News

New York City — NAOT Footwear, Israeli maker of luxurious shoes that combine fashion and comfort, has opened its first ever flagship store in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City. The fashion-forward boutique, located at 436 W. Broadway, features a minimalist, chic design created to display current collections as works of art. “The opening of this flagship store allows us to show the breadth of the line and tell the story of NAOT on a deeper level,” says Ayelet Lax Levy, president of NAOT USA. “New York is my …

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Los Angeles — FAT (Fresh. Authentic. Tasty.) Brands Inc. has hired its first chief growth officer, Jeremy Theisen. Theisen joins FAT Brands with over 20 years of experience in significantly increasing the revenue stream for high-growth startups in the restaurant sector and will be focused on spearheading the growth of the development pipeline across the FAT Brands portfolio. This includes bringing new franchisees into the system and driving multi-unit expansion with existing franchisees. Prior to joining FAT Brands, Theisen served as chief revenue officer of PathSpot, a hygiene management system …

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Coppell, Texas — The Container Store Group, Inc., the leading specialty retailer of organizing solutions, custom spaces and in-home services, has named a new chief merchandising officer, Stacey Shively, and promotion of its chief information officer, Dhriti Saha, to chief operating officer, effective November 14. Shively most recently served as a senior vice president at Bed Bath and Beyond. As chief merchant of The Container Store, Shively will lead a diverse merchandising team, collaborate with the company’s cross-functional leadership team and report directly to CEO Satish Malhotra. She will play …

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Alpharetta, Ga. — Your Pie, the original down-the-line pizza concept, has welcomed real estate veteran David Goldberg as vice president of real estate of the fast-casual brand. In his role, Goldberg will drive the real estate acquisition process for franchise development and expand the pizza eatery’s national reach. Goldberg brings a history of hands-on success in real estate store expansion, strategic planning and implementation to the Your Pie executive team. Prior to Your Pie Pizza, he accumulated an extensive real estate background in foodservice and retail. “David is an expert …

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Minneapolis — Target Corporation has revealed the next evolution of its new store strategy and store design. The new store design and larger store format recently debuted in a new location outside Houston. The new larger-format stores optimize additional space and new design elements and, at nearly 150,000 square feet, the locations are more than 20,000 square feet larger than the chain average. While the retailer will continue to open stores of all sizes, it will focus on this larger footprint in the next few years. Starting in 2023, more …

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Berlin and New York — ALDI U.S. and Spryker Systems have been working together to develop a new online food & grocery shopping experience for the U.S. market, offering grocery delivery or curbside pickup for ALDI U.S. shoppers. The new digital commerce platform is currently being tested with a select group of U.S. customers and is planned to be rolled out nationally in a phased approach. “Our partnership with Spryker will allow our shoppers another way to access the incredible value they expect from ALDI,” says Scott Patton, ALDI’s vice …

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St. Louis — Panera Bread has opened the first of its new updated urban store format in New York, the newest of several new formats targeted at more densely populated and non-traditional trade areas. With digital sales at Panera now representing 50% of total system sales, Panera now offers a portfolio of store formats designed to cater to the needs of an increasingly digital and off-premise guest. “At Panera, our innovation has always been rooted in the guest and associate experience, how we can reduce friction, drive convenience and bring …

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Columbus, Ohio — Big Lots, Inc., one of America’s largest home discount retailers, has appointed two new members of its leadership team. Off-price retail industry veteran Margarita Giannantonio has been named executive vice president and chief merchandising officer, while retail industry brand and performance marketing leader John Alpaugh has joined Big Lots as senior vice president and chief marketing officer. “We’ve worked diligently to find the right thought and people leaders for these two roles, and Margarita and John emerged clearly from our searches as the right leaders to take …

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Minneapolis — Steele Brands, a Minnesota-based company developing healthy lifestyle brands including Crisp & Green, Stalk & Spade and Paco & Lime, has named restaurant industry leader Kelly C. Baltes as chief executive officer of its brand development company, Steele Brands Management. Baltes has over 28 years of restaurant industry leadership experience in both founder-led and private-equity brands. In his most recent role as president of Maggiano’s Little Italy, Baltes provided strategic and operational guidance to refresh the brand experience, improve guest metrics and develop the business model to unlock …

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San Francisco — Levi Strauss & Co. has made leadership changes in its executive team with the appointment of Michelle Gass to the new position of president, LS&Co., reporting to Chip Bergh, president & CEO. Gass will be responsible for leading the Levi’s® brand and the company’s global digital and commercial operations. Gass will begin her role with the company on January 2 and is expected to join the LS&Co. board of directors on her start date. “We are delighted that an executive with Michelle’s background, experience and stature is …

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