News Briefs

Walgreens Boots Alliance continues its transformation into a “consumer-centric healthcare company” — and to cut costs.

The pharmacy and healthcare services company is closing its e-commerce distribution center in Edwardsville, Ill., which will result in the loss of nearly 400 jobs. The center will close its doors on Aug. 28.   

The news about the closing comes after Walgreens revealed, during its third-quarter earnings call, that it plans to close 150 stores in the United States, where it has about 8,900 locations, and some 300 Boots stores in the U.K. In May, Walgreens said it was eliminating 504 corporate jobs, or about 10% of its corporate workforce. 

In its third-quarter earnings release, the company said it was increasing its cost-cutting initiative to $4.1 billion, from its previous target of $3.5 billion. The company is projecting at least $800 million of savings in 2024.

“As we continue to transform our business into a consumer-centric healthcare company, we are focused on aligning our operational structure to best serve our patients and customers including how we use our network of stores to ship orders to our patients’ and customers’ homes,” the company said in a statement to the Illinois Business Journal. “As a result, we have made the difficult decision to close our e-commerce distribution center in Edwardsville, Ill.”

In a report by the Chicago Sun-Times, Walgreens spokesperson Marty Maloney said that the company will continue to operate 16 other distribution centers, and local stores will take on the job of fulfilling customer orders.

LL Flooring Holdings (formerly Lumber Liquidators) has made three new leadership team appointments, all effective July 10.

The specialty retailer of hard-surface flooring has named Robert L. Madore as executive VP, CFO, replacing interim CFO Terry Blanchard. Madore most recently served as interim CFO of F45 Training Holdings, a global fitness franchisor.

Prior to joining F45, Madore served as CFO of The Cronos Group, a global cannabinoid company. Before that, he served as CFO of American Eagle Outfitters and CFO of Ralph Lauren. 

In other appointments, Laura Massaro has been named as senior VP, chief marketing officer. Most recently, she served as director of integrated marketing at Delta Air Lines, where she led and supported teams across media, social, CRM, MarTech, operations and analytics. 

Prior to joining Delta Air Lines, Massaro served as VP and deputy head of planning for Publicis Groupe’s Arc Worldwide in London.

Also, Andrew W. Wadhams has been named as senior VP, retail and commercial sales.  He most recently served as principal of The Wadhams Group, a company he founded to help brands define their offering, align and streamline practices and deepen connections to customers. Prior to this, he spent half a decade at California Closets, where he served as COO.

LL Flooring operates more than 440 stores nationwide.  Stores offer more than 500 varieties of hard-surface floors featuring a range of quality styles and on-trend designs, with a wide range of flooring tools and accessories.

As part of its ongoing initiative for supplier diversity, Meijer is hosting a one-day Black Business Month Summit.

The event is designed to generate opportunities and establish connections between Black business owners and Meijer merchants. Organized by the retailer’s  supplier diversity team, the Summit will be held Aug. 16 at Meijer’s corporate headquarters in Grand Rapids.

"In celebration of Black Business Month this August, the Summit is aimed to highlight the achievements, contributions, and economic impact made by Black entrepreneurs and business owners," said Carla Hendon, director of supplier diversity at Meijer. "This event also gives Black-owned businesses the opportunity to demonstrate the quality, uniqueness, and value of their products directly to our buyers."

Participating Black vendors can expect a virtual mentorship preparation call on July 17, which will provide insights and guidance on how to effectively prepare for the event, and an in-person booth display exhibit for their business during the summit.  

They will also have allotted time to meet one-on-one with Meijer merchants to pitch products, address questions and receive direct feedback.

The Summit is open to all potential and existing U.S. vendors, as well as growing vendors looking to expand their brand into larger Meijer stores.

The privately-owned and family-operated Meijer  operates more than 500 supercenters, neighborhood markets and Express locations  throughout Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Wisconsin.

 

Big Lots has entered into a sale and leaseback agreement with affiliates of Blue Owl Capital for gross proceeds of $318 million.  

The deal, which includes company’s distribution center in Apple Valley, Calif, and 26 owned-store locations. Net of expenses and taxes, Big Lots expects to receive estimated net proceeds of approximately $310 million.

The company plans to use $100 million the sale and leaseback transaction to fully pay down its synthetic lease on the Apple Valley center, with the remainder used to pay down debt on its asset-based lending revolving credit facility. 

In May, Big Lots  said it would suspend its dividend to bolster liquidity on the heels of a much wider-than-expected first-quarter loss , with sales falling 18% as its customers dealt with inflation, lower tax refunds and higher interest rates. 

"We are pleased to have reached a definitive agreement with Blue Owl for the sale and leaseback of our Apple Valley distribution center and the vast majority of our remaining owned stores,” Big Lots CEO Bruce Thorne said in a statement.  “As we discussed on our Q1 earnings call, we are highly focused on ensuring we have plenty of liquidity to get through this period of macroeconomic challenges, and monetizing these assets is a significant step forward in ensuring such liquidity.”

“Blue Owl has been a good partner on our other regional distribution centers, which we sold and leased back in 2020, and we look forward to furthering our relationship through this transaction,”  he continued. 

Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Big Lots operates more than 1,420 stores in 48 states.

Claire’s Holdings Inc. has changed its mind.

The tween and teen girls accessories retailer has withdraw its initial public offering application, according to a filing on June 30. Claire’s filed to go public in September 2021, about three years after it emerged from bankruptcy. The placeholder figure was $100 million. 

In the filing last week, the retailer did not say what led to its decision to withdraw, sharing only that “it has decided not to proceed with the offering at this time.” 

Recently, Claire’s has been expanding via partnerships with other retailers, including Macy’s and Walmart, with its products now available in more than 2,500 Walmart stores and in more than 360 Claire's store-in-stores at Walmart locations It also has a presence in grocery chains, including Albertsons, Kroger, Giant Eagle and others.

As of December 2022, there are more than 2,750 Claire’s owned and operated and franchise stores open across North America and Europe, along with 260 Icing doors.

 

Dollar General is adding a finance expert to its board.

The discount retailer announced the appointment of David Rowland to its board of directors, effective August 5, 2023. Rowland is the former executive chairman of Accenture plc.

With Rowland’s election, Dollar General’s board of directors now consists of ten total members. Rowland also will serve on the company’s audit committee of the board of directors.

“We are pleased to welcome David to our board of directors,” said Michael Calbert, Dollar General’s chairman of the board. “David brings a deep knowledge of the global marketplace and vast experience in finance, operations, strategy and risk management, which will be an asset to Dollar General as we focus on driving value to our customers, employees and shareholders.”

Rowland’s career spanned nearly four decades with Accenture. During which time, he served in notable leadership positions including executive chairman; interim CEO; CFO; senior VP, finance; as well as a variety of consulting and finance leadership roles of increasing responsibility beginning in 1983.

As of May 5, 2023, the company’s operated 19,294 Dollar General, DG Market, DGX and pOpshelf stores across the United States and Mi Súper Dollar General stores in Mexico.