News

London -- Displaydata announced Tuesday it was named a 2014 Partner in Transformation for Sears Holdings Corp. The company received the award for delivering Sears' innovative digital display technology that supports its Shop Your Way program in stores.

Displaydata's responsiveness, hands-on delivery and commitment to supporting Sears' deployment in hundreds of stores to date has built a strong collaboration and partnership between both organizations. The award was recently presented at Sears Holdings' 2014 Vendor Summit.

Former Best Buy and Advance Auto Part executives are the newest members of the senior leadership team at the 2,216-store Bridgestone Retail Operations group where chairman and president Stu Crum wants to do the unthinkable.
 
Crum wants to eliminate the smell of rubber from the company’s stores and see the Firestone name mentioned alongside companies such as Nordstrom and Starbucks during conversations about retailers who provide a great customer service experience.
 

Vestis Retail Group, the parent company of Bob's Stores and Eastern Mountain Sports, has set the wheels in motion to acquire Sport Chalet.

The acquisition will create one of the largest sporting goods retailers in the United States, with more than 150 stores and coverage on the East and West coasts. Sport Chalet will continue to operate stores under its existing brand name, and according to Vestis Retail Group, no store closures are planned.

Hamilton, Bermuda -- Signet Jewelers Ltd. on Tuesday announced that Theo Killion, CEO and president of its newly acquired Zale division, has resigned, effective July 31.

Killion had been tapped to lead Zale as a separate division within the company, Signet said when the deal closed in late May. George Murray, Signet's current chief integration management officer, has been promoted to president of the Zale division and will succeed Killion upon his departure.

Amazon continues to expand its original content creation capabilities. The online retail giant has added the hour-long dramatic thriller Hysteria, from Amazon Studios, Universal Television and Alcon Television Group, to its third pilot season, which will debut later this year on Amazon Instant Video.

Burlington, Vt. - Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Truck is launching a month-long tour in New York City July 1-28 and in Portland, Oregon, July 1-29, giving away free ice cream scoops in an omnichannel promotion. Customers can follow the trucks on Twitter to see where they are located and also send tweets to win direct delivery of free ice cream.

Omnichannel beauty brand Julep has tapped former Blue Nile executive Dwight Gaston as chief delivery officer. In his new role, Gaston will oversee Julep's operations, customer service, fulfillment and product development teams to ensure efficient delivery of products to its customers.

The company develops more than 300 new products each year for its Maven subscribers and e-commerce customers, and shipments are growing exponentially, it said.

Chain Store Age recently spoke with Alison Paul, vice chairman, Deloitte LLP and retail and distribution leader, about the expanding role of the CFO in retail organizations:

How has the role of the CFO in retail organizations changed?