Distribution

BOCA RATON, Fla. — Office Depot announced that it is now expanding its retail store presence in the Caribbean territory as part of its franchise agreement with Benmore International.

ISSAQUAH, Wash. — First it was Steve Jobs, and now Costco’s legendary co-founder Jim Sinegal is stepping down as CEO.

Boca Raton, Fla. -- Office Depot is expanding into the Caribbean as part of its franchise agreement with Benmore International. The company has opened a store in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. It plans to open three additional locations in the Dominican Republic in 2012.

In addition to its operations in various Central American countries and Puerto Rico, Office Depot plans to further expand its business throughout the Caribbean.

London -- Grocery giant Tesco PLC said Wednesday it is pulling out of Japan, which means shuttering 129 small, leasehold-owned stores in the Greater Tokyo area, which employ 4,000 people. The country is the smallest of Tesco’s international retail businesses, and the weakest for sales growth in the 2010-2011 fiscal year.

“Having made considerable efforts in Japan, we have concluded that we cannot build a sufficiently scalable business,” said Philip Clarke, CEO.

South Deerfield, Mass. -- The Yankee Candle Co. has opened its first company-owned retail stores in Canada. Yankee Candle will open five stores in the greater Toronto area before Sept. 16. The first three locations in Pickering, St. Catharine's and Hamilton, Ontario, are now open. In the coming weeks, the company will open stores in Barre and Kitchener, Ontario.

New York City -- Jesta I.S., a supplier of enterprise business solutions for retailers, manufacturers and distributors in the apparel, footwear and specialty industries worldwide, announced Wednesday that Joseph-Beth Booksellers has selected Jesta I.S. solutions to power its business operations.

Joseph-Beth Booksellers will implement the Jesta I.S. Vision Store, Vision Merchandising, Vision Planning, and Vision E-DOM, enabling the integration of all its information in a single solution.

New York City -- While it may take some to fully assess the damage, the impact of Hurricane Irene on retail sales is likely to split among retail sectors: Home-improvement stores selling emergency preparation products and clean-up items are likely to benefit the most from the storm, while apparel retailers and department stores selling non-essential items are likely to take a hit.

New York City -- A bankruptcy judge gave Books-A-Million the nod Monday to take over the leases of 14 Borders Group stores for just under $1 million.

The stores are located mostly on the East Coast, and Books-A-Million is expected to take over the leases effective Sept. 20.