Marketing

A 30-year veteran of REI has been named as the new CEO of Bartell Drugs.   

Washington, D.C. - As a result of higher same-store sales and a continued optimistic outlook for future business conditions, the National Restaurant Association's Restaurant Performance Index (RPI) remained in positive territory in March. The RPI, a monthly composite index that tracks the health of and outlook for the U.S. restaurant industry, stood at 102.2 in March, down 0.4% from February's level of 102.6.

With the one year anniversary of Walmart’s Saving Catcher app approaching, the executive who led its development is slated to give an update on what’s next for the price comparison app at a May 14 event in Bentonville.

Greg Chandler, senior marketing director of customer engagement at Walmart, is the featured speaker at an upcoming meeting of Doing Business in Bentonville. Chandler is scheduled to speak on the topic of “Walmart mobile retail – how Savings Catcher is changing the way Walmart things about digital retail.”

Pittsburgh – GNC Holdings Inc. demonstrated some weakness during the first quarter of fiscal 2015 with shrinking profit and revenue. Net income dropped 9% to $63.27 million from $69.9 million a year earlier, driven by rising selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses.

Net revenue fell slightly to $670.25 million from $674.46 million. Same-store sales decreased 4.1% in domestic company-owned stores (including GNC.com sales). In domestic franchise locations, same-store sales decreased 1.5%.

The cold hard winter may have been taxing for some but it was certainly profitable for Big 5 Sporting Goods Corp., which reported an increase in profit in the first quarter.

Our cover story this month is about one of my favorite topics: hot retail concepts. It’s a subject that, to my mind, never goes out of style because it speaks as much to the essence of retail in today’s omnichannel age as it did in the purely physical one.

New concepts remain the lifeblood of retailing, and it’s always exciting to recognize and call attention to them. And I’m happy to report that the industry seems to be particularly rich in new formats these days.

Every business magazine sports an “X Under 40” list celebrating precocious professionals. But, really, isn’t it almost always youthful drive and optimism that feeds the engine of progress?

The stories of Chain Store Age’s 2017 list of over-achievers under 40 abound with examples of young people from different disciplines who all discovered retail real estate as the perfect channel for their passions.

Canada represents a dynamic market for U.S. retailers looking for store expansion opportunities.