Strategy

Atlanta -- Sandwich operator Arby's Restaurant Group recorded systemwide same-store sales growth in first quarter 9.8%, marking 18 consecutive quarters of comp growth and indicating progress toward the quick-serve chain’s goal to surpass $4 billion in system-wide total sales by the end of 2018.
 

El Segundo, Calif. – Big 5 Sporting Goods Corp. kicked off fiscal 2015 with a strong performance in the first quarter. Net income grew 6% year-over-year to $2.3 million from $2.1 million, and would have grown more if not for increased expenses relating to wages and benefits, new stores, and a legal settlement.

Big 5 plans to open approximately 10 net new stores in fiscal 2015, including three in the second quarter.

Net sales climbed 5% to $243.6 million from $231.3 million, aided by a 3.9% increase in same-store sales.

Minneapolis – Doug Baker, CEO of environmental technology firm Ecolab, has been named by Target Corp. as lead independent director of the Target board. Baker, who already serves as an independent director for Target, will replace current independent director Jim Johnson, who is retiring from the board in June after almost 20 years.

Foot Locker has signed a lease for a redesigned flagship store in the heart of Manhattan’s 34th Street corridor.

The new Foot Locker store will be located directly opposite Macy's world flagship store, at the intersection of Broadway, Avenue of the Americas and West 34th Street, where an estimated 100 million pedestrians pass by annually. Foot Locker will consolidate from three floors into 34,200 square feet on a portion of the ground floor and the entire second floor.

Plano, Texas -- J.C. Penney Company has named consumer marketing executive and board member Mary Beth West as executive VP and chief customer and marketing officer, effective June 1. She replaces Debra Berman, who resigned as CMO after less than two years with the retailer.  West will be stepping down from the board to assume the new role.

Toano, Va. -- Lumber Liquidators Holdings reported a first-quarter loss of $7.8 million, swinging from a profit of $13.7 million in the year-ago period and missing Wall Street expectations. Revenue of $260 million in the period met analysts’ forecasts.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon was in Beijing on Wednesday, where he put a finer point on a previously announced international expansion plan that will include a blend of 115 new stores, remodels and select closures in the world’s second largest economy.

McMillon and Walmart Asia CEO Scott Price participated in a press conference in Beijing, where the emphasis was on the retailer’s physical expansion in a market where overall economic rates of growth have been decelerating with little mention of e-commerce.

Wellesley, Mass. - Regional grocery chain has opened its flagship Downtown Crossing Boston supermarket in the newly restored Burnham Building. Roche Bros. is the first large-scale grocery store to be built in Boston's Downtown Crossing.