Strategy

San Mateo, Calif. -- DemandTec said Wednesday that The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. has selected DemandTec’s Deal Management software service on the network.

Syosset, N.Y. -- Win-Holt Equipment Group said Tuesday that it has acquired Commercial Stainless Fabricators located in Marietta, Ga.

The 60,000-sq.-ft. facility will join Win-Holt’s Custom Stainless Steel Fabrication operation and will be supported by existing national manufacturing facilities in Pennsylvania, Texas and California.

The Melt, a new quick-serve restaurant in San Francisco, is built around a basic but classic menu option: the grilled cheese and soup combination. But it leverages the latest technology to provide ordering convenience and innovative food preparation, delivering made-to-order grilled cheese sandwiches and soups in less than 90 seconds.

London -- Grocery giant Tesco PLC said Wednesday it is pulling out of Japan, which means shuttering 129 small, leasehold-owned stores in the Greater Tokyo area, which employ 4,000 people. The country is the smallest of Tesco’s international retail businesses, and the weakest for sales growth in the 2010-2011 fiscal year.

“Having made considerable efforts in Japan, we have concluded that we cannot build a sufficiently scalable business,” said Philip Clarke, CEO.

Greensboro, N.C. -- Specialty grocer The Fresh Market reported Wednesday that net income for the second quarter rose to $10.5 million from $6.9 million a year earlier.

Sales rose 13.6% to $259.5 million and same-store sales increased 4.6%, marking the seventh consecutive quarter of comps growth of 4% or greater.

New York City -- Grilled cheese and soup is the signature calling card at The Melt, a start-up restaurant concept debuting in San Francisco with big plans for the future. The Melt expects to have five eateries up and running in the Bay Area by yearend -- with plans to expand to over 500 locations nationally by 2015.

Nashville, Tenn. – Genesco, parent to the Journeys, Lids and Johnston & Murphy banners, reported Wednesday a loss of $392,000 for the quarter ended July 31, compared with a loss of $3.2 million in the year-ago period.

Sales rose 29% to $471 million, from $364 million. Same-store sales surged 14%, with the Lids Sports Group up 12%, the Journeys Group up 15%, the Johnston & Murphy Group up 17%, and the Underground Station Group up 10%.

The company said it is raising its fiscal 2012 guidance, based on the performance.

Target may want to rethink its space allocation for the sporting goods department in light of the success the company is having with its Fan Central initiative. Granted, Fan Central is a licensed apparel program within the sporting goods department, but EVP merchandising Kathee Tesija described the success the program is having as “remarkable” during a recap of key merchandising initiatives earlier this month in a meeting with financial analysts.

Lowe’s second-quarter financial report was a disappointment to the company’s executives, who made no excuses for the retailer’s poor showing. Earnings were down slightly, revenues grew by only 1.3%, and comp-store sales were essentially flat. “Even after taking into account the challenges of the macro-environment, we are still not pleased with our performance this year,” said chairman and CEO Robert Niblock, speaking at an analysts’ conference call on Aug. 15.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Inflationary increases, sales growth at remodeled stores and a boost from fuelperks! helped drive up Winn-Dixie's second quarter identical-store sales, while net sales dipped.

According to Winn-Dixie's chief Peter Lynch, Winn-Dixie is riding a strong headwind into fiscal 2012 powered by a number of influencers — a marketing program that better sustains margins, its loyalty program Fuelperks!, an improved stocking system and a significant focus on improving the customer experience.