Finance & Capital Management

Macy's chose Earth Day to give an update on its ongoing solar power deployments.

The retailer, in a 10-year partnership with SunPower Corp., has deployed SunPower solar systems at, or planned for, 71 Macy's and Bloomingdale's locations in 10 states, totaling approximately 39 megawatts.

Fifty SunPower systems are operating to date, and the company is contracted to install its technology at 21 additional Macy's and Bloomingdale's facilities this year.

Regardless of the final outcome of its acquisition of Office Depot, Staples just nominated three individuals to its board of directors with unique perspectives on growth.

Curtis Feeny, managing director of Voyager Capital, Deb Henretta, former group president of global e-commerce at Procter & Gamble and John Lundgren, chairman and CEO of Stanley Black & Decker, have been nominated by the Staples board of directors for election at the company’s 2016 annual meeting.

Starbucks Corp. reported profit for the second quarter that exceeded expectations, but it disappointed on sales. The chain also offered a third-quarter earnings outlook that was shy of forecasts.

For the quarter ended March 27, Starbucks reported $4.99 billion in sales, up 9% from $4.56 billion in the year-ago period. Although sales set a new record for a non-holiday quarter, they but still fell short of analyst estimates of $5.03 billion.

Net income rose 18% to $575.1 million on strong U.S. sales.

Sears Holdings announced its latest round of store closings as it continues to look for ways to cut expenses and return to profitability after five years of losses.

The embattled retailer, which has been steadily shrinking its physical portfolio over the last few years, will close 68 Kmart and 10 Sears stores this summer. (See list of locations at end of story.) In February, Sears warned it would speed up the closing of unprofitable stores.

Aeropostale Inc. preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as soon as this month, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Aeropostale has recorded three consecutive years of losses as its struggles to deal with a teen audience whose spending tastes now favor fast-fashion giants such as H&M as well as online retailers. The chain operates some 800 stores nationwide.

They say everything is bigger in Texas, and that also applies to Amazon.com’s distribution network.

The digital retailing giant plans to open a sixth Texas fulfillment center in Haslet, making it the fourth Amazon fulfillment center in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Amazon currently employs more than 8,000 full-time hourly associates at its Texas fulfillment centers and plans to create 1,000 more full-time positions in the new Haslet facility when it opens.

Wal-Mart Stores on Thursday announced changes to its board of director of directors that it said were designed to make to make it more nimble and able to respond quicker to today’s fast-changing market.

As part of the changes, four current board members — Aida Alvarez, Roger Corbett, Mike Duke and Jim Walton — will retire and not stand for re-election. In addition, the retailer is shrinking its board by three members to 12, a move that brings it more in line with the size of most U.S. corporation boards.

Under Armour continued its winning ways in the first quarter, beating sales and earnings forecast as net revenue rose 30%. The brand has had 24 consecutive quarters — six years — of sales growth of more than 20%.

Sales rose to $1.05 billion for the quarter that ended March 31, up from $805 million in the first three months of last year. The company noted that footwear sales soared more than 60% to $264 million amid the popularity of NBA superstar Stephen Curry’s signature basketball shoe line and expanded running offerings.

A well-known outdoor retailer and private equity firm may be interested in purchasing hunting and fishing chain Cabela’s.

According to Reuters, Bass Pro Shops Inc. and the private equity division of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are preparing to make a buyout offer. Cabela’s said in December it was exploring strategic alternatives that could include a sale.

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Brentwood, Tennessee-based rural lifestyle chain Tractor Supply Company saw net income, net sales and same-store sales all rise in the first quarter of fiscal 2016, compared to the prior-year period.

Net income increased 17% to $67.7 million from $58 million, despite a 10% increase in selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses to $386.2 million from $351.8 million. Higher gross profit and pretax income helped boost net income.