Personnel Updates

• Best Buy Co. Inc. (57) announced Shari Ballard, Senior Exec VP and President of Multichannel Retail is leaving the company after 25 years.

• The Container Store Inc. (28) announced it has named John Gehre its Exec VP of Merchandising and Planning.

• Godiva Chocolatier Inc. (31) has appointed Virginie Costa as its new CFO.

• Target Corporation (457) has appointed Gemma Kubat as Senior VP, Supply Chain Engineering and Activation. The retailer also announced that John Bauer will join the company as Senior VP, Global Inventory Management.

Financial Focus

• Brookstone Inc. announced it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company has begun closing its remaining 101 mall stores. It will continue to operate its 35 airport stores, e-commerce and wholesale businesses as it looks to find a seller for the units.

• Gump’s has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Mergers and Acquisitions

• Best Buy Co. Inc. announced it will acquire connected health services provider GreatCall Inc. The transaction is expected to close by the end of Best Buy’s fiscal 2019 third quarter.

Industry Insight

• Century 21 Department Stores Inc. has unveiled a new small-store format, called Century 21 Edition, at Staten Island Mall, in Staten Island, NY. It recently opened a second location, at Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, NY. Approximately 5,000 sq. ft. each, the stores feature a curated selection of merchandise.

Real Estate

• Dollar Tree Stores Inc. recently celebrated its 15,000th store opening. The retailer also recently opened its 23rd distribution center.

• Five Below Inc. has announced plans to open its first store in New York. The flagship is slated to open this November.  The retailer also has announced plans to roll out 125 new locations throughout 2018.

Walmart Stores Inc. announced the opening of its new distribution center in Mobile, AL.

Green Initiatives

• Meijer Inc. announced it will upgrade all of its stores’ interior lighting to LED by 2021.

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 131 companies in the Discount, Dollar, & Specialty Stores PLUS Database, with many of those companies’ records updated at multiple points.