Finance & Capital Management

Fourth quarter sales at CVS Health surged 11% to $41.1 billion, enabling the operator of nearly 10,000 stores to surpass a significant annual sales milestone.

The company opened 53 new retail stores and acquired 1,672 pharmacies from Target to end the year with 9,655 retail stores, including pharmacies in Target stores, and annual sales of $153.3 billion, an increase of 10%.

Old Navy, the division that has been performing the best for Gap Inc. for years, suffered a serious sales slump in the fourth quarter.

For the fourth quarter ended Jan. 30, Gap Inc.’s net sales were $4.39 billion compared with $4.71 billion for the fourth quarter last year. Same-store sales at Gap Inc. were down 7% versus positive 2% last year. Same-store sales by global brand for the fourth quarter were as follows:

• Gap Global: negative 3% versus negative 6% last year

Chattanooga, Tenn. -- CBL & Associates Properties announced plans to add home retailer West Elm at Friendly Center in Greensboro, North Carolina, as part of a 12,700-sq.-ft. expansion project for the center. West Elm will occupy approximately 9,000 sq. ft. of the total expansion, which also includes Pieology Pizzeria and an additional soon-to-be-named retailer.

The new development will be located between Anthropologie and Whole Foods. Construction on the space is currently underway, and both West Elm and Pieology are scheduled to open fall 2016.

A combined 7.1% same-store sales decline at Sear and Kmart stores in the fourth quarter has parent company Sears Holdings vowing to undertake a wide range expense reduction and cash generating moves, including more store closings and asset sales.

“Now Trending” is an exclusive online series to chainstoreage.com, featuring trending topics that impact the retail real estate landscape.

When Walmart announced in January that it planned to close 269 stores this year (154 locations in the U.S.), there was a good deal of chatter out there comparing the planned closures to a Macy’s announcement just over a week earlier revealing the upcoming closure of 40 stores and a restructuring plan that would eliminate more than 4,500 jobs.

Global technology platform and payments provider PayPal Holding, Inc. has appointed VP of global payments infrastructure (GPI) Sri Shivananda as the company’s new senior VP and CTO, effective April 1.

Shivananda’s appointment follows the decision by current CTO James Barrese, to step down to take time off. Barrese will remain with PayPal for a period of time to support a smooth transition period.

KFC is celebrating its 75th anniversary with a store design makeover as it looks to refresh 70% of its 4,500 locations by the end of 2017.

The chain, owned by Yum! Brands, tapped FRCH Design Worldwide to come up with a modern look that would also highlight the playfulness and outsized personality of the brand’s legendary founder, Colonel Sanders.

Sally Beauty Holdings observed a major milestone recently with the opening of its 5,000th location, but the $3.8 billion Texas-based retailer has even bigger ambitions for more stores and new services as it vies for market share with mass and specialty players.