in grades two through five, will take place on select Saturdays at 10 a.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. throughout the summer and are free, the company announced.