OPERATIONS / SUPPLY CHAIN

Toronto -- Opterus Inc., a leading provider of cost-effective, web-based store communications and task management solutions, announced that luxury retailer Cole Haan has selected Opterus’ Store Ops-Center as its communications and task management solution.

New York -- John Mulligan, the interim CEO of Target, said he wants customers to know they can shop with confidence at Target. Mulligan made his remarks during a TV interview with CNN's Poppy Harlow (See video below).

Mulligan, CFO of Target, was named as the interim CEO on Monday. He replaced company veteran Gregg Steinhafel, who departed the chain as it deals with the ongoing aftermath of its data breach.

Mount Laurel, N.J. -- Agilence, a provider of cloud-based exception reporting solutions, announced that the Great Atlantic & Pacific Company has selected Agilence’s Retail 20/20 to enhance its chain-wide effort to reduce shrink and fraud.

Boca Raton, Fla. -- Office Depot will close at least 400 U.S. stores during the next two years as part of its plan to consolidate operations after its acquisition of OfficeMax last November. The closings were not unexpected since there are many locations where the two brands have stores in close proximity to one another. The retailer also raised its full-year adjusted operating income forecast after reporting better-than-expected first quarter results amid cost cutting efforts.

Dayton, Ohio -- Retail design and brand strategy firm Interbrand Design Forum announced that Ryan Brazelton has returned to the company as a senior director of design.  

Most recently Brazelton worked for Aveda as global design director. In that role he oversaw store design, packaging and the development of corporate collateral, in addition to campaign design across all forms of media. Prior to that, he served as design director at Fitch. Brazelton was previously with Interbrand Design Forum for six years as the group leader of graphic design.

Greensboro, N.C. -- Apex Analytix, a provider of services and software to safeguard disbursements, identify fraud and improve performance across the procure-to-pay cycle, announced it has been chosen to provide retail audit software to Publix Super Markets.

Publix will use Apex Analytix FirstStrike Retail, an application used to audit large volumes of data in high-transaction retail environments. Experience shows that internal recovery audit teams armed with FirstStrike are able to achieve far more recoveries in much less time, according to Apex.

Harrisburg, Pa. -- Arooga’s Grille House & Sports Bar announced it is making tabletop tablets from Buzztime the brand standard for all current and future corporate & franchise locations.

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. announced on Monday that CEO and president Gregg Steinhafel, a 35-year-company-veteran, had resigned, effective immediately. The news comes nearly five months after the retailer disclosed a massive data breach that damaged its reputation among customers and has derailed its business.
 
Target CFO John Mulligan will lead the company on an interim basis until a replacement is named. Steinhafel will serve as an advisor during the transition.