Personnel

Website "flash sales" are fueling lightning-fast growth for online retailer Zulily, and central Ohio has been one of the biggest beneficiaries. Zulily was founded in 2010 in Seattle and sells apparel, decor items and other merchandise via short-term "events." Sales are growing at warp speed, going from nothing several years ago to a projected $1.2 billion this year. As a result of the spectacular growth, Zulily has been adding employees at a fast clip. In Columbus, a market it quietly entered in 2012 with a distribution center in Obetz, the company has grown to 1,110 employees.  

At CVS, it doesn't pay to be really good at your job. The nation's second-largest drugstore chain adjusts its annual raises to how much an employee makes. The higher your salary, the lower your raise. The top workers at CVS stores — those earning the highest hourly wage for their job classification — are "red lined" by the company and receive no raises at all. I can say that because I have my hands on an internal CVS document — the company's 2014 wage management guidelines — which spells out the pay ranges for different positions and caps on raises.

Ikea, the iconic home furnishings chain, plans to announce Thursday that it will raise its minimum wage by 17 percent, joining a growing national movement to boost the pay of low-wage workers. The Gap, whose stores include Gap and Old Navy, also has announced plans to increase its pay floor this year. The privately held Ikea plans to raise its average minimum wage from

The bad weather that hurt Bed Bath & Beyond during the fourth quarter may have abated, but the company’s sales still grew at a slower than expected pace during the first quarter and caused profits to come in toward the low end of expectations. The company said sales for its first quarter ended May 31 increased 1.7 percent to $2.657 billion but same store sales grew 0.4 percent, well below the 1 percent to 2.5 percent estimate the company had provided back in April when it reported

Avon Products said Monday that it will cut another 600 jobs as it tries to reduce its spending. The company said most of the eliminated jobs will be in its corporate organization and its North American business. Avon had 36,700 employees at the end of 2013. Avon Products Inc. is the world's largest direct seller of cosmetics, but its sales have been steadily dropping. Under Sheri McCoy, who became CEO in 2012, Avon has cut costs, slashed thousands of jobs and left unprofitable markets. 

Dov Charney, the controversial CEO of American Apparel, was ousted Wednesday by the company's board of directors, who said the action "grew out of an ongoing investigation into alleged misconduct." The board voted to replace Charney as chairman and "notified him of its intent to terminate his employment as president and CEO for cause," according to a statement. "This isn't easy, but we felt the need to do what we did for the sake of the company," Allan Mayer, the company's newly appointed co-chairman, told The Times. 

Just six months after landing a big round of investment that valued One Kings Lane at $900 million, the online home decor retailer is laying off between 75 and 100 people, according to a person familiar with the plans. Some employees were notified of the cuts on Tuesday, this person said. The cuts will eliminate between 15 percent and 20 percent of the staff. A One Kings Lane spokeswoman declined to comment. In January, the online retailer announced a $112 million investment round led by Mousse Partners, bringing total funding to more than $220 million. 

After a series of gaffes entering the Canadian market last year, including high prices and a rushed expansion, Target took to the internet to issue an apology to its shoppers in The Great White North. In a YouTube video posted last week, members of Target's Canada team talk about their excitement to bring the bull's-eye retailer to the country, only to undergo a series of missteps — and criticism — when it opened more than 100 locations in a year. 

lululemon Athletica founder Dennis Wilson voted against the re-election of board members Michael Casey and RoAnn Costin, saying he found the board too heavily weighted toward short-term results. "I am concerned that the board is not aligned with the core values of product and innovation on which lululemon was founded," Wilson, who owns 27 percent of the the athletic-wear company, said in a statement. The yoga-clothing retailer has been working to regain shoppers' loyalty after it recalled one of its most popular

Roughly 1,300 American Eagle Outfitters employees are participating this year in the retailer's second annual AEO Better World Community Day. The operator of more than 1,000 stores throughout the U.S. and several international markets developed the community involvement initiative last year as a means to unite employees for a common cause to make a difference at the local level. The company designated Tuesday, June 10 as Better World Day.