Supply Chain & Merchandising

Columbus, Ohio -- Footwear big-box retailer DSW will open stores in Michigan, California, and Washington State this month.

A 20,000-sq.-ft. store will open April 30 at Pirate’s Plaza in Flint, Michigan, representing the 10th DSW store in the Detroit market.

In Bakersfield, California, DSW will open an 18,000-sq.-ft. store at Shops at River Walk, also on April 30. The Shops at River Walk store marks the company’s first in Bakersfield.

New York -- A major new credit agreement has been secured by the 262 store Hancock Fabric chain with Wells Fargo Capital and the newly formed Great American Capital Partners subsidiary of B. Riley Financial.

The new financing deal, executed a year and a half before an existing credit facility was due to expire, provides the struggling Hancock Fabric chain with a new five year, $100 million asset-backed credit facility from Wells Fargo and a $17.5 million term loan from Great American.

Amazon.com’s sales growth in the first quarter continued to outpace the overall e-commerce growth rate, especially Web services, but expenses related to interest and currency exchange caused the online leader to report a $57 million net loss.

Total sales for the quarter ended March 31 increased 15% to $22.72 billion but a strengthening of the U.S. Dollar caused a $1.3 billion currency exchange headwind. On a constant currency basis, which is how global retailers like to analyze their business, sales increased 22%.

Walmart detailed a wide range of considerable accomplishments in its eighth annual Global Responsibility Report released this week, but what the world really want to know is what’s up with those toilets at Pico Rivera, Calif., supercenter.

In case you missed it, Walmart abruptly closed the store and four others due to what the company characterized as emergency plumbing issues. Plans called for the stores to close for six months while repairs were made and employees were given two months severance pay and told them would need to reapply for jobs when the stores reopened.

Sidney, Neb. -- Cabela's Inc. saw profit rise 6.9% to $27.5 million in the first quarter, topping Wall Street expectations. Revenue of $827.1 million, a 14% increase, also exceeded Street forecasts.

By segment, retail store revenue increased 18.9% to $524.4 million; direct revenue decreased 3.3% to $173.5 million; and Financial Services revenue increased 24.7% to $122.9 million.

During the period, consolidated same-store sales decreased 1.3%.

New York -- Following its January 2015 spinoff from private-equity firm Sycamore Partners, Jones New York has been acquired by Authentic Brands Group, LLC, owner of a global portfolio of fashion, sports, media and entertainment brands.

Sycamore previously announced it would close all Jones New York retail locations and seek strategic alternatives for the beleaguered brand.

Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc., which had disappointing financial results in its last quarter, said CEO W. Bruce Johnson will leave the company Aug. 1.

The company also announced that the board of directors has commenced a search for a new CEO and has retained Heidrick & Struggles, a leading global executive search firm, to assist the Board in identifying and evaluating external and internal candidates.

King of Prussia, Pa. - eBay Enterprise, an eBay Inc. company, is releasing Magento Enterprise Edition 1.14.2. Magento’s new solutions include new automated product category sorting capabilities, integration of Google Tag Manager, and access to new automated functional tests.

In addition, the Magento Mobile Software Development Kit (SDK) enables retailers to create custom iOS applications, as well as provides a sample app that merchants can customize to accelerate their development.