Consumer Affairs & Relations

NEW YORK— Target, Kohl's and JCPenney ranked highest among discounters in consumer perception in the first half of 2011, according to YouGov BrandIndex. The company interviews 5,000 people each weekday from a representative U.S. population sample, more than 1.2 million interviews per year.

Here is YouGov’s Retail Buzz scores for discounters in the first half of 2011:

1.  Target (33.9) 

2. Kohl's (29.5) 

3. J.C. Penney (23.9) 

Walmart is among a group of retailers who further aligned themselves with a key Obama administration initiative this week by committing to open more than 1,500 stores in urban and rural markets defined as food deserts. The initiative is part of the Obama administration’s Let’s Move! campaign designed to address the nation’s weight problem by improving access to fresh foods.

Here are the facts:

• Walmart will open between 275 and 300 stores in food deserts by 2016.

New York City -- Target, Kohl's and J.C. Penney ranked highest among discounters in consumer perception in the first half of 2011, according to YouGov BrandIndex. The company interviews 5,000 people each weekday from a representative U.S. population sample, more than 1.2 million interviews per year.

Here is YouGov’s Retail Buzz scores for discounters in the first half of 2011:

When the Supreme Court ruled that a sex discrimination case against Walmart wasn’t worth of class action status that was supposed to end things. Wrong.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens is positioning itself to be the largest retail host of electric vehicle charging stations, the drug store chain announced Thursday.

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — Walmart has returned to the consumer packaged goods industry's information sharing model through a new cooperation agreement with Nielsen.

New York City -- A Bloomberg report on Thursday said that consumer confidence stagnated last week, as the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index was minus 43.3 in the period to July 17, the highest since April, compared with minus 43.9 the prior week.

The monthly gauge of the economic outlook improved from a two-year low, according to the report.

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway Inc. reported net income of $145.8 million, or 41 cents per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2011 compared with $141.3 million, or 37 cents per diluted share for the second quarter of 2010.

The company reported that total sales increased 7.1% to $10.2 billion in the second quarter of 2011 from $9.5 billion in the second quarter of 2010. Identical-store sales, excluding fuel saw a 0.5% increase.