Management

Retail industry veteran Vicki Cantrell will join the National Retail Federation as senior vice president, communities and executive director of Shop.org on Oct. 31. Cantrell has held prominent positions at Giorgio Armani, Gucci and most recently Tory Burch, where she served as COO and CIO during a period of significant expansion.

Harry & David has named Craig Johnson as its CEO. The company exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month. "With its successful restructuring now complete, improved capital structure in place and an outstanding harvest and holiday gift selection, the company is poised for a successful holiday season," Johnson said in a statement.

FedEx expects a 12 percent jump in holiday shipments this year and will add about 20,000 workers to handle the record volume driven by online shopping. The surge is driven by a combination of gradual economic improvement and ever-increasing internet sales, analysts said.

It's hard to refrain from publishing constant new stories about the indignities of working at Target, America's most clean and attractive union-busting big-box store. There are all too many current and former Target employees anxious to send us stories of exploitation and generally disgraceful workplace conditions. 

Wal-Mart is scaling back health care coverage for future part-time workers and raising premiums for some full-time workers. The giant retailer says rising health care costs are forcing it to eliminate health care coverage for future part-time workers who work less than 24 hours a week.

Daily-deal site BuyWithMe laid off half its staff on Oct. 19, raising questions about its future as market leader Groupon prepares for its initial public offering.

A former Target manager says that he was more or less forced to work through his mandatory breaks — and then fired for doing so. This prompted quite a few current and former Target workers to write to us with their own stories of Target employment woe.

Home improvement chain Lowe’s will lay off 1,950 workers and close 20 stores in 15 states, the company said. Two of the locations on the chopping block are in California. Lowe’s said that it closed 10 stores on Oct. 16 and will phase out the rest in a month.

Wal-Mart said Ed Chan, president of its China operations, quit as the company grapples with a pork labeling probe that shut all 13 of its stores in Chongqing and led to the detention of at least 27 people.

Victoria's Secret Direct, the internet and catalog division of Victoria's Secret, announced that Pia Ferrario will remain in her role as CEO through holiday and then transition into an advisory role with the company. Bridget Ryan-Berman, former chief executive officer of Giorgio Armani Corp., will join Victoria's Secret Direct as its chief executive officer.