OPERATIONS / SUPPLY CHAIN

New York -- Nine owners and managers of 7-Eleven stores across Long Island (New York) and in Virginia were charged on Monday of harboring and hiring dozens of illegal immigrants and paying them using sham Social Security numbers.

Cincinnati -- Retail loyalty programs have seen some impressive growth since 2011, according to results of the latest Colloquy Loyalty Census. In 2013, department stores achieved 70% growth in loyalty program memberships since the 2011 Colloquy Census, far surpassing the 26.7% rate of growth in loyalty programs across all sectors tabulated in the 2013 census. The number of department store loyalty memberships is 193.9 million.

New York -- Saks Fifth Avenue is introducing a new creative campaign called “Look” that the retailer said will focus on its reputation as a place of discovery and be delivered to consumers via media including advertising, catalogs, shopping bags, direct mail, press initiatives, in-store events, digital marketing, social media and visual displays.

Menomonee Falls, Wis. -- Kohl’s Department Stores has announced plans to open a new customer service operations center in Dallas.

Expected to open in late spring 2014, the two-building, three-story, 240,000-sq.-ft. facility will support the continued growth of the company’s Kohl’s Charge program, as well as its online business, which reached $1.4 billion in sales last year following three consecutive years of more than 40%  annual growth.

Framingham, Mass. -- Dawn Lepore, who has previously served as interim CEO of Prosper Marketplace and also held executive positions at drugstore.com and The Charles Schwab Company, has been named to the board of directors of The TJX Companies.

TJX is expanding the size of its board with this appointment and Lepore joins 10 sitting board members.

New York -- David’s Bridal has entered into a partnership with American designer Zac Posen to launch 'Truly Zac Posen', a collection of bridal and other special occasion dresses. The collection will debut in February 2014 in select David’s Bridal stores and online.

Chicago -- Eli’s Cheesecake, which sells cheesecakes and other baked goods from a retail store in Chicago as well as an e-commerce site, uses emerging social media tools to meet traditional marketing goals. At the recent Internet Retailer conference in Chicago, Debbie Marchok, VP of marketing for Eli’s Cheesecake, reviewed how the retailer meets the four traditional marketing goals of attention, interest, desire and action with social media.

Brussels, Belgium -- Jean-Pierre Hansen is resigning from the board of directors of The Delhaize Group effective June 30. Hansen, who initially joined in 2011, said the position required more time than he anticipated and he needed to attend to commitments in the energy sector and other unspecified duties.

“I have very much enjoyed working with great colleagues on the Board and wish the company well in its future growth," said Hansen.