Strategy

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens is positioning itself to be the largest retail host of electric vehicle charging stations, the drug store chain announced Thursday.

To plug the widening book seller gap, who are you going to call?  Chain Store Age columnist Jeff Green offers a few ideas of his own for filling the category chasm created by Borders' liquidation and Barnes & Noble contractions. 

Check out Jeff's newest column, "Turning the Page on Bookstores," on our real estate community site, under Retail Rap with Jeff Green, chainstoreage.com/community.

New York City -- Victorinox Swiss Army said Thursday it will open five stores in 2011, the first of which opened July 1 in The Westchester in White Plains, NY.

According to Joachim Beer, president of global fashion and retail for the chain, future store openings include Boston, Short Hills, N.J., and Los Angeles, all slated to open prior to year end.

New York City -- A Bloomberg report on Thursday said that consumer confidence stagnated last week, as the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index was minus 43.3 in the period to July 17, the highest since April, compared with minus 43.9 the prior week.

The monthly gauge of the economic outlook improved from a two-year low, according to the report.

Cleveland -- Sherwin Williams Co. reported Thursday that profit for the second quarter fell 1% to $179.1 million, compared with $181.7 million in the year-ago period.

The paint company cited higher raw material costs and increased expenses for the performance slip.

Revenue rose 10% to $2.35 billion from $2.14 billion, missing Wall Street expectations of $2.41 billion. Same-store sales increased 4%.
 

Mexico City, Mexico -- DemandTec said Thursday that Latin America’s largest drugstore retailer Farmacias Ahumada S.A. (FASA) has extended its agreement to use DemandTec’s advanced pricing analytics to drive profit and customer loyalty.

New York City -- McDonald’s Corp. plans to build the largest restaurant in its system as part of its role as official restaurant of the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The chain has been an Olympics sponsor since 1976.

Speaking in a global webcast on July 20, McDonald's UK CEO Jill McDonald said the planned restaurant will span 32,290 sq.-ft. over two levels, and will have a kitchen four times standard size to accommodate the crowds. The chain says it expects to serve 1.75 million meals during the games, which run from July 27 to Aug. 12, 2012.

Pleasanton, Calif. -- Safeway reported Thursday that net income for the second quarter rose to $145.8 million from $141.3 million in the year-ago period, helped by rising prices and gas sales.

Total sales increased 7.1% to $10.2 billion from $9.5 billion.

Deerfield, Ill. -- Walgreens said Thursday it plans to offer electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at approximately 800 locations across the country by the end of 2011, which would make the drugstore chain the country’s largest retail host.

The charging stations will feature either a high-speed direct current charger that can add 30 miles of range in as little as 10 minutes of charging time, or a Level 2 charger that can add up to 25 miles of range per hour of charge.

New York City -- Wal-Mart Stores said its Walmart and Sam's Club divisions will now report their U.S. sales data to Nielsen Holdings, which will become the retailer's primary provider for market information, tools and training, the companies said in a joint announcement on Thursday.

Nielsen gathers and analyzes sales information from a variety of U.S. chain stores, giving manufacturers, Wall Street analysts and others a glimpse at how products are selling.