Personnel

Wal-Mart said it's eliminating 2,300 workers at its Sam's Club division as it reduces the ranks of middle managers in a bid to be more nimble. The layoffs, which cut 2 percent of the membership club's U.S. employee count of about 116,000, mark the largest since 2010 when the Sam's Club unit laid off 10,000 workers as it moved to outsource food demonstrations at its stores. The cuts come as Sam's Club strives to compete better with Costco Wholesale Corp. and online players like Amazon.com's Prime membership service. 

American Eagle said after the market closed Wednesday that Chief Executive Robert Hanson has left his post after less than two years, a move that stunned Wall Street. The teen apparel retailer said Executive Chairman Jay L. Schottenstein, who was previously chief executive from March 1992 through December 2002, will temporarily fill in for Hanson. The company said it will start looking for a permanent replacement. Executive Creative Director Roger S. Markfield, who is also vice chairman, agreed to delay his planned retirement and continue in his current roles, according to American Eagle.

Target on Wednesday announced plans to eliminate 475 jobs from its global workforce. The cuts come about a month after Target reported a major breach of customer information during the holiday shopping season. Spokeswoman Molly Snyder said the cuts are unrelated to the breach. "We believe these decisions, while difficult, are the right actions as we continue to focus on transforming our business," she said. "We will continue to invest in key business areas to strengthen our ability to compete and thrive well into the future." The discount retailer has about 361,000 employees worldwide and more than 1,700 U.S. stores. 

Along with the bigger news of plans to close 33 stores leading to the layoff of 2,000 workers, J.C. Penney also revealed last week that it was reinstating commission pay for associates in its window coverings, furniture and fine jewelry departments. The switch, set to occur in February and March, will affect more than 3,000 associates. "Offering a competitive salary base that includes a commission incentive not only helps in retaining some of our best sales associates, it motivates them to build and maintain stronger customer relationships," the company stated in an email sent to media outlets. 

The opening of Postal Service retail centers in dozens of Staples stores around the country is being met with threats of protests and boycotts by the agency's unions. The new outlets are staffed by Staples employees, not postal workers, and labor officials say that move replaces good-paying union jobs with low-wage, nonunion workers. "It's a direct assault on our jobs and on public postal services," said Mark Dimondstein, president of the 200,000-member American Postal Workers Union.

Calling Dollar General's wages "shamefully low," political activist Ralph Nader has urged CEO Richard Dreiling to support raising the minimum wage. In a letter dated Dec. 8, Nader argued that raising the minimum wage would aid the economy and boost revenues at the Goodlettsville, Tenn.-based discount retailer through increased consumer spending and lower employee turnover. He urged Dreiling to join Costco CEO Craig Jelinek in advocating for a national minimum wage increase to $10.10 an hour.

A 19-year-old college student from Queens says he was handcuffed and locked in a jail cell after buying a $350 designer belt at Barneys on New York's Madison Avenue because he is "a young black man." Trayon Christian told NBC 4 New York on Wednesday that he saved up from a part-time job for weeks to buy a Salvatore Ferragamo belt at Barneys. When he went to the store to buy it in April, he says the checkout clerk asked to see his identification. After the sale went through and he left the store, he was approached by police.

Burberry Group's long-standing chief executive, Angela Ahrendts, is moving from Bond Street to Silicon Valley following the announcement that she's to leave the luxury fashion group for a new post at Apple. Burberry said that Ahrendts would step down by mid-2014, after which time Chief Creative Officer Christopher Bailey would be appointed to the dual role. He will also be joining the board in due course, the company said. Apple announced Tuesday that Ahrendts will take on the new post of senior vice president of retail and online stores, reporting to the high-tech company's CEO, Tim Cook.