Supply Chain & Merchandising

St. Petersburg, Fla. - Publix will anchor the Shoppes at Trinity Lakes, a 76,000-sq.-.ft center located in Trinity, Florida. The 45,600-sq.-ft. Publix joins three other tenants who have already signed leases at the center: Haircuttery, Majik Touch Cleaners, and China Wok, each of which will occupy 1,200 sq. ft.

Columbus, Ohio – DSW Inc. exceeded Wall Street expectations with profit in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014. The specialty footwear retailer reported net income of $30.8 million, up 10% from $28.1 million the same quarter a year earlier.

Cost of sales grew at a slower pace than actual sales, helping boost profits. DSW plans to open 35 stores in fiscal 2015, including eight to 10 small format stores. Sales rose 12$ to $640 million, from $572 million.

Atlanta - Arby's Restaurant Group Inc. (ARG) is promoting John Bowie, senior VP of operations, to COO, reporting to Paul Brown, CEO. The promotion was announced as George Condos, ARG president and COO, announced his retirement.  

Bowie will assume responsibilities as COO on March 30, at which point Condos will continue on through the end of the year as a consultant for Arby's.

Buoyed by impressive fourth quarter sales, Burlington Stores Inc. is accelerating its expansion strategy, with plans to open 25 new stores in 2015 and a long-term goal of 1,000 stores coast-to-coast.

The off-price retailer reported that total revenue for the fourth quarter ended Jan. 31 grew 10% to $1.5 billion from $1.34 billion. Same-store sales rose 6.7%.

Foothill Rach, Calif. – A winning bidder has reportedly emerged for the assets of The Wet Seal Inc., which declared bankruptcy in January 2015. According to the Wall Street Journal, Versa Capital Management LLC will take over at least 140 store leases and invest $10 million in the specialty apparel chain.

A focus on efficiency and improved customer engagement helped True Value boost same store sales and report its strongest growth in 20 years.

The hardware co-op's total gross billings for fiscal 2014 were $2.015 billion, up 6% compared with the prior year, and the highest in two decades. Same store sales to retailers were up 5.2% on a gross billings basis. Destination True Value retail comps were up 4.8%, and overall same store sales were up 3.1%, the company reported.

Burlington, N.J. – Burlington Stores Inc. beat Wall Street expectations for earnings and sales in a strong fourth quarter of fiscal 2014. Reductions in store payroll and advertising helped drive a net income increase of 49% to $94.86 million, from $63.58 million.

Burlington Stores plans to open 25 net new stores in fiscal 2015.

Total revenue grew 10% to $1.5 billion from $1.34 billion. Same-store sales rose 6.7%

Chicago - West Marine will open a new 20,000-sq.-ft. flagship Midwest store on North Halsted Street in Chicago on April 23. The new Chicago store is located just off the North Branch Canal of the Chicago River that wraps around Goose Island.