News

A 4.2% first quarter same store sales increase at teen retailer Five Below and better than expected results prompted the operator of 258 stores to increase its full year guidance.
 
Sales for the quarter ended May 4 increase 33.1% to $95.6 million and operating income swung to $3.2 million from a prior year loss of $2 million. Net income was $1.6 million compared to a net loss of $1.2 million the prior year.

Royal Ahold CEO Dick Boer and Nestlé CEO Paul Bulcke are the new co-chairs of global packaged goods organization the Consumer Goods Forum.
 
The selection of Boer and Bulcke was announced in conjunction with the CGF’s Global Summit in Tokyo. The pair replace outgoing co-chairs Muhtar Kent of the Coca-Cola Company and Gareth Ackerman of Pick n Pay. Ackerman and Denise Morrison, CEO of Campbell Soup Company, were appointed vice co-chairs of the forum.

OfficeMax and Office Depot have tapped global talent management consultancy Korn/Ferry International to assist the CEO selection committee in finding a CEO for the combined company in the pending merger.

Dennis Carey, vice chairman of Korn/Ferry International, is leading the search. The CEO selection committee is co-chaired by Office Depot board member Nigel Travis, chairman and CEO of Dunkin' Brands and OfficeMax board member Jim Marino, former president and CEO of Alberto Culver Company.

NEW YORK — Coty has promoted Catherine Walsh to the newly created position of SVP of corporate communications. The company will look to Walsh to help strengthen its global brand-building efforts.

Retailers looking for insight into popular new products in the candy and snacks world can thank organizers of the Sweets & Snacks Expo for doing some heavy lifting.
 
A panel of experts at the 17th annual event sifted through hundreds of samples prior to the sold out trade show in Chicago and found eight worthy of the distinction of “Most Innovative New Product.”

Yonkers, N.Y. – American consumers are reporting significantly fewer financial troubles than any time in the past three years, according to the Consumer Reports Index. The Index’s trouble tracker index, which measures the proportion of consumers that have faced difficulties as well as the number of negative financial events they have encountered, dropped from 41.7 in April to 34 in May. This is the lowest trouble tracker score since Consumer Reports began reporting it in April 2009 and more than 50% below its all-time high score of 68.7 in September 2009.

SALT LAKE CITY — Overstock.com announced it would resume using Missouri advertisers after Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon's veto of the recently enacted affiliate nexus bill. The bill sought to recruit remote sellers into state sales tax collection if they continued to use Missouri Internet advertisers.

Toy collecting is definitely not just for the small fry at Kidrobot, which has evolved from a cool toy store for kids and adults alike in New York City’s hip SoHo into a multimillion dollar retail and wholesale company.