Kohl’s Donates More Than $2.5 Million to Seven Milwaukee Nonprofits

Sears Holdings Corp.'s second-quarter earnings beat the Street as it benefitted from cost-saving initiatives. But it continued to struggle with weak traffic and declining sales, and added 28 more locations to its long list of store closings. Sears reported that its second-quarter loss narrowed to $251 million, or $2.34 per share, in the quarter ended July 29, helped by cost savings resulting from the streamlining of operations and store closings. Losses, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to $1.16 per share. Analysts had expected a loss of $2.48 per share. Revenue fell 23% to a better-than-expected $4.37 billion in the period. Same-store sales were down 11.5%, worse than the expected 7.1% decline. Click Read More below for more of the story.

After being open on Thanksgiving Day for the past three years, Stein Mart is opting to close its doors on Thanksgiving to give employees time to spend with family and friends. Last year, the Stein Mart Black Friday sale started in stores at 5 PM on Thanksgiving Day and ran through 11 PM that night. Then doors were reopened at 7 AM on Black Friday. "For 2017 we have chosen to return to our Stein Mart family tradition of not opening our stores on Thanksgiving Day. We are very pleased to give back this important time to our associates," said Hunt Hawkins, chief executive officer. "For customers who would like to shop at Stein Mart on Thanksgiving Day, they can enjoy a great shopping experience at SteinMart.com."

Christian Jünger is to become the new Chairman of the Management Board/CEO of the German Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe. As Nihar Malaviya, CEO of Penguin Random House, announced yesterday, Jünger will take up his new position on October 1. Jünger succeeds Thomas Rathnow, who stepped down from the role in April after resigning for personal reasons. Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe has since been managed on an interim basis by Britta Egetemeier and Thomas Pichler. In his new role, Jünger will lead Verlagsgruppe’s strategy to drive its future growth and consolidate its position as leading German-language publisher. As CEO of Verlagsgruppe, he will report to Nihar Malaviya and will sit on Penguin Random House’s Global Executive Committee. Christian Jünger will join Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe from Rowohlt Verlag, where he has supervised Sales, Purchasing/Manufacturing, Controlling, Rights and Licenses, IT, and HR as Managing Director since 2021. Previously, he gained significant experience in the retail book sector at Amazon Germany, where he most recently served as Head of Vendor Management Books, managing the business with specialist and foreign-language books, calendars, and wholesalers.