Personnel Updates
• Barnes & Noble Inc. has named Carl Hauch as VP Stores.
• Bridgestone Retail Operations LLC named Joe Venezia as President of the company. He most recently served as Exec VP Store Operations at Toys “R” Us Inc.
• Dollar General Corp. named Carman Wenkoff as its new CIO, and Jason Reiser as Exec VP and Chief Merchandising Officer.
• National Retail Federation named Cristina Ceresoli as Senior VP Retail Strategy.
• Tiffany & Co. has named Alessandro Bogliolo as CEO, effective October 2, 2017.
Mergers and Acquisitions
• Amazon.com Inc. has completed its acquisition of e-commerce company souq.com, a leader in the Middle East’s online shopping market.
• BBX Capital Corp. has acquired It’Sugar. The company said it plans to expand It’Sugar, which currently operates 95 locations in 26 states, by opening new retail stores in high-traffic leisure locations.
• Liberty Interactive Corp., owner of QVC, currently owns 38% of HSN. Under the agreement, Liberty will acquire the remaining 62% stake, making HSN a wholly-owned subsidiary.
• Sycamore Partners has confirmed plans to acquire Staples Inc. The deal is expected to close by this December.
• West Marine Inc. is going private. The retailer has agreed to be acquired by New York-based Monomoy Capital Partners. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.
Industry Insight
• Target Corp. has launched a pilot for Target Restock, a next-day delivery service for household essentials and dry grocery items, in its hometown market of Minneapolis, MN. The service, available only to Target REDcard holders, comes with a flat fee of $4.99 per box.
Real Estate
• Amazon.com Inc. announced it will open an 850,000 sq. ft. facility staffed with robots and more than 1,000 workers in South Florida. Amazon expects to open the warehouse next year.
• Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will open the largest version yet of its new dual-concept format, which combines its traditional kitchen and food products with home furnishings. The 7,000 sq. ft. store will be located at University Village in Seattle, WA.
