Consumer Affairs & Relations

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill.— Sears quietly added all nine of its Great Indoors stores to the list of store closings on Feb. 23.

Store managers were informed last week, a Sears spokeswoman confirmed, but no exact date has been given for the closings.

The upscale remodeling and home décor stores began opening in 1998, long before the Sears and Kmart merger. At one point, Sears operated 20 of the units, but they were never a big moneymaker for the company.

Salisbury, N.C. -- Bottom Dollar Food announced plans to open eight additional stores in New Jersey. The expansion will more than double the number of Bottom Dollar Food stores in the Garden State, with the first two stores opening March 2.

"We have been pleased with customer reaction to our current five stores in New Jersey and we are very excited to continue serving customers at our additional locations in the market," said Bottom Dollar Food president Meg Ham.

FAIRFIELD, N.J. — Consumers trust retailers will provide them with safe, effective products — no easy task when one considers the numerous items any given company can sell. This is especially true for such retailers as Wal-Mart Stores, which has approved a partnership with SGS for safety and compliance testing for all wireless and automotive products sold through Walmart and Sam's Club, both in store and online, for the U.S. market.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Express has appointed Michael Keane to the position of EVP human resources.

Keane's extensive experience includes more than twenty years in a series of human resource leadership positions with Tween Brands, Limited Brands, Borden Foods and Whirlpool Corporation.  He most recently served as EVP human resources and stores for Tween Brands, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ascena Retail Group Inc.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Two months after Sears Holdings Corp. received a $150 million Illinois tax credit for cementing its plans to keep its home base in the state, it announced Monday that it would close six stores in Illinois.

The retailer had already announced in December – two weeks after the tax credit – that it would close 100 to 120 stores, but no Illinois stores were on the initial list.

Cambridge, Mass. -- For the second consecutive time, Walmart’s overall branded basket registered as less expensive than Target’s, according to Kantar Retail’s semi-annual pricing study.

Mooresville, N.C. -- Lowe’s Cos. reported Monday that profit for the quarter ended Feb. 3 rose 13% to $322 million, compared with $285 million a year earlier. Results topped Wall Street expectations and demonstrated an upward consumer swing in home-improvement projects.

Quarterly sales increased 11% to $11.6 billion from $10.5 billion, beating analysts’ expectations of $11.35 billion in revenue. Same-store sales rose 3.4%.

WABAN, Mass. — Publix earned top marks for customer service in a new survey by Temkin Group. The firm rated the customer experience of 206 large companies across 18 industries. 

In the grocery industry, Publix earned the top spot and is the second overall company across all 206 companies in the study. Aldi, H.E.B., and Winn-Dixie also scored very well. These four grocery chains received "excellent" customer experience ratings, a level that was only earned by eight companies across all 18 industries, Temkin Group reported.