Supply Chain & Merchandising

Philadelphia -- Five Below saw net income surge to $4.1 million for the quarter ended August 3, up from $1.2 million in the year-ago period. Sales climbed 34.9% to $117.1 million from $86.8 million, and same-store sales increased 6.6%. The company had, by the quarter’s end, opened 32 of its previously announced 60 new stores on tap for 2013.

Washington, D.C. - Import volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to grow 5.1% in September over the same month last year as retailers head into the holiday season. U.S. ports followed by the monthly Global Port Tracker report, released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates, handled 1.43 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) in July, the latest month for which after-the-fact numbers are available.

DALLAS — Leading closeout retailer Tuesday Morning has appointed retail industry veteran Jeffrey Boyer as the company’s EVP, chief administrative officer and CFO.

Boyer will fill the existing chief administrative officer vacancy and will replace Stephanie Bowman as CFO. Bowman, who served as the company’s CFO since April 2008, has decided to pursue other professional interests but will remain with Tuesday Morning in a consultative capacity to facilitate a smooth transition.

Washington, D.C. -- Walmart VP of global technology services and strategic partnerships Fumbi Chima has been elected to the World Affairs Council – Washington, D.C., board of directors.

Chima is responsible for Walmart’s vendor management office, project management office and its global technology services office in India, as well as the IT asset management team.

PHILADELPHIA — Leading automotive aftermarket service and retail chain the Pep Boys has acquired 17 discount tire centers in Southern California from AKH Company, Inc.

The tire centers are located throughout the greater Los Angeles market, from Bakersfield to Orange County. They will re-open on September 12 under the Pep Boys banner and provide full-service vehicle maintenance and repair, including brand-name and private-label replacement tires.

Nature's Sunshine Products, a leading natural health and wellness company, has appointed former Clorox executive Beth Springer, to the company's board of directors.

"We are excited to welcome Beth Springer to our board of directors," said Gregory L. Probert, Nature's Sunshine chairman and CEO. "Beth brings significant, broad operational and financial experience to Nature's Sunshine and the board that I know will benefit the company and its shareholders. We look forward to her guidance and strategic thinking as a member of the board."

San Jose, Calif. -- Togo's Eateries announced the signing of two multi-unit franchise agreements with an existing franchise group to develop 20 new restaurants in Oregon and California over the next several years.

Togo's franchisee Mark Fischer will open 10 restaurants in Portland, Ore., and 10 additional locations in Los Angeles County, with the first location scheduled to open in Portland, Ore. in first quarter 2014.

This new development is part of the chain’s plan to grow the brand to 400 restaurants along the West Coast.

The husband of a woman who died following a bizarre series of developments precipitated by a shopping trip to Walmart is pursuing an even more bizarre lawsuit alleging the retailer and its manufacturer of plastic bags are at fault.