{"id":119,"date":"2012-07-18T14:23:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-18T18:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom.chainstoreguide.com\/2012\/07\/discount-and-specialty-store-industry-updates\/"},"modified":"2012-07-18T14:23:00","modified_gmt":"2012-07-18T18:23:00","slug":"discount-and-specialty-store-industry-updates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/2012\/07\/discount-and-specialty-store-industry-updates\/","title":{"rendered":"Discount and Specialty Store Industry Updates"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\" trbidi=\"on\"><\/p>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">Personnel Updates:<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">Army &#038; Air Force Exchange Service<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">\u00a0named its first civilian Director\/CEO in its nearly 117-year history.\u00a0\u00a0Tom Shull officially took the reins of the military retailer, replacing the Exchange\u2019s last uniformed Commander, Brig. Gen. Fran Hendricks.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">Best Buy<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">\u00a0founder Richard Schulze has decided to step down as Chairman of the Board in order to pursue other options for his ownership stake.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">Best Buy Co., Inc<\/span><\/b><\/span><span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">. announced that Director Hatim Tyabji has been elected to succeed Richard Schulze as Chairman of the company.<b><o:p><\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">Best Buy<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">\u00a0<span><b>Co., Inc<i>.<\/i><\/b><\/span>\u00a0announced that Ryan Robinson, the company&#8217;s second top finance official and CFO for Best Buy&#8217;s U.S. business unit, has left the company to join MedExpress,<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">Disney Stores<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">\u00a0announced the resignation of James Fielding, former President of Worldwide Operations.\u00a0<b>Claire\u2019s Stores Inc<\/b>. has named, Fielding as CEO and will also join Claire\u2019s board of directors.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">Pep Boys<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">\u00a0announced that CFO Ray Arthur has resigned from the company in order to pursue another business opportunity.\u00a0\u00a0The Company has begun a national search for Arthur\u2019s replacement.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">Staples<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">\u00a0announced that Neil Ringel was named Exec VP at Staples Advantage, the business-to-business division of the company focused on serving organizations with more than 20 employees.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">Tuesday Morning<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">\u00a0has ousted President and CEO Kathleen Mason and has begun a search for a new chief executive.\u00a0\u00a0Michael Marchetti, Exec VP and COO, has been promoted to President and COO and will serve as interim CEO until a replacement is found. Melinda Page, Senior VP, GMM has been promoted to Exec VP and Chief Merchandise Officer and Seth Marks Senior VP of alternative sourcing and e-commerce has been promoted to Senior VP and Chief Marketing Officer.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">West Marine, Inc<\/span><\/b><\/span><span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">. announced the company&#8217;s Board of Directors has named Matthew Hyde, President and CEO, succeeding Geoff Eisenberg, who, earlier this year, disclosed his intention to step down upon the appointment of a successor.<\/span><\/span><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\"><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><i><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">Industry Insight<\/span><\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">:\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\"><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">Costco<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">\u00a0will enter the state of Louisiana with a 148,000-sq.-ft. store in New Orleans.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">The Costco store is slated to open spring 2013.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;\"><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">Duckwall-ALCO Stores<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">, announced that the company&#8217;s shareholders have approved the company&#8217;s name change to\u00a0<b>ALCO<\/b>.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><br \/><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;\"><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">Ritz Camera &#038; Image<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">\u00a0has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. As part of its restructuring, the company, which has 265 stores in 34 states, plans to close 128 locations and cut its staff of 2,000 in half.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">Real Estate:<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">Costco\u00a0<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">will enter the state of Louisiana with a 148,000-sq.-ft. store at Carrollton Plaza Shopping Center in New Orleans.\u00a0\u00a0The new lease will add Costco to a lineup of retailers that includes CVS, Firestone, Family Dollar and Subway. Costco is slated to open spring 2013.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><i><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">Green Initiatives\/Sustainability<\/span><\/i><\/b><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">:<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">Meijer<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">\u00a0joined the U.S. Environment Protection Agency&#8217;s GreenChill Partnership. Created as a voluntary partnership, GreenChill members focus on reducing refrigerant emissions and decreasing their impact on the environment and ultimately people&#8217;s health. By joining GreenChill, Meijer is pledging to meet higher standards that go beyond the regulatory requirements to protect the ozone layer and combat climate change.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">Office Depot\u00a0<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">launched its GreenOffice Delivery Service last year, which delivers everyday office supplies in paper bags instead of cardboard boxes.\u00a0\u00a0The company said it expected to replace 5 million boxes with 5 million bags, which weigh substantially less, resulting in using 3,000 tons less wood, cutting CO2 emissions by more than 7.7 million pounds and reducing solid waste by more than 1.3 million pounds.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">In addition, Office Depot\u2019s Recycling Rules program encourages schools to recycle e-waste by sending free recycling boxes to schools, and paying schools\u2019 shipping costs when they send back boxes filled with empty cartridges and small electronics.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">OfficeMax\u00a0<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">has launched a program that reuses and recycles the boxes it uses for deliveries to business customers. The office supply co<\/p>\n<p>mpany expects the initiative to reduce box consumption by 80 percent among participating businesses.<\/p>\n<p><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">The program, Boomerang Box by OfficeMax, started this month in Seattle and will expand nationwide in the second half of 2012. Business participation in the program is free and voluntary.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\"><br \/>Under the program, OfficeMax delivers businesses\u2019 office supplies in reusable, stackable delivery boxes made from a minimum of 50 percent post-consumer content. Customers save and stack the boxes for pickup with the next order delivery. The cycle continues until the boxes can no longer be reused. Then OfficeMax will recycle the boxes.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">OfficeMax has also received recertification to the EPA SmartWay Transport Partnership for the fourth consecutive year. As a SmartWay Transport partner, OfficeMax has pledged to use vehicles and fuels that improve fuel efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: 0.5in;\"><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">Staples\u00a0<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;\">is one of five companies that have joined the White House\u2019s Better Buildings Challenge.\u00a0\u00a0The companies pledged to upgrade more than 50 million square feet of combined commercial building space, including 15 manufacturing facilities, as they strive to meet the Better Buildings goal of cutting building energy use at least 20 percent by 2020.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Personnel Updates: Army &#038; Air Force Exchange Service\u00a0named its first civilian Director\/CEO in its nearly 117-year history.\u00a0\u00a0Tom Shull officially took the reins of the military retailer, replacing the Exchange\u2019s last uniformed Commander, Brig. Gen. Fran Hendricks. Best Buy\u00a0founder Richard Schulze has decided to step down as Chairman of the Board in order to pursue other&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/2012\/07\/discount-and-specialty-store-industry-updates\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Discount and Specialty Store Industry Updates<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"post-template-no-sidebar.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[6,11],"class_list":["post-119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discount-specialty","tag-csg-old","tag-eupdate","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}