Consumer Affairs & Relations

By Sandra Gold Slon

Who needs an exit strategy? In this economy, most of us are aware of tenants facing difficulties in meeting their lease obligations. If we weren’t thinking about it front and center, it was brought front and center when Borders declared bankruptcy, closing hundreds of stores.

New York City -- Walgreens said a marketing and communications vendor that it uses, Epsilon, has informed the company about unauthorized access to its customers' email addresses, the Associated Press reported. The retailer joins JPMorgan Chase & Co. and grocery operator Kroger Co., which also use the same vendor to send emails, as the latest company to announce a breach of information.

In a statement, Walgreens said law enforcement authorities have been notified and are investigating the matter.

AKRON, Ohio — The USDA has chosen Purell green certified instant hand sanitizer foam as a featured product for the formal launch of its new BioPreferred label program.

USDA Deputy secretary Kathleen Merrigan made the announcement Thursday at a biobased product meeting in Glenwillow, Ohio.

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway on Friday announced the start of its companywide fundraising campaign for Easter Seals, Special Olympics, Rebuilding Together and a range of job training programs that help people with disabilities live fuller lives.

New York City -- Several bidders, including Dish Network Corp. and billionaire investor Carl Icahn, are ready to battle for Blockbuster at a bankruptcy auction in New York on Monday, the Associated Press reported. The chain, which filed Chapter 11 in February, has received several bids other than the opening bid of $290 million from a group of debtholders made in February.

Dish and Icahn have each submitted a bid, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

New York City -- Urban Outfitters has been sued by a shareholder who alleges company officials misled investors before the stock declined, Bloomberg reported.

The retailer wrongly led shareholders to believe business was going well until March 7, when it reported earnings of 13% less than analysts had suggested, Edward Koller III claims in a lawsuit filed yesterday in federal court in Philadelphia, the report said. Shares fell 17% the next day, Koller said.

New York City -- OSI Restaurant Partners LLC, operators of Bonefish Grill and Outback Steakhouse as well as several other restaurant chains, told securities analysts that it planned to remodel as many as 150 Outback Steakhouse units and focus of expanding its Bonefish Grill brand this year.

OSI operates or franchises 968 Outback Steakhouses, 152 Bonefish Grills, 233 Carrabba’s Italian Grills, 64 Fleming’s units and 22 Roy’s locations.

Boca Raton, Fla. -- Office Depot said it will restate its finances for the second and third quarters of fiscal 2010 as well as for the full fiscal year. The company said the U.S. Internal Revenue Service denied its claim for an $80 million benefit related to taxes.

The removal of the benefit, which had already been recorded in financial statements, will result in a loss for 2010 of $46 million. Previously the company said it earned $33 million.

By Eric White, [email protected]

WASHINGTON --  The National Retail Federation has a new ally in its fight for swipe-fee reform. The group announced that Americans for Financial Reform, a coalition focused on financial services industry reform that includes the Consumer Federation of America, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group and a number of other consumer organizations among its 250 national, state and local members, asked Congress Wednesday to reject proposals to delay swipe-fee reform.