News

Following a heated back-and-forth between Jos. A. Bank and the Men’s Wearhouse, which culminated in an ultimatum, Jos. A. Bank Clothiers has terminated its acquisition proposal.

As previously reported, Jos. A. Bank had advised the Men's Wearhouse board that it would terminate its all-cash proposal to purchase the company for $48 per share if the board failed to “engage in good faith negotiations” by Nov. 14. The day came and went and the companies continued in a deadlock.

XPO Logistics, a transportation logistics services provider in North America, has acquired Optima Service Solutions, a leading non-asset provider of last-mile logistics services for major retailers and manufacturers in the United States.

Kid Brands has entered into an agreement with National Distribution Centers — a warehousing and distribution division of NFI, which is a fully integrated supply chain solutions provider — to address certain third-party logistics for the company's warehousing and distribution operations.

Food Holdings, a leading nationwide provider of specialty foods, healthcare foods, gluten-free foods and direct-from-source artisanal foods to the professional foodservice market, has elected Justin Wiernasz, president of Innovative Food Holdings, to its board of directors.

Lowe’s has elected former WellPoint executive Angela Braly to the company's board of directors. Braly’s term will expire at Lowe's 2014 annual meeting of shareholders. Her addition brings the total of members to 12, of whom 11 are independent.

OfficeMax plans to open most of its stores at 8 p.m. Thanksgiving night. Meanwhile, its e-commerce site will begin offering online Black Friday deals at 12:01 a.m. EST Thanksgiving morning.

The OfficeMax Black Friday shopping event will take place for three days from Thursday, Nov. 28 through Saturday, Nov. 30 in stores and online. OfficeMax.com will also host a special online-only, pre-Black Friday sales event at 9 p.m. EST Wednesday, Nov. 27.

Tiffany’s chief financial officer, Patrick F. McGuiness, has resigned his position effective Nov. 27. The company’s EVP and chief operating officer, James Fernandez, will assume the position of CFO on an interim basis.

Fernandez has been with Tiffany’s since 1983. The board of Tiffany’s has authorized a search for a new CFO.

New research from the National Retail Federation sheds light on how 140 million Americans plan to shop during the Thanksgiving weekend.

According to a new survey from the National Retail Federation, Black Friday will be the biggest day of the weekend: 69.1% plan to shop on Black Friday, or approximately 97 million shoppers.

Red hot Pinterest is offering new functunality to third parties that will allow them to curate content and drive traffic to their sites, and major retailers such as Walmart, Target and Zappos are all over it.

HSN is a shining example of a retailer that successfully reinvented itself to become a $3 billion interactive multichannel operator and in the process shattered perceptions about what a career in retail looks like.