Consumer Affairs & Relations

July same-store sales at Fred’s declined 0.5% and that’s not a particularly good sign for Walmart, as the company prepares to release its quarterly results on Aug. 16. Fred’s appeals to lower income shoppers at its 672 stores in the Southeastern U.S. where the company has considerable overlap with Walmart.

New York City -- Sears Holdings Corp has named former FreshDirect executive Monica Woo to be VP and CMO, effective Aug. 15, according to Reuters. The post has been vacant since January 2010.

Woo will be responsible for the overall marketing, brand and advertising programs for Sears, according to the report. She most recently was the chief marketing and strategy officer of online grocer FreshDirect.
 

NORTHFIELD, Ill. — Kraft Foods is planning to create two independent public companies, which will include a global snacks business and a North American grocery business.

The company expects to create these companies — the high-growth global snacks business, which carries an estimated revenue of approximately $32 billion and the high-margin North American grocery business, which touts an estimated revenue of approximately $16 billion — through a tax-free spinoff of the North American grocery business to Kraft Foods shareholders.

New York City -- CVS Caremark said Thursday its profit dipped 1% in the second quarter to $816 million as its pharmacy benefits management business weathered lower prices on contract renewals. Revenue rose 11% to $26.63 billion from $24.01 billion.

Revenue from CVS drugstores increased 3.6% to $14.83 billion. Same-store sales were up 2%, with pharmacy sales up 2.6%  and front-end revenue up 0.8%.

CVS opened 41 stores during the second quarter and operated 7,266 retail drugstores at the end of the period.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Fred's on Thursday reported sales of $452.7 million, up 1% compared with the year-ago period, for the second quarter ended July 30. On a comparable-store basis, second-quarter sales decreased 0.4% versus an increase of 2.5% in the same period last year.

"July's sales performance was consistent with the first two months of the quarter as external economic factors, including high unemployment and reductions in government aid, continued to have a negative impact throughout the Southeast," stated Bruce Efird, Fred's CEO.

New York  City -- The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P) has asked U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y., for a second extension of its deadline to submit an exclusive plan of reorganization to its creditors.

The supermarket operator is looking for an extension to Jan. 16, 2012, from a previous deadline of Dec. 31, 2011. In court papers, it said the extension  would provide it with "the very best opportunity for a successful exit from Chapter 11."
 

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart announced that through its Acres for America program it is donating $500,000 to help protect, conserve and restore fragile urban ecosystems in Washington D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City. 

WASHINGTON — The Grocery Manufacturers Association has named George Dunaif, Ph.D., DABT, VP food safety and technical services.

Dunaif most recently served as VP global food safety at Campbell Soup. In that role, he was responsible for the company’s worldwide food safety function, including toxicology, microbiology, process safety and analytical chemistry. He also served as vice-chairman of the Campbell corporate crisis management team.