Dan Portnoy has been named as senior vice president and chief merchandising and marketing officer for Winn-Dixie's merchandising and marketing department. He will replace Tom Robbins, who is retiring from his post. Dan Portnoy has more than 30 years of experience in the field. Winn Dixie says that Portnoy will strengthen these functions and provide a strong foundation to make the company more competitive. The merchandising store emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November last year. Winn-Dixie operates about 521 stores in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. It has labeled this appointment as a realignment move.
Apple is now third-largest music retailer in U.S.
iTunes—Apple, Inc.'s digital music store—has risen to become the third-largest music retailer store in the United States. iTunes now commands nearly a 10% market share in the music industry. Digital music has picked up in the United States at the same time as CD sales have gone down. Currently, the top two music stores in the country are Wal-Mart and Best Buy. Amazon has lagged behind the top three in spite of posting an increase in sales. Apple's music store has also benefited from the sales of its proprietary digital music player iPod and its complementary premium music service iTunes Plus, which sells higher-quality digital songs without copy protection at reasonable prices.
Calvin Klein to launch five branded retail stores in U.S.
Driven by the impressive growth of women's and men's sportswear lines and their successful foray into other retail categories, Calvin Klein—with the aid of licensing partners—is all set to launch five independent Calvin Klein stores. A subsidiary of Phillips-Van Heusen Corp. (PVH), the upcoming stores, branded as "better specialty retail stores," will cover nearly 10,000 square feet each. The planned collection at the store under the Calvin Klein white label will comprise men's and women's sportswear, suit separates, jeanswear, underwear, outerwear, footwear, eyewear, watches, and fragrance; men's tailored clothing, shirting, belts and ties; and women's dresses and accessories.
Tiffany & Co. speculated to be target of takeover
Speculations are rife that jewelry and specialty retail stores operator Tiffany & Co., Inc., (TIF) could be the target of a takeover. France-based luxury goods conglomerate LMVH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, S.A., and shareholder Nelson Peltz have shown interest in the company. LMVH is the parent company of nearly 60 sub-companies; each company operates under a well-known brand. Nelson Peltz is a billionaire financier whose hedge fund Trian Fund Management LP has already bought a 5.54% stake in New York-based Tiffany in an attempt to become the company's largest shareholder.
Spartan Stores, Inc., completes its acquisition of Felpausch Food Centers
Goldsmith Agio Helms recently announced that Spartan Stores, Inc., has completed the process of acquiring 20 retail grocery stores, two fuel centers, and three convenience stores from G&R Felpausch Company. This acquisition is likely to increase Spartan's annual retail sales by approximately $200 million. Felpausch is a grocery retailer in Michigan, working under the Felpausch Food Center & Save-A-Lot banners. Spartan, America's tenth-largest grocery distributor, also owns 88 retail supermarkets and has 19 deep-discount food and drug stores in Michigan and Ohio. The total annual turnover of Spartan exceeds $2 billion.
