Finance & Capital Management

After reporting standout results for the holiday quarter, Costco had a drop in same store sales in March that the retailer blamed on the earlier-than-normal Easter holiday.

Cincinnati – The Kroger Co. is reportedly planning to close and rebrand some stores operating under the Harris-Teeter banner in Tennessee. According to the Nashville Tennesseean, Kroger will close four Harris-Teeter stores it operates in Nashville by June 2015.

Three of those stores will reopen under the Kroger banner. Kroger previously closed a Harris-Teeter location in Nashville, but has not yet rebranded any Harris-Teeter stores. Kroger purchased the Harris-Teeter grocery chain for $2.4 billion in January 2014.
 

Jackson, Miss. – Newk’s Eatery is planning franchise growth in new markets stretching across the South. Expansion will occur in markets including Savannah, Georgia and Orlando, Florida, to Lubbock and Midland-Odessa, Texas, with Washington, D.C, Richmond and Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Virginia, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Oklahoma City in between.

Camp Hill, Pa. – Rite Aid Corp. beat Wall Street expectations with soaring profit in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014. The retailer reported net income of $1.83 billion, exponentially larger than net income of $55.4 million in the same quarter a year earlier.

A favorable tax asset valuation drove the substantial profit growth. Revenues rose 4% to $6.8 billion from $6.6 billion, mostly due to a same-store sales increase of 4.5%.

Matthews, N.C. – Profits slid at Family Dollar Stores Inc. during the second quarter of fiscal 2015 compared to last year, but still beat Wall Street predictions. The discounter reported net income of $76.7 million, down 18% from $90.9 million.

Rite Aid said higher prescription sales and stronger cost control helped the drugstore chain report a profit surge for the fourth quarter.

A 38-year Kroger employee who started out in the company bagging groceries at a Cincinnati area store has been promoted to president.

Walmart is beginning to raise wages for workers in several states as part of its employee initiative for fiscal 2015.

Cold weather in February caused profits to slide at Family Dollar Stores Inc. ahead of its impending merger with Dollar Tree.

Japanese retailer Uniqlo's U.S. expansion is picking up speed as the company prepares to open its first-ever stores in the Seattle, Denver and Washington, D.C.