Finance & Capital Management

COLUMBUS, Ohio — SB Capital Group, a Schottenstein affiliate, said Monday it has acquired 15 JCPenney Outlet Stores from JCPenney Co., and will rebrand the units as JC’s 5 Star Outlet.

According to SB Capital, the stores will operate for up to a 21-month transitional period as JCPenney Outlet Stores, as the stores are converted to JC's 5 Star Outlet. J.C. Penney will continue to supply the stores with overstocks and end-of-season merchandise, and all existing store staffs and management have been retained.

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — Supervalu reduced it full-year profit forecast Wednesday morning, even though the company reported better-than-expected second-quarter sales and profits as a result of strategies president and CEO Craig Herkert said are yielding results.

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Lowe's Monday announced that it would close several stores and discontinue a number of planned new store projects as the company looks to bounce back from a second quarter of declining earnings and flat same-store sales.

The company closed 10 locations on Oct. 16 and said it would close another 10 within the month, following an inventory sell-through.

BALDWYN, Miss. — Hancock Fabrics hass announced that its board of directors has appointed Steven Morgan, the current interim president and CEO and member of the company’s board of directors, to serve as president and CEO, effective immediately. Morgan will continue to serve as a member of the Company’s board of directors.

Competing with Walmart is nothing new for Target, but what appears to be different this holiday season compared with the last few years is, to borrow a football metaphor, Walmart has eliminated its turnovers and is now showing some signs of momentum.

At least that’s what the retailer told financial analysts gathered in Northwest Arkansas last week for an all-day meeting. 

Mooresville, N.C. -- Lowe's Cos.  announced Monday it will open 10 to 15 stores annually in North America from 2012 forward, down from its prior target of 30 stores, and will close 20 underperforming locations. The chain is on track to open 25 stores as planned in 2011.

The stores scheduled to be closed are in 15 states, ranging from California to Maine. The closings will impact some 1,950 employees.

New York City -- Wal-Mart Stores announced Monday that the president of its China unit is stepping down. A company spokesman said the resignation was unrelated to a Chinese government food safety case against several Wal-Mart stores.

Ed Chan, CEO of Wal-Mart China, left for personal reasons, the company said. Scott Price, president of Walmart Asia, will fill the position in the interim.

Walmart didn’t release a third-quarter same-store sales figure when it held a meeting with financial analysts on Wednesday, but it might as well have. Everything else the company’s senior executives said about the performance of the U.S. stores division indicated the nightmare that has been nine consecutive quarter of negative comps will end on Nov. 15 when quarterly results are reported.

Sylvia Mathews Burwell was named president of the Walmart Foundation Friday morning and will join the organization in January 2012. She currently serves as president global development for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and will replace Margaret McKenna who served as president of the Walmart Foundation since 2007 and announced her retirement earlier this year.

Walmart has pegged its success in the United States on widening the price gap with competitors to fulfill its everyday low price value proposition, and again this week senior leaders in the stores division vowed to win on price.