International Business

Framingham, Mass. – Staples Inc. met Wall Street expectations with declining profit in the second quarter of fiscal 2015. Costs related to restructuring and the pending acquisition of Office Depot drove net income down 56% to $36 million, from $82 million in the second quarter of the previous fiscal year.

Net sales fell 5% to $4.94 billion, from $5.22 billion. North American store closures and unfavorable foreign exchange rates pushed sales totals downward. Same-store sales in North America (including online) fell 3%.

Staples says the $6.3 billion deal to buy rival Office Depot is still on track despite the retailer’s deepening sales declines in the second quarter.

Cincinnati - The Kroger Co.is establishing two new supermarket divisions in Texas -- a Dallas division and a Houston division. Previously, both markets were served as part of Kroger's Southwest division.

Consumers may be shying away from department stores but they are still flocking to off-price retailers such as TJX, which posted impressive sales and revenue growth in the second quarter.

Los Angeles – American Apparel Inc., which warned shareholders of poor second quarter results last week, had more bad news this week. In addition to reporting growing net loss and shrinking net sales in a tough second quarter of fiscal 2015, American Apparel said it does not currently have enough cash to last the next 12 months and shareholders may lose some or all of their investment.

Kohl's Corp. is adding some labor market expertise to its board.

The retailer says Jonas Prising has been elected as a new board member, effective immediately. He has been elected to a term expiring at Kohl's 2016 annual shareholders meeting and will be eligible for re-election by Kohl's shareholders at that time. He will initially serve on the Board of Directors' Governance and Nominating Committee.

Chicago – Japanese fast-casual dining chain Jinya Ramen Bar, is using tenant representation from JLL to expand its U.S. brand. Jinya expects to add an additional nine U.S. franchise locations in key cities.

Currently, there are 14 locations throughout Japan, the U.S., Canada and Indonesia, all of which operate under Jinya brands. Senior VP Greg Ferrante and associate Arris Noble are leading the JLL team on this project.

QVC just gained some credibility among hipsters and millennials by buying a popular Internet flash sale site that caters to those younger shoppers.