Retail News from North Texas: Fossil and More

Here are updates from a trio of companies either based or operating in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex:

CEO exits Container Store Group Inc. (Coppell, Texas). When the retailer filed for bankruptcy last December, President and CEO Satish Malhotra declared that the retailer “is here to stay.” But that’s not now the case with Malhorta, who has left the firm “to pursue other opportunities,” The Dallas Morning News reports. (No further information on Malhorta’s next steps had been disclosed as of this posting.)

The announcement of his departure, made in an internal memo obtained by the Morning News, comes just a month after the retailer emerged from Chapter 11. With his departure, the company’s board created an “Office of the CEO” responsible for executing the overall operations and strategy of the company, the memo said.

That new office consists of Chairman Joel Bines, who will take on the role of Executive Chairman; Martin Schumacher, Chief Transformation Officer, who will assume the role of Chief Commercial Officer; and independent board member Mike Nicholson, who will be a special board adviser to the new group.

The turnaround plan at Fossil (Richardson, Texas) includes closing 50 more stores. The company disclosed those plans in a news release detailing its 2024 results/2025 outlook, which included a drop in net sales and a net loss for the just-completed year.

To cut costs and sharpen its focus, the accessories retailer said it was reducing its corporate workforce by an undisclosed number, transitioning select international markets to a distributor model and closing about 50 additional Fossil stores. (The brand finished 2024 with 248 stores, down from 302 a year earlier.)

“In my initial months since taking the CEO role [last September], we took decisive actions to begin strengthening our operating model, while developing a comprehensive turnaround plan designed to drive long-term profitable growth,” said Franco Fogliato. “The organization is energized by the opportunity ahead.”

H-E-B (San Antonio) has announced plans for a new supermarket in Denton, which is about 40 miles northwest of Dallas. A groundbreaking ceremony for the new store will take place later this spring at a 20-acre site on the northwest corner of Interstate 35W and Robson Ranch Road. It will join the 20-plus stores H-E-B operates or has planned in the DFW Metroplex under its flagship, Central Market and Joe V’s Smart Shop c-store banners.