Briefs
Party store to hire 200 for spring
ShindigZ said Monday it will once again temporarily boost Whitley County’s employment numbers when it hires more than 200 seasonal workers this spring to take and fill orders. The South Whitley-based online party supplies company sells prom-related products and has more than 36,000 party items in stock.
“We are excited to be able to offer these positions during such a time of economic uncertainty and challenge,” President Shep Moyle said in a statement.
The positions are available on multiple shifts and pay from $8 to $12 an hour. Applications are being accepted at www.shindigz.com/apply.
Brokerage acquires insurance firm
Ash Brokerage Corp. on Monday announced it has acquired Eatontown, N.J.-based Delta Financial Associates Inc. for an undisclosed sum. The deal closed Jan. 1.
Fort Wayne-based Ash, which employs about 300, serves a network of about 20,000 financial professionals. The firm provides services related to life insurance, annuities, long-term care, disability income, advanced markets and underwriting.
Delta, which employs 11, is an independent distributor of long-term care and linked benefit insurance. Long-term care insurance pays for home health care and nursing home and assisted living stays. Delta’s employees will remain with the company, Ash Co-President Michael Hefferon said.
Borders Group chooses new CEO
Borders Group Inc., which has struggled along with other booksellers as people buy more books online and from discounters, announced a new CEO and other top managers Monday as it also reported weak holiday sales.
The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based company also warned that its stock is in danger of being delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. The shares have lost nearly all of their value in recent months amid larger-than-expected losses and financing trouble.
Borders named Ron Marshall, 54, the founder of private equity firm Wildridge Capital Management, to replace George Jones as CEO and also serve as president and a director. The company noted that Marshall had been involved in other turnaround projects as CEO of food distributor and retailer Nash Finch Co. and as chief financial officer of Pathmark Stores Inc., now a unit of the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co.
Borders saw its holiday sales drop as worried shoppers reined in spending. For the nine weeks that ended Jan. 3, total consolidated sales fell 11.7 percent from the same period a year earlier to $868.8 million.
Eyeglasses retailer opens local store
A national contact lens and eyeglasses retailer opened a Fort Wayne location Monday.
America’s Best Contacts & Eyeglasses, located at 10021 Lima Road, has seven employees, including an optometrist, and is expected eventually to employ 10, general manager Jeannie Venerable said. Depending on demand, the store’s total workforce could grow to 15, the company said in a statement.
The company did not disclose how much it invested in the Fort Wayne store, which is located near a Wal-Mart SuperCenter.
America’s Best operates nearly 200 stores in 25 states. Including the Fort Wayne store, it expects to open 40 locations in the U.S. in the first half of this year.
