News Briefs

Bed Bath & Beyond has ended its efforts to find a buyer for its entire BuyBuy Baby chain — a move that would have potentially kept at least some of its stores open.

Instead, the bankrupt retailer will seek bankruptcy court approval for a more limited sale of the brand’s intellectual property assets to Dream on Me, a New Jersey-based company that makes and sells baby goods. On June 29, Bed Bath & Beyond selected Dream on Me as the lead bidder for BuyBuy Baby’s IP, but it continued to seek out buyers who would buy the entire business as a going concern and keep its stores running, with an auction scheduled for July 7. 

But no higher bidder emerged and the chain canceled the auction. (Dream on Me’s $15.5 billion bid is for BuyBuy’s trademark and IP only.) 

On June 28, a U.S. bankruptcy court judge approved Overstock.com's$21.5 million bid some assets of Bed Bath & Beyond, including its name, intellectual property and online assets.

  

 

The Canadian value retailer, whose merchandise is priced at $5 or less,  said that J.P. Towner, CFO, will step down from his position in the coming months to pursue another career opportunity. He will remain in his role to ensure a smooth transition, including through the announcement and filing of Dollarama’s second quarter results for its current fiscal year. 

The company has begun a formal search process for a new CFO.

"On behalf of the board of directors and the executive team, I would like to thank J.P. for his contribution to Dollarama," said Neil Rossy, president and CEO of Dollarama. "It was a pleasure working with J.P. and we wish him the very best in his next chapter."

Dollarama operates 1,507 locations across Canada, with stores  offering a broad assortment of consumable products, general merchandise and seasonal at fixed price points up to $5.00.

 The company also owns a 50.1% interest in Dollarcity, a growing Latin American value retailer. Dollarcity, which offers  consumable products, general merchandise and seasonal items at  fixed price points up to US$4.00 (or the equivalent in local currency) operaates 448 located stores in El Salvador, Guatemala, Colombia and Peru.

 

Starbucks Workers United is taking its cause on the road.

The union is launching a four-week, 13-city bus tour to raise public awareness and educate consumers about its demands. The union represents store employees and shift supervisors at about 320 of Starbucks' roughly 9,000 corporate-owned U.S. locations. 

“Union partners from all over the country are going on a nationwide bus tour to let Starbucks know it's time for a contract,!” the union said in a tweet.

The bus tour will make stops in 13 cities, starting with in Minneapolis-St Paul, Minn. Other cities on the tour include Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Buffalo, Seattle and more. The protesting employees will give out flyers with QR codes on them that link to a sign-up page where consumers can pledge “to support Starbucks workers in their fight for a union and a fair contract” and receive alerts about rallies, pickets and other events in their area.

The workers will be traveling in two buses sporting "The Union is Calling" wraps, reported tastingtable.com

"Each stop will include organizing events, worker-led actions, press events, and various activities to call on members of Starbucks' Board of Directors to uphold Starbucks values and respect workers' rights,” according to a release cited in the report.

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.

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.

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.