Personnel Updates
• Crew Group Inc. (82) has named Johanna Uurasjarvi as its new Chief Design Officer.
• The Neiman Marcus Group (98) said Darcy Penick was returning to the company as President of its Bergdorf Goodman department stores.
• Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. (69) has named Alfred Chang as its new company President. The retailer also named Brie Olson as Exec VP and Chief Merchandising Officer for both men’s and women’s divisions, and Joel Quill was named VP of stores.
• Rue 21 (93) has appointed Laurie Van Brunt as President and CEO. She succeeds Michael C. Appel who will continue to serve as Chairman. The company also named Stephen Sommers as Senior VP and Chief Marketing Officer, and Michele Pascoe as Senior VP and CFO.
Financial Focus
• The Walking Company Holdings Inc. announced that it has emerged from Chapter 11.
Mergers and Acquisitions
• Authentic Brands Group announced it has completed its acquisition of Nine West and Bandolino from Nine West Holdings, Inc.
• Boot Barn Holdings, Inc. acquired certain assets of Drysdales Inc., a footwear retailer with two stores in Tulsa, OK.
• The largest sporting goods retailer in the U.K., JD Sports Fashion plc, has completed its acquisition of The Finish Line.
Industry Insight
• JCPenney Company, Inc. announced a partnership with Fanatics Inc., which will now have physical shops inside 325 JCPenney store locations.
• Crew Group Inc. is expanding the range of sizes it sells. The new sizes range from XXS to 5X.
Real Estate
• Camping World Holdings plans to increase RV sales locations by more than 30% during the next 15 months through store openings, continued acquisitions and the launch of its new Gander RV Sales format.
• TechStyle Fashion Group has revealed plans to open 75 new Fabletics stores in the next five years as part of a major international expansion. Upcoming openings include the brand’s first store in the Philippines as well as a new location in Bellevue, WA.
• Macy’s Inc. announced plans to open about 25 new Bluemercury stores this year, and another 30 in 2019.
• Primark USA opened a new 57,900 sq. ft. location at King’s Plaza Mall in Brooklyn, NY. Primark plans to open an new store later this year in Sunrise, FL.
Technology News
• Old Navy has launched a buy online, pickup in-store service at all stores nationwide. After placing an order, customers have a week to visit the store to pick up their purchase at a specially designated kiosk.
Just because we don’t mention it here doesn’t mean it didn’t happen – or we didn’t capture it. In the past four weeks, we’ve updated more than 323 companies in the Apparel Specialty Stores and Department Stores & Shoe Retailers PLUS Databases, with many of those companies’ records updated at multiple points
