Personnel Updates:

Brookstone President and CEO James M. Speltz has resigned. The company and has appointed Chief Merchandising Officer Steve Schwartz as interim President and CEO.

Build-A-Bear Workshop has appointed Voin Todorovic as its new CFO, reporting to CEO Sharon John.

Party City has promoted Gregg A. Melnick to President of Party City Holdings. Party City Holdings is the parent company of the Party City Retail Group. Most recently, Melnick was president of the Party City Retail Group.

The Pep Boys president, CEO and Director Mike Odell has resigned. Director John Sweetwood has been named interim CEO.

RadioShack adviser Holly F Etlin has been tapped once more as interim CFO, replacing John Feray. Citing personal reasons, Feray resigned just a day after the company posted its 10th straight quarterly loss.

The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) has appointed Sue Pifer as VP of compliance and Tiffin Shewmake as the director of the Center for Retail Compliance (CRC).

Tiffany & Co. has named Jill Beraud as an Exec VP. Beraud will be responsible for global retail operations, including all sales channels in every region, as well as oversight of strategic store development and real estate.

Toys “R” Us has appointed Michael Melzer as managing director, Central Europe.

Financial Focus:

AutoZone, Inc. reported that net sales for the fiscal year ended August 30, 2014 were $9.5 billion, an increase of 5.6% from the prior year, on a 52 week basis, while domestic same store sales were up 2.8% for the year.

Family Dollar Stores, Inc. reported earnings results for the year ended August 30, 2014.  Total net sales for fiscal 2014 increased 0.9% to $10.49 billion compared with total net sales of $10.39 billion in fiscal 2013.

Industry Insight:

ALCO Stores succumbed to market pressures and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  The company and its subsidiary, ALCO Holdings, Limited Liability Company, filed voluntary petitions for relief in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division seeking relief under the provisions of Chapter 11 of Title 11 of the United States Code. The debtors expect to continue to operate their businesses as “debtors-in-possession” under the jurisdiction of the Bankruptcy Court and in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Bankruptcy Code.

Fun Party Stores will be closing its last two remaining locations in Jeannette and Greensburg, in Westmoreland County, early this fall.  The company’s Fun Services Festival Supplies, service business will remain in business.

Pet Supermarket just opened its 150th location and has plans for more.

Walmart said it would open between 200 and 220 Neighborhood Market stores and 60 to 70 supercenters next year. Both figures are below the company’s projections for current year openings. Walmart said it will end its current fiscal year with 240 new Neighborhood Market stores, below the range of 270 to 300 opening that had been forecast earlier in the year. The number of supercenters that will open this year is expected to be 120 units, slightly higher than the projection shared at the beginning of the year.