Playing With the KB Brand

KB Toys (Pittsfield, Mass.) has announced the appointment of David Southworth as vp, strategic branding.

The industry veteran , who has held executive merchandising positions with retailers Sportmart and Caldor, will have responsibility for re-defining the customer experience, according to executive vp Mark Scott. His duties will include brand and product development and visual merchandising. In his role, Southworth will work closely with the toy retailer's merchandising, marketing, store operations and Internet departments.

Southworth was most recently a business development executive for Capital One Financial Corp.

KB Toys is the nation's largest combined mall-based and online specialty toy retailer, operating more than 1300 stores in all 50 states, Guam and Puerto Rico. The stores do business under the KB Toys, KB Toy Works, KB Toy Outlet, KB Toy Liquidators and KB Toy Express nameplates.