No Canada

Venator Group Inc. (New York) has completed the sale of its Canadian-based Northern Group to a Canadian affiliate of York Management Services (Somerset, N.J.). York, in turn, has named Alan Dumain, currently executive vp of Northern Group, as the incoming president and ceo.

Northern Group is a Canadian specialty apparel retailer with 353 locations under the Northern Reflections, Northern Traditions, Northern Getaway and Northern Elements nameplates.

Venator president and ceo Matthew Serra called the sale “part of the strategic decision to focus Venator Group's full resources on our very successful athletic footwear and apparel businesses.” Venator, the former Woolworth Corp., has trimmed down and refocused its business to that of primarily a mall-based athletic specialty retailer with 3600 retail stores in 14 countries in North America, Europe and Australia under the Foot Locker, Lady Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker and Champs Sports nameplates. It announced in August that it would change its corporate name to Foot Locker.