{"id":3125,"date":"2013-08-19T09:37:35","date_gmt":"2013-08-19T09:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom.chainstoreguide.com\/?p=3125"},"modified":"2013-08-19T09:37:35","modified_gmt":"2013-08-19T09:37:35","slug":"industry-updates-discount-and-specialty-stores-august-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/2013\/08\/industry-updates-discount-and-specialty-stores-august-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Industry Updates: Discount and Specialty Stores – August 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

Personnel Updates:<\/strong><\/p>\n

99 Cents Only Stores<\/strong> has hired Stephane Gonthier, COO of Canadian dollar store chain Dollarama Inc<\/strong>., to become President and CEO.\u00a0 Gonthier will remain with Dollarama during a transitionary period and Richard Anicetti, interim CEO of 99 Cents Only, will return to his position as board member once Gonthier arrives.<\/p>\n

Advance Auto Parts, Inc<\/strong>. announced the appointment of Jason Howes to the position of VP Distribution Operations.<\/p>\n

Big Lots, Inc<\/strong>. announced John C. Martin has informed the Company of his intention to retire from his role as Executive Vice President, Chief Merchandising Officer.\u00a0 Mr. Martin will continue in his current capacity until his successor is appointed, and he has committed to provide guidance to his successor and the Company through May 2014.\u00a0 The Company has retained SpencerStuart to conduct a search of external candidates to succeed Mr. Martin.<\/p>\n

Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations<\/strong> said that Stuart Crum has been named president, Bridgestone Retail Operations.<\/p>\n

Five Below<\/strong> is searching for a seasoned retail executive to fill the role of president following the departure of COO David Johnston.\u00a0 Johnston was with the company, for roughly a year, joining the retailer last June just as Five Below was about to go public. Five Below co-founder and CEO Thomas Vellios said the company appreciated Johnston\u2019s contributions and wish him well in future endeavors, but noted it was time for the company to create a dedicated president role.<\/p>\n

Guitar Center<\/strong> has appointed Christopher Ian Bennett as the company’s first-ever VP of Communications.<\/p>\n

Microsoft Corp<\/strong>. announced that Amy Hood was named Microsoft CFO, succeeding outgoing CFO Peter Klein who remained with the company for one month to ensure a smooth transition.<\/p>\n

OfficeMax<\/strong> announced that Exec VP of Finance, CFO and Chief Administrative Officer Bruce Besanko, has left the company to accept the position of Exec VP, CFO with Supervalu<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

OfficeMax Inc<\/strong>. is promoting Deb O\u2019Connor, Senior VP of Finance and Chief Administrative Officer, to interim CFO. She will replace Bruce Besanko, Executive VP and CFO, who has left the company to become the Executive VP and CFO of Supervalu Inc<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

RadioShack<\/strong> announced that CFO Dorvin Lively left to pursue another opportunity after roughly two years with the company. \u00a0Filling Lively\u2019s shoes on an interim basis is Holly Etlin, a managing partner at AlixPartners. A search is underway for a permanent CFO.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Financial Focus:<\/strong><\/p>\n

99\u00a2 Only Stores<\/strong> announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full-year fiscal 2013 ended March 30, 2013.\u00a0 The Company’s net sales increased $137.0 million, or 8.9%, to $1.67 billion for the full-year of fiscal 2013 compared to $1.53 billion for fiscal 2012.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mergers and Acquisitions:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alco Stores<\/strong> has entered into a definitive merger agreement with\u00a0 Argonne Capital Group LLC<\/strong>, a private investment firm based in Atlanta, Ga., , which will allow Argonne to acquire all outstanding shares of the broad-line retailer\u2019s common stock for $14 per share in cash.<\/p>\n

This price represents a premium of approximately 63% to Alco’s share price on July 24, 2013, the last trading day prior to Alco’s announcement of the transaction contemplated by the merger agreement. The cash price for Alco shares in the proposed transaction totals approximately $47 million.<\/p>\n

The independent members of Alco\u2019s board of directors have unanimously approved the merger agreement and recommended that the retailer\u2019s shareholders approve the transaction.<\/p>\n

The merger, which is expected to close later this year, is subject to approval from Alco’s shareholders and other customary closing conditions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Industry Insight<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Advance Auto Parts<\/strong> announced the opening of its 4,000th store located in Montgomery, NY.<\/p>\n

PB Teen<\/strong>, a division of Williams-Sonoma<\/strong>, opened its first store in Orange County, Calif., in Costa Mesa.<\/p>\n

Toys \u201cR\u201d Us<\/strong> unveiled its growth plan for 2013.\u00a0 In the United States, 19 new, converted or relocated stores are planned to open, including nine new Toys \u201cR\u201d Us Outlet stores \u2013 the largest number in a single year since it began opening these smaller format stores in 2010 \u2013 bringing the total number to 25 outlet locations nationwide.\u00a0 Converted stores are accomplished by combining Toys \u201cR\u201d Us and Babies \u201cR\u201d Us together under one roof.<\/p>\n

Tuesday Morning Corp<\/strong>. is ceasing e-commerce operations to focus on providing in-store assortments. A statement on the retailer\u2019s website says that due to the nature of its closeout business, it will no longer sell items online but instead focus on the quality and price of assortments in its stores.<\/p>\n

Walmart Canada<\/strong> opened its first supercenter in Atlantic Canada, in the Halifax Shopping Centre Annex in Halifax.\u00a0 The store is one of 37 supercenter projects planned for the company’s current fiscal year, which ends January 31, 2014.<\/p>\n

West Elm<\/strong> opened its first location in Missouri \u2013 at the St. Louis Galleria.\u00a0 The 8,385-sq.-ft. store, slated to open in July, will incorporate works by local artists as part of its plan to support St. Louis talent.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Personnel Updates: 99 Cents Only Stores has hired Stephane Gonthier, COO of Canadian dollar store chain Dollarama Inc., to become President and CEO.\u00a0 Gonthier will remain with Dollarama during a transitionary period and Richard Anicetti, interim CEO of 99 Cents Only, will return to his position as board member once Gonthier arrives. Advance Auto Parts,… Continue reading Industry Updates: Discount and Specialty Stores – August 2013<\/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":[11],"class_list":["post-3125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discount-specialty","tag-eupdate","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3125","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=3125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3125\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}