Awards

Goodwill Industries of Arkansas received a $350,000 grant this week thanks to the Walmart Foundation and the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G.

Goodwill is the primary charitable beneficiary of this year’s Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G, which got underway this week amid triple digit temperatures at the Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers, Ark. The funds the organization received will be used to support a program called Providing Opportunities for Women through Education and Resources (POWER).

Sam's Club was among the highest-rated companies for customer service, according to new research from the Temkin Group. Other retailers included Publix, Hy-Vee, H.E.B., ShopRite, Aldi, Giant Eagle and JCPenney.

Other companies earning top marks included Chick-fil-A, credit unions and Starbucks. Meanwhile, companies with the lowest ratings included Charter Communications, Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Citibank, Qwest, Cigna, and Bank of America.

Launching new products is difficult in the best of times, but winners of the 2012 Nielsen Breakthrough Innovation Award found ways to succeed during one the worst recessions in a generation.

Nielsen announced recipients of the awards at its annual Consumer 360 event in Hollywood, Fla., this week after analyzing more than 11,000 new products in the United States between 2008 and 2010. Of the products evaluated, only 34 met award criteria. These products comprise less than 0.5% of all new product introductions during the period.

Irving, Texas — Michaels Stores creative expert Jo Pearson will serve as one of three judges on TLC's new competition series, "Craft Wars." The show, hosted and executive produced by celebrity crafter Tori Spelling, premieres June 26 at 10 p.m. Eastern (9 p.m. Central time).

Walmart's Asda business earned the title of "Lowest Priced Supermarket" at The Grocer Gold Awards for the 15th straight year. The retailer was also named "Britain’s Favorite Supermarket" for the second year in a row.

NEW ORLEANS — Recognizing that fighting retail crime is a collaborative effort, the National Retail Federation during its annual Loss Prevention Conference and Expo, the National Retail Federation honored six individuals that exhibited exemplary dedication and investigative skills in solving retail crimes.

NRF gave out its Law Enforcement Retail Partnership Award to the following people:

• Kebharu Smith, assistant U.S. attorney, Department of Justice – Houston office;

 

LAKELAND, Fla. — For the eighth consecutive year, Publix has been named as one of IDG’s Computerworld top workplaces for information technology professionals, the grocer announced Monday.

Santa Monica, Calif. -- Santa Monica Place, the open-air shopping center in downtown Santa Monica, Calif., has been awarded LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.