While Apple was preparing to announce its biggest executive shake-up in over a decade, employees at an Apple store outside Baltimore, Maryland, were still reeling from the news that they would be out of a job come June.Located in the Towson Town Center, a shopping mall in Baltimore’s northern suburbs, the store was one of three closures announced just a week before Apple revealed that CEO Tim Cook was stepping down.

Unlike the two other locations in California and Connecticut, however, the Towson employees will not be transferred to other stores and will have to reapply for open positions elsewhere.

The different tack has led some workers from the Towson store to speculate that Apple may have shuttered the location because it was the first unionized store.

Keep reading here.—AV

We spoke it into existence last month—we crossed another TBD retail exec appointment off the list in April as Lululemon finally announced a new CEO. Here’s more on that, and other April C-suite moves to know.

• Lululemon ended its slightly dramatic monthslong search for a new CEO, appointing Heidi O’Neill, who fills the role vacated by Calvin McDonald on January 31. O’Neill, who previously spent over two decades at Nike, most recently as president of consumer, product, and brand, will aim to regain the edge Lululemon has lost in the athleticwear space in recent years.
• After leading the tech giant since 2011, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced he’s exiting his role, set to be replaced by John Ternus, its SVP of hardware engineering, on September 1.
• Best Buy tapped Jason Bonfig as its next CEO, set to take over for Corie Barry, the retailer’s CEO since 2019, on October 31. Bonfig, who currently serves as chief customer, product and fulfillment officer, has been with Best Buy since 1999.

Keep reading here.—EC

Here’s an excerpt from Chapter 3 of our State of the Industry report on stores:

The era of vague warnings about the death of brick-and-mortar retail appears to be fading, as brands increasingly recognize the strategic value of physical stores.

In a survey conducted by Retail Brew, 32% of respondents said they maintain a balanced physical and online presence, while 27% said they operate primarily physical stores with a limited online presence.

Companies cited several strategic reasons for continuing to invest in physical retail, some of which may surprise skeptics. When asked why they were opening stores, 62% said it was to improve brand perception, followed by driving foot traffic (60%), and increasing customer loyalty (58%). Conversion gains ranked lowest among the motivations at 32%.

Michael Brown, partner and Americas retail leader at consulting firm Kearney, explained why that may be the prevailing view.

Keep reading here.—JS