Legal

BJ's Wholesale Club is officially going private, the company announced. Two private equity firms, Leonard Green & Partners LP and funds advised by CVC Capital Partners, have agreed to an all-cash transaction worth an estimated $2.8 billion.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) has introduced the Postal Reform Act of 2011. The USPS is looking forward to working with Issa as the bill makes its way through the legislative process.

Women's apparel retailer Deb Shops filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a Delaware court as part of a financial restructuring in which the company will be sold to a group of senior lenders. Ableco Finance LLC entered into a "stalking horse" agreement to acquire the retailer's assets.

While bad news around the economy continues to pile up — a plunging stock market, troublesome unemployment, a soft housing market, national debt that's out of control — the e-commerce industry seems unaffected. E-commerce sales are steadily rising and for many cross-channel retailers the channel is a bright spot in an otherwise dark place. This mood was certainly reflected at IRCE, where people were upbeat with where they were at and optimistic about their future.

An Apple store employee has started a drive to unionize retail workers of the company. Cory Moll, a part-time employee at an Apple store in San Francisco, is working to form a union to fight for better wages and benefits and to address what he says are unfair practices.

Best Buy has reportedly agreed to pay $10.2 million in a settlement related to a job discrimination class-action lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed in 2005 in U.S. District Court in Northern California, alleged that the retailer discriminated against women, African-American and Latino employees by denying them promotions and more lucrative sales positions.

Wal-Mart has spent 10 years fighting claims that it discriminated against female employees, but the Supreme Court victory for the company may not mean the end to litigation over discrimination claims.

Growth in retail crime and fraud is leaving retailers racing to stop the individuals responsible for stealing billions of dollars each year. Preliminary results of the latest National Retail Security Survey, released at the National Retail Federation’s Loss Prevention Conference and EXPO, show that retail shrinkage increased to 1.58 percent of retail sales in 2010, up from 1.44 percent in 2009.

Borders Group will name a stalking horse bidder by July 1 and is looking to complete the sale of all its assets by the end of July. In court papers filed, the company was encouraged that one of the parties it's presently negotiating with will emerge as the successful buyer on a going concern basis.

Macy's workers will remain on the job after the retail giant reached a tentative deal with its union Thursday morning after a marathon bargaining session. "Following an all-night negotiating session, Macy's is pleased to have reached a tentative agreement with Local 1-S of the RWDSU on a new five-year agreement," Macy's spokeswoman Elina Kazan said in a statement.