Office Depot Expands in Puerto Rico …and More

HIRINGS/PROMOTIONS/RETIREMENTS

Family Dollar (Matthews, N.C.), a discount retailer, has promoted Donna Barker to vp of merchandising/general merchandise manager.

GNC (Pittsburgh), a nutritional products retailer, announced Michael Hines has joined the boards of directors for GNC and its parent companies. Hines’ career includes stints at Dick’s Sporting Goods and Staples Inc.

NexCen Brands Inc. (New York), a strategic brand management company, promoted Jerry Slover to vice president of development.

STORE OPENINGS

Office Depot (Boca Raton, Fla.), an office supply retailer, opened a store in Ponce, Puerto Rico, its sixth locale on the island.

hhgregg (Indianapolis), a retailer of consumer electronics and home goods, has opened a new store in Nashville, Tenn.

BUSINESS BRIEFS

FFR-DSI Inc. (Twinsburg, Ohio), a provider of retail merchandising solutions, has relocated its Cleveland-area headquarters to Twinsburg, Ohio.

Ecoxera (Austin, Texas), a team of LEED-accredited sustainability experts, will serve as sustainability consultant to the Professional Retail Store Maintenance Association.

Invista (Wichita, Kan.), a producer of polymers and fibers, has become the first company to obtain the Environmentally Preferable Product certification for its carpet fibers by Scientific Certification Systems.

NEC Display Solutions of America Inc. (Itasca, Ill.), a provider of commercial LCD display and projector solutions, has introduced Vukunet, a web platform for digital out-of-home advertising.

EuroShop is accepting exhibitor applications for the triennial trade show, which next takes place from February 26 to March 2, 2011. Visit www.mdna.com for more information.

AWARDS

Elemental Design (London) announced it won two 2009 Retail VM & Display Awards: for Best Non-Fashion Retail Concept in collaboration with Veuve Clicquot; and for Best Multiple Window in collaboration with Topshop Caravan, Rootstein and the retailer’s in-house display team.