Retail Briefs

Liz Bailey has been promoted to vice president, divisional merchandise manager for domestics at Bloomingdale's. Bailey succeeds Laurene Gandolfo, who joined Federated Merchandising Group as senior vice president, home.

Bailey reports to Joe Laneve, senior vice president, general merchandise manager of home furnishings. She began her career at Lord & Taylor, later joined Bergdorf Goodman and joined Bloomingdale's in 1989, rising from buyer to vice president, divisional merchandise manager, in a number of apparel businesses. She later left to join Claires' Accessories and rejoined Bloomingdale's in 2001 as vice president, divisional merchandise manager, for Young World, her most recent position.

James Fennema, a 30-year veteran of the retail industry, has joined Fred's Inc as executive vice president and general merchandise manager.

Michael Hayes, CEO, said, “For more than 10 years, he has built a strong reputation for merchandise management in a retailing environment that shares many characteristics of our own, and he has proven skills in strategic planning, marketing plans, domestic and international sourcing and buying, and inventory control and analysis.”

Since 1993, Fennema has been associated with Duckwall-Alco Stores, Inc. as senior vice president and general merchandise manager. In a retailing career that began at Sears in 1973, he has held progressively higher assignments at companies such as Caldor, Fisher's Big Wheel, ShopKo, and Richman-Gordman.

Hanover Direct, Inc. has received a letter from the American Stock Exchange saying it has failed to satisfy an additional continued listing standard.

Specifically, Hanover has yet to file its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended Sept. 25, which is a condition for the company's continued listing on the AMEX and is a material violation of its listing agreement with the exchange.

Therefore, AMEX is authorized to suspend and, unless corrective action is taken, remove the company's securities from the exchange. AMEX advised Hanover that if the company is not in compliance with the filing requirements by Dec. 31, the exchange staff will initiate delisting proceedings.

Sears announced a new promotion to drive shoppers into its stores this past weekend, which retailers anticipated would be a heavy shopping period.

On Saturday, Dec. 18, Sears offered $10 gift cards to the first 100 customers entering its full-line stores as well as the first 25 customers visiting its Sears Hardware or Dealer stores. All stores opened at 7 a.m. on Saturday.

In addition, Sears offered an extra 10 percent off almost everything in the store from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Sears offered deals such as a Koss progressive scan DVD/CD player for $29.99 after mail-in rebate, a Craftsman Laser Trac circular saw for $59.99 and a Sony 46-inch, wide-screen Hi-Scan projection TV for $1,499.99.