Consumer Affairs & Relations

Not that anyone ever forgets Walmart is a really big company, but every now and then a fresh reminder surfaces. That was the case this week with an announcement by Datacert, Inc., that Walmart had selected its Passport technology platform to help manage domestic legal processes and systems. Big companies that make a lot of money tend to get sued a lot, and in Walmart’s case the situation is magnified by the fact that it has more than two million employees interacting each week with 200 million customers in its 8,000 stores.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Winn-Dixie Stores announced that Laurence Appel, who joined Winn-Dixie in 2002 and formerly served as general counsel, corporate secretary and SVP human resources, has been named SVP retail operations. Appel replaces Frank Eckstein, who has retired from his current role but will continue to serve in an advisory capacity until the end of fiscal year 2011. 

New York City -- Saks on Wednesday announced it plans to close its Saks Fifth Avenue store located in the Cherry Creek Mall in Denver, Colo., on March 19. With the closing, the company will have closed seven Saks Fifth Avenue stores since July 2010.

Natick, Mass. -- BJ’s Wholesale Club announced that Robert W. Eddy, senior VP, director of finance, has been named executive VP and CFO, and Cornel Catuna, BJ’s senior VP field operations, has been named executive VP club operations. These management changes will be effective on Jan. 30.

New York City -- Reports circulated Wednesday that several potential suitors, including Sears Holdings and Urban Outfitters, have been studying J. Crew’s books. Urban Outfitters is seriously weighing a counterbid for the high-flying preppy retailer, according to a report in The New York Times. At least two other private-equity firms are also receiving confidential data on the New York-based retailer, Bloomberg reported.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears Holdings announced that Deidra Cheeks Merriwether has been promoted to senior VP and president of its Retail Services business unit, succeeding James H. Haworth who will be leaving the company to pursue other opportunities. Merriwether will be responsible for the oversight and leadership of retail services for all Kmart and Sears stores.

An expanding number of consumers in search of value and an improved shopping experience at Family Dollar propelled the company to its strongest first-quarter same-store sales increase in 12 years, but profits for the period and the earnings outlook were below analysts’ estimates.

“Our comparable-store sales increase of 6.9% is the best first quarter result we’ve delivered in more than 12 years,” said Family Dollar chairman and CEO Howard Levine

New York City -- Starbucks unveiled a new logo Wednesday, dropping the circle with the words “Starbucks” and “Coffee” that surround its signature mermaid.

Starbucks, celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, said the changes represent a fresh look for the company as it begins the next chapter in its history and emphasizes selling Starbucks-brand products in supermarkets and other channels beyond its retail stores.