Consumer Affairs & Relations

Minneapolis -- Supervalu Inc.’s third-quarter profit more than doubled as the supermarket chain experienced sales growth in all three of its business segments. Its results beat analysts' expectations.

Supervalu reported an overall profit of $79 million for the quarter ended Nov. 29, up from $31 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 4.8% to $4.2 billion.

Arlington, Va. – Consumers who may need some time to decide if they want to keep a purchase should consider applying for a Discover card. According to the 2015 Credit Card Extension Report from CardHub, Discover Cards received top overall score (98%) for their return extension program.

Coming in second and third were Chase Sapphire Preferred (88%), and a tie among Chase Freedom, Barclaycard Arrival and Barclaycard Arrival Plus (79%).

Monroe, Mich. - La-Z-Boy Inc. has appointed Barbara J. Runyon as chief human resources officer. She will join the company on Feb. 2 and provide leadership and oversight for talent management, employee engagement, workforce development, and compensation and benefits.

Runyon joins La-Z-Boy from PepsiCo/The Pepsi Bottling Group, where she spent 14 years in various HR positions of increasing responsibility. Most recently, she served as senior director of HR for the company's Midwest region.
 

Things are not looking up at Wet Seal, which has announced that it will close 338 stores, or about 66% of its total portfolio, “on or about” Jan. 7, resulting in the termination of some 3,695 full- and part-time employees.

The struggling teen apparel retailer said the decision to close the stores was based on its overall financial condition and an inability to negotiate meaningful concessions from its landlords.

The company said the 338 stores represented approximately 48% of its sales for the nine months ending on November 1, 2014.

Americans’ appetite for e-commerce grew again in 2014 with holiday sales slightly exceeding an optimistic forecast by digital measurement firm comScore.

Total desktop online sales for the entire November through December holiday season advanced 15 percent to $53.3 billion, comScore said. Cyber Monday retained its crown as the highest volume day with e-commerce spending of more than $2 billion.

Plano, Texas  -- J.C. Penney is reflecting in a post-holiday glow and feeling bullish about its business going forward after reporting a 3.7% increase in same-store sales during the holidays (the nine week period from November through December). The retailer also said that it expects its fourth-quarter comparable sales will be at the top end of its forecast range of a 2% to 4% gain.

New York -- The specialty apparel and home goods chain C. Wonder is shuttering its remaining stores, according to Buzzfeed. The company, founded in 2011 by Christopher Burch, ex-husband of Tory Burch, quietly closed a number of its 32 stores in November. It is now closing its remaining locations, 11 in total, the report said.

By Ulf Mattsson, Protegrity

With Chinese-made products suspected in the deaths of more than 1,000 dogs it’s no wonder Petco has removed Chinese-sourced food products from its 1,300 stores.

Petco announced it has completely removed all China-made dog and cat treats from shelves nationwide, including at Unleashed by Petco stores and online at Petco.com. Petco said the move makes Petco the first national pet specialty retailer to complete this transition.

It didn't take long for former Walmart de Mexico executive Scot Rank to land a new job.

Mexican dairy company Grupo Lala has appointed Rank, the former chief executive officer of Walmart de Mexico, as its new chief executive to replace retiring top boss Arquimedes Celis, the company said.

Celis, who served as CEO for 14 years, will retire on June 30 but continue as a board member at the company, one of Latin America's largest dairy producers.