Strategy

St. Petersburg, Fla. -- Publix Super Markets said Tuesday it is closing all 40 of its Little Clinics – in-store mini-clinics offering minor medical treatments – after five years in operation.

According to an item in the St. Petersburg Times, 10 of the 12 locations in the Tampa Bay area have closed, and the remainder will be closed on yet-to-be-determined dates.

Belfast, Ireland -- A report in the Belfast Telegraph Tuesday said that Wal-Mart-owned supermarket chain Asda has released plans to open its first George stores overseas as it looks to turn the fashion label into a global retail brand.

The chain has set up a team at George's Lutterworth, Leicestershire base to explore entering into franchise arrangements for the first time. According to the report, George expects to announce its first partner in the Middle East in the next few months, followed by store openings in the first half of 2012.

Dallas -- Lucernex Technologies said Tuesday that Jack in the Box has implemented Lucernex’s store lifecycle management solution to manage its real estate portfolio, which includes more than 2,200 Jack in the Box restaurants across 19 states.

According to Lucernex, by implementing the retail version of the Lx Retail product suite, Jack in the Box can streamline its process of selecting store sites, building and opening new store locations, as well as managing existing locations to avoid time delays and save costs.

Ra-anana, Israel -- Retalix announced Tuesday that PetroChina has completed a rollout of its StorePoint POS and StorePoint Fuel solutions to more than 16,000 convenience store and fuel locations across China.

The Retalix software rollout was part of a larger IT hardware and software upgrade for PetroChina, helping the retailer introduce greater automation and control over its store-level and enterprise-level operations.

Centennial, Col. -- Ikea on Tuesday officially plugged-in the solar energy system installed at its upcoming location in Centennial, Col. (the 415,000-sq.-ft. store is due to open on July 27).

The 60,000-sq.-ft. array consists of a 498-kW system, built with 2,212 panels. It will produce approximately 740,000 kWh of electricity annually, the equivalent of reducing at least 564 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), eliminating the emissions of 100 cars or powering 62 homes yearly.

New York City -- Citing a strong rebound in luxury spending, Saks reported Tuesday that net income for the quarter ended April 30 soared 51% to $28.4 million, compared with $18.8 million in the year-ago period.

Revenue rose 9% to $726 million, and CEO Stephen Sadove said that he is “increasingly optimistic about the future. With the rebound in the financial markets, the luxury sector has rebounded as well.”

The retailer reported that same-store sales surged 10.2% in the quarter.
 

Philadelphia -- Urban Outfitters reported Monday that profit for the first quarter declined more than expected, posting net income of $39 million compared with $53 million a year earlier.

However, revenue topped Wall Street's estimates, as the operator of Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People and Terrain banners saw sales rise 9% to $524 million. Same-store sales fell 5%. But direct-to-consumer (catalogs and online) same-store sales increased 15%.

Pittsburgh -- Dick's Sporting Goods reported Tuesday that net income for the first quarter rose to $37.5 million, compared with $26.2 million a year earlier.

Net sales increased 6.3% to $1.1 billion. Same-store sales rose 2.1%.

The retailer will open 34 new Dick's Sporting Goods stores in 2011, as well as remodel 14 existing locations. It also plans to open approximately three Golf Galaxy stores and relocate one Golf Galaxy store this year.

Jacksonville, Fla. -- Winn-Dixie Stores said Monday that profit for the quarter ended April 6 rose to $23.5 million, compared with $20.9 million in the year-ago period.

Revenue declined to $1.62 billion, and same-store sales slipped a half-percent.
 

Columbus, Ohio -- DSW announced Tuesday that it has Todd S. Cordell as senior VP human resources, effectively immediately.

Cordell will be responsible for all HR activities in support of DSW Stores, DSW.com, and the DSW Leased Business Division. 

Cordell was previously VP human resources for Starbucks Coffee Co.