 | February 9, 2011 | News for the retail industry |  |  | |
- DSW to buy out its majority shareholder
Shoe retailer DSW will buy out majority shareholder Retail Ventures in an all-stock deal valued at $772.8 million, in effect turning RVI into a DSW subsidiary. The chain also raised its earnings forecast and reported a 15% increase in quarterly sales, citing consumers increasing their full-price spending on brand-name footwear. The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones Newswires (2/8)       - Whole Foods gets in on community-supported agriculture
Whole Foods Market stores in Florida are letting farms drop off food for customers of their community-supported agriculture programs. CSA customers pay in advance for a season's worth of food from a farm, a transaction that typically does not involve retailers. The Miami Herald (free registration) (2/7)  | Residents of Top Rung neighborhoods are always in style, preferring to shop at retailers such as Nordstrom and Macy's. They also shop online and are avid readers. How can you find this type of customer? Esri Business Analyst Online enables you to identify your best customers and find more like them. Check out the free Esri ZIP Code Lookup tool. | - Officials charge 4 with retail theft in Florida
Law enforcement officers arrested four people charged with operating a retail theft ring in Lakeland, Fla. Two women are accused of shoplifting clothing from Beall's and Beall's Outlet stores and either selling them to the two other people charged or returning them to the stores in exchange for gift cards that they could sell online. The Ledger (Lakeland, Fla.) (2/7) - Economists see room for retailers to raise prices
Wholesale prices have been increasing faster than retail prices lately, indicating shrinking margins for consumer businesses. But a strong fourth-quarter consumer-spending report means retailers may have room to raise prices without losing customers, so economists expect inflation to creep up in the coming months. USA TODAY (2/5)  | To become a top-performing distributor, you must:
• Achieve 98% inventory accuracy.
• Reach 95% on-time and complete shipment rates.
• Maintain 12-hour order-to-shipment cycle times.
• Achieve 13% cycle-time reductions from ERP use.
Distributors, how do you stack up against top performers? View the Aberdeen webcast to find out. | - Pop-up stores on Facebook spread brand awareness
Teen retailers including Roots Canada and H&M Canada are creating pop-up stores on social media sites such as Facebook to advertise their brands. While it's difficult to measure the return on investment for social media advertising, Root's has seen more website traffic, an increase in the number of Facebook fans and a bump in subscribers to its newsletters. The Toronto Star (2/8)  | Each year U.S businesses spend trillions of dollars on goods and services. Focus Research empowers buyers to spend their budget wisely by offering easily accessible and trustworthy information on vendors that support small and mid-size business operations. Download this free whitepaper that compares leading CRM vendors to ensure you choose what's best for your organization. |
 | Policy & Government Affairs |  |  | | |  | - Credit cards' reward programs are under scrutiny
Three credit card companies -- Visa, MasterCard and American Express -- account for 90% of the credit card business, and they are offering an increasing array of rewards and rebates, especially to premium cardholders. Consumers and retailers ultimately pay for these rewards, yet credit card companies say their programs are an efficient win-win for all. Business columnist Steven Pearlstein argues more credit card regulation, such as that for debit card fees, is needed. The Washington Post (2/5) - Columnist details the costs of credit-card rewards: A Saturday Washington Post column by Steven Pearlstein clearly outlines the way credit card companies finance customer-reward programs with higher fees to retailers, which consumers wind up paying, writes NRF's Margaret Case Little. The argument is interesting to consider as the credit card industry prepares to lobby for legislation that would delay plans to lower interchange fees for two years, she writes. NRF Blog (2/8)
| NRF News | | | | - NRF testifies on health care reform, asks Congress to eliminate employer mandate penalties
NRF told a House Committee today that employer penalties under last year's controversial health care reform law should be repealed, saying some retailers are already slowing down hiring. "As a labor-intensive industry, retailers are strong advocates of high quality and affordable health coverage," NRF Employee Benefits Policy Counsel Neil Trautwein said. "Unfortunately, rather than moving us forward, passage of (health care reform) has made providing coverage more difficult for today's retailer." Read more. - NRF SmartStat: Feb. 9, 2011
 For eight in 10 retailers, leadership development is going to be a top priority in 2011, up from 69% in 2010. Source: Retail Horizons 2011. - Know an exceptional retail loss prevention professional?
Nominations for NRF's Loss Prevention Awards are now being accepted. The Awards Program honors and acknowledges law enforcement officers, loss prevention professionals, law enforcement agencies and retail companies who have impacted their community or the industry and deserve nationwide recognition. Submit a nomination now for one of these prestigious awards. Learn more.
| Chain Restaurant News | | | | - Darden recycles old furniture for a cause
Darden Restaurants said this week it has donated $500,000 worth of furnishings removed during restaurant remodels to Habitat for Humanity International, to be sold at the nonprofit's resale stores. The parent of Red Lobster, Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse said it plans to continue contributing as it remodels more than 300 locations during the next three years. American City Business Journals/Orlando, Fla. (2/8) | Career Track | | | |  | |  | | | | |  |  Vice President - Divisional Merchandise Manager | The Vitamin Shoppe | North Bergen, NJ | | Women's Buyer/Category Manager | Meijer | Grand Rapids, MI | | Divisional Merchandise Manager (2 positions) | Headquarters Marine Corps-Marine Corps Exchanges | Quantico, VA | | Project Manager, Multi-Channel POS | Sports Authority | Englewood, CO | | Vice President, Sterling | Sterling Shoes Inc. | VANCOUVER, Canada | | Divisional Merchandising Manager - Men's Sportswear | Stein Mart | Jacksonville, Florida, FL | | Divisional Merchandising Manager - Home Decor & Gifts | Stein Mart | Jacksonville, FL | | Telecom Business Manager | AAFES | Okinawa, Japan | | VP of Marketing | Teavana | Atlanta - Buckhead, GA | | Lead Analyst, Paid Search | Target Corporation | Minneapolis, MN | | Senior Manager, Site Planning | Target Corporation | Minneapolis, MN | | | |  | |  |
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