Supply Chain & Merchandising

Indianapolis -- Finish Line reported Thursday that earnings for the quarter ended May 28 rose 20% to $16.4 million, compared with $13.6 million in the year-ago period.

Revenue, despite a 6% rise to $299 million, missed Wall Street expectations of $301.4 million.

Same-store sales increased 6.1% for the quarter.

Parker, Colo. -- Westwood Financial Corp. said it has acquired the Stroh Ranch Retail Center, a 6,336-sq.-ft. property in Parker, Colo., outside Denver. Westwood Financial bought the distressed asset in a short sale and said it is currently eyeing similar opportunities in this sector.

The two-unit, 1999-built Stroh Ranch Retail Center currently counts Pizza Hut as its only tenant after Blockbuster vacated last year, leaving it 21% leased.
 

CAMDEN, N.J. — Campbell Soup Company has named Denise Morrison president and CEO, effective Aug. 1, the first day of Campbell’s next fiscal year. In October 2010, Morrison was named EVP and COO and elected a director of the company in anticipation of her appointment to the role of CEO at the beginning of fiscal 2012.

Morrison will succeed Douglas Conant, who will step down as president and CEO on July 31, 2011, after more than a decade in that role. Conant also will step down from Campbell’s board of directors at that time.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears Holdings Corp. disclosed in a Thursday filing that it plans to spin off its Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Corp. business as a separate, publicly traded company.

Dallas -- The Commercial Retail Division of The Weitzman Group said that Just Fitness 4 U has leased 18,900 sq. ft. of anchor space in Spring Creek Village for the chain’s sixth Dallas-Fort Worth location.

Just Fitness 4 U, which currently operates locations in Dallas, Carrollton, Mesquite, Plano and Hurst, also operates in several national markets, including Atlanta and Salt Lake City. The Weitzman Group is representing the fitness chain on its Dallas-Ft. Worth expansion.

TORONTO — Sears Canada has announced the appointment of Calvin McDonald as its president and CEO, effective immediately. McDonald most recently served as EVP, conventional division of Loblaw Companies Limited. He will succeed Dene Rogers, who has served as president and CEO of Sears Canada since 2006.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Sales may have been flat overall, but a closer look revealed there was a lot to be positive about in Rite Aid’s fiscal first quarter 2012 earnings, as the company managed significant expense improvement and stronger same-store sales growth. Bottom line: Rite Aid narrowed its losses considerably, and that ain’t all expense control.

Framingham, Mass. -- Staples has revealed plans to shrink its overall store footprint and grow its break rooms as a means to lower costs and increase sales productivity.

In a presentation to analysts at a Jefferies & Co. conference in New York City on Wednesday, Staples U.S. president Demos Pareros said new stores will be about 15,500 sq. ft. to 16,000 sq. ft., down from the current prototype of 18,000 sq. ft. and the 2000 prototype of 24,000 sq. ft.