Supply Chain & Merchandising

CUPERTINO, California — Apple announced that it has named Tim Cook, previously COO, as the company's new CEO, replacing Steve Jobs who has resigned from the position. Jobs has been elected chairman of the board and Cook will join the board, effective immediately.

Little Rock, Ark. -- Dillard’s said Thursday it has offered to relocate 66 St. Louis employees whose jobs have been eliminated from the department store retailer’s merger of two merchandising divisions.

Dillard’s is merging its St. Louis merchandising division with another in Little Rock, Ark. The St. Louis division is slated to close Oct. 23.
 

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Best Buy, Sears and Target ranked as the top three cross-channel performers in a study by CrossView, a provider of cross-channel commerce solutions. The study, which examined the cross-channel capabilities of 25 top retailers, found that a majority of retailers are providing an unsatisfactory cross-channel experience. 

Highlights of the study, which is due to be released Aug. 30, include:

• Only 12% of studied retailers could access a customer’s pending web order in store;

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Meijer announced that it has opened a new, smaller-format grocery store in the Chicago area. The 90,000 sq. ft. Meijer Marketplace store in Melrose Park, will feature national and Meijer own brand grocery items, along with a full-service pharmacy offering a variety of national and Meijer brand health and beauty products, the company reported.  

Boynton Beach, Fla. -- Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency Centers announced the addition of Publix Super Market as the new anchor of Boynton Lakes Plaza, a 117,000-sq.-ft. neighborhood center in Boynton Beach, Fla. 

Publix is relocating from an undersized 39,000-sq.-ft. store in a nearby center to open a new prototype of 45,600 sq. ft. in late summer 2012.   

The store will occupy a former Winn-Dixie site that was closed along with 29 other locations in July 2010.
 

Charlotte, N.C. -- X Team International, an international alliance of retail real estate advisors, said that Charlotte, N.C.-based partner The Chambers Group has completed a lease for the first small-format Burlington Coat Factory store in Charlotte.

Scheduled to open Oct. 1 at Woodlawn Marketplace, the smaller format store will be roughly 48,000 sq. ft. and joins T.J. Maxx and Family Dollar.
 

DENVER and MONTREAL — Molson Coors Brewing Company announced that Torsten Kuenzlen, formerly president director of Coca-Cola’s Indonesia region, has joined as Molson Coors International's new CMO. Celso White, former VP and general manager, Americas concentrate operations at PepsiCo, has joined as MCI’s new chief supply chain Officer. In addition, Lee Reichert, formerly a partner with Lathrop & Gage LLP, has joined MCI as general counsel. All of the executives will be based in Denver, Colo.

ARMONK, N.Y. — Winn-Dixie Stores has selected IBM point-of-sale and self-checkout technology to help transform customer service, speed innovation and increase the operational efficiency of 484 Winn-Dixie store locations, and other store formats across the Southeastern United States, IBM reported.