News

Suffern, N.Y. -- Ascena Retail Group Inc reported its fiscal third-quarter profit rose to $33.2 million, from $31.2 million in the year ago period.

Revenue inched up 0.3% to $1.145 billion, compared to $1.142 billion a year earlier, driven by new store growth at Justice and Maurices, along with higher comparable sales at Lane Bryant, Maurices and Catherines, mostly offset by comparable sales declines at Justice and Dressbarn.

Total same store sales rose 1%.

Cabela’s is heading to Alabama and Oklahoma for the first time. The company plans to open store locations in Huntsville, Ala., and Oklahoma City, Okla., as well as its second location in New York.

San Jose, Calif. -- Hispanic supermarket chain Mi Pueblo Foods announced its formal emergence from Chapter 11 reorganization after having completed a necessary financial restructuring. The company also announced that Javier Ramirez has been named president and CEO. He will succeed Mi Pueblo founder Juvenal Chavez, who will be named chairman of the board.
 
Ramirez is a seasoned CEO in the Hispanic food and grocery sector.
   

Kraft Foods Group has named George Zoghbi as vice chairman of operations, R&D, sales and strategy, a newly created position. He will report directly to CEO Tony Vernon.  

The company said that it created the new role to “bring together the expertise of several key areas under one leader, including research & development, which creates innovative new products and manages quality improvements, to the manufacturing and sales teams that make and ultimately deliver Kraft's products to customers.”

Atlanta -- EarthLink Holdings Corp., a managed network and cloud services provider, announced that Anna’s Linens have selected the company to provide a comprehensive managed network solution and SIP Trunking for voice over IP for its more than three hundred stores and 3,200 employees.

To accommodate their rapid growth, increasingly centralized IT model, and need to run more applications, Anna's IT leaders worked in collaboration with EarthLink partner Grauman Communications to transition to an EarthLink MPLS network and SIP Trunking.

Undeterred by bad weather and competitive pressures that took a toll on its first quarter performance, Dollar General is pressing ahead with plans for 700 new stores, recently opened its 12th distribution center and believes its full year profit forecast is attainable.

By Anand Medepalli, VP of Solution Strategy, JDA Software Group Inc.

There will be more changes in retail the next 10 years than what has been seen in the last 50 years. Maybe that’s why omnichannel retailing is a hot topic. Omnichannel retailing centers on providing a seamless shopping experience regardless of channel to deliver a unified and customized shopping experience.

Sponsored by the National Confectioners Association, the 2014 Sweets & Snacks Expo hosted a sold out show at Chicago’s McCormick Place to an audience of more than 16,000 qualified industry professionals. The Expo, held May 20–22, is being touted as the confectionery and snack industry’s most successful, world-class event.