News

Pet expands 'Promise' to homeless families
PetSmart’s nationally acclaimed initiative to help house the pets of homeless families is expanding.

PetSmart Promise, which helps temporarily homeless families keep all members of their family together -– including their four-legged family members -– is expanding into 16 PetSmart PetsHotel locations nationwide. PetSmart Promise is the result of a collaboration between PetSmart and Family Promise.
Dillard’s cooks up nearly $1M for Ronald McDonald House
Sales of an exclusive holiday cookbook will allow Dillard’s to donate more than $900,000 to of Ronald McDonald House Charities. For the seventh year in a row, Dillard's offered for sale a special edition of the Southern Living Christmas Cookbook to benefit RMHC.

Gordon Bros., Hilco and Great American Group begin closing sales at Target Canada

Boston -- Three of the nation’s largest asset disposition companies were the successful bidders in the race to liquidate inventory at Target’s 133 Canadian locations.

Gordon Brothers Group, Hilco Global (through its Canadian division Merchant Retail Solutions) and affiliates of Great American Group secured approval from Target Canada and an order from a Canadian court to manage the store closing process for Target’s 133 Canadian locations, with store closing beginning February 5, 2015.
L Brands gives shareholders big gift

Shareholders of Victoria’s Secret parent company L Brands received an early Valentine’s Day gift after the company said fourth quarter profits were much better than expected and it would pay a $2 a share special dividend.

The company said same store sales increased 7% and total sales for the four week period ended Jan. 31 increased 7% to $783.1 million. Sales for the full fourth quarter period also increased 7% to slightly more than $4 billion while same store sales grew 6%.
PwC: Retail mergers & acquisition activity hits five-year high in 2014

New York -- U.S. retail and consumer (R&C) total transaction value for 2014 hit a five-year high and surpassed the $100 billion mark for the second year in a row, according to PwC’s U.S. retail and consumer deals insights 2014 Year in Review and 2015 Outlook report.
Liquidation dream team gets shot at Target Canada

It’s the end of an era that never really began for Target Canada as three of the biggest names in the asset disposition world begin store closing sales at Target’s 133 Canadian locations. Gordon Brothers Group, Hilco Global and Great American Group were the successful bidders at a Jan. 27 auction and secured approval from Target Canada and an order from a Canadian court to manage the store closing process for Target’s 133 Canadian locations.
Retailers advance cyber crime agenda with key hire

The retail industry’s data security efforts were upgraded week when the Retail Industry Leaders Association named the former Texas chief information security officer to lead the trade group’s new intelligence sharing organization.

RILA said Brian Engle would serve as executive director of the Retail Cyber Intelligence Sharing Center (R-CISC) and be responsible for managing the organization’s daily affairs.
Boot Barn marches on in Q3

Boot Barn continued its march of success in the third quarter, which produced another round of positive financial results.

The company reported that for the third quarter ended Dec. 27, net sales increased 13.1% to $130.5 million; same store sales, which include e-commerce sales, increased 7.2%; and net income was $8.8 million, or $0.36 per diluted share, compared to a net income of $6.3 million or $0.33 per diluted share.
Costco comps flat in January

Costco’s same store sales flat-lined in January, disappointing many analysts who had expected a 1.2% increase.
Brown Shoe names J.C. Penney exec as CFO

St. Louis -- Brown Shoe Company announced that Kenneth Hannah has been named senior VP and CFO of the company, replacing Russ Hammer as of Feb. 16.

Hannah most recently served as executive VP and CFO of J.C. Penney Co. Prior to that time, he served in multiple executive roles at SunEdison (formerly MEMC Electronic Materials), including president of Solar Energy and of Solar Materials and as VP and CFO.