News

Belk president and chief merchandising officer Kathryn Bufano was named president at CEO of The Bon-Ton Stores late Thursday.

Atlanta – The Home Depot Inc. has promoted Ted Decker to executive VP of merchandising, effective Aug. 4. Decker is a 14-year veteran of The Home Depot, where he most recently served as senior VP of retail finance, pricing analytics and assortment planning.

Walmart kicked off its back-to-school promotional effort the way it does every seasonal selling initiative – with a big emphasis on low prices – but added a stronger digital component this year.

The retailer sought to bring a bit of Black Friday and Cyber Monday magic to its back-to-school efforts with a series of price cuts and limited duration offerings designed to generate sales and drive traffic to its stores and Web site.

Fingerprinting and DNA sampling are on back-to-school lists at Sam’s Club this year where the warehouse club operator is using the allure of free services to expose would-be members to its value proposition.

On Saturday, August 9 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at clubs nationwide Sam’s is offering DNA testing and fingerprint kits as part of an annual free children’s health screening program. The screenings, which combine health and child safety information are available at the 596 Sam’s locations with a pharmacy.

Fortune Brands Home & Security has acquired Sentry Safe, a leading manufacturer of personal safes with estimated annual sales of $150 million. The transaction closed early this week for $117.5 million and was funded from the company's existing credit facilities.

Sentry Safe will become part of Master Lock, a leading padlock brand in North America. Sentry Safe is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and has approximately 500 employees, with manufacturing facilities in Rochester, New York, and Cannelton, Indiana.

Washington, D.C. - Almost three-quarters of Americans worry about the quantity of personal information available online and more than half feel they cannot trust social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to keep their contact information, buying habits and political beliefs confidential. According to a new poll conducted by Rad Campaign, Lincoln Park Strategies, and Craigconnects, online security concerns rise as Americans get older.