News

Just a few days after electing a whole new board of directors, Alco announced that newly elected director Stanley B. Latacha will assume the role of interim CEO, effective immediately.

Several Home Depot customers have filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, alleging that Home Depot failed to meet its legal obligation to protect their credit card and personal information and failed to timely warn them that such information had been stolen or that the security and privacy of such information had been compromised.

J.C. Penney is launching a new online sports store that will be powered by Fanatics, an online retailer of officially licensed sports merchandise.

Fanatics operates an e-commerce platform for hundreds of collegiate and professional sports teams, leagues and media sites. Now, it will provide sports fans with a selection of team apparel and merchandise at JCPenney.com, offering more than 300,000 licensed products spanning all the major sports leagues.

Dick’s Sporting Goods has upgraded its mobile app to incude features such as access to the specialty retailer’s ScoreCard rewards program, a store locator and in-app purchase functionality.

Users will also receive personalized coupons and offers. Built-in barcode scanner functionality allows users to scan product and marketing QR codes in-store for information, including product description, news, price and user reviews. The app is integrated with Dick’s Sporting Goods’ social media channels.
 

Bebe has taken significant steps to refocus on the Bebe brand, to preserve cash and to gain operating efficiencies across the organization. The retailer put these measures into effect by making changes in leadership, closing its 2b division and restructuring its corporate office, including retail management.

But the discontinuation of its 2b business, which was shut down July 5, took a bite out of the company’s second quarter, prompting the retailer to issue preliminary results.

Dollar Tree and Family Dollar have amended their merger agreement to include a commitment by Dollar Tree to divest as many stores as necessary or advisable to obtain antitrust clearance for the previously announced cash and stock transaction.

All other terms and conditions of the merger agreement remain the same as announced on July 28, 2014. The two companies also said that their expectations for a closing date for the transaction have accelerated to as early as the end of November 2014.

Living Proof has promoted Grace Ray to CEO. Ray has served as chief marketing officer since 2011, and succeeds Jill Beraud, who is heading to Tiffany & Co. as EVP of global retail operations.

The company credits Ray with being instrumental in its growth in the past several years. The company said that Ray worked with the Living Proof team to deliver a portfolio of award-winning and game-changing products, increase the brand's awareness and leverage co-owner Jennifer Aniston in powerful marketing campaigns to drive double-digit sales growth.

This week, a three-year-old Great Dane from Portland made headlines for consuming 43.5 socks. Hanes is capitalizing on the trending story by offering the mischievous pooch free dog treats for the rest of his life. 

“While Hanes believes its socks are tasty footwear,” the company said in a statement, “it hopes this offer will get the Great Dane snacking on something that's much more pleasant for his tummy.”

Target is expanding its TargetExpress format outside the Minneapolis area for the first time. The retailer plans to open two new stores in San Francisco’s financial district and Berkeley, California, in March 2015.

Starbucks will launch two new store formats in fiscal 2015, include a smaller-format concept aimed at urban commuters and a more premium store concept — Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room — dedicated to the chain’s highbrow Reserve brand of coffees.