Strategy

New Albany, Ohio -- Abercrombie & Fitch Co. reported a 88% decline in its first quarter profit, hurt in part by difficult market conditions in Europe.

For the quarter ended April 28, retailer earned $3.0 million compared with $25.1 million last year. Sales rose 10% to $921.2 million, but same-store sales were down 5%.

WASHINGTON — Tanna Dang, a boutique owner in Honolulu, Hawaii was awarded the top $25,000 prize in the National Retail Federation’s inaugural “This is Retail” video contest. Florida’s Kim Williams of The Polka Dot press came in second place and will take home $15,000 and Illinois’ Susan Kaufman will take home $10,000 for third place. Nearly 1 million votes were cast by the public through NRF’s Retail Means Jobs website to choose the contest winners.

Hingham, Mass. -- The Talbots and Sycamore Partners extended the exclusivity period for the private equity firm's non-binding $214.6 million takeover offer to May 22.

Talbots had entered into an exclusivity agreement with Sycamore on May 5, which was due to expire on May 15.

MINNEAPOLIS — The president of Shoppers Food and Pharmacy will transition to a new role, parent company Supervalu announced Tuesday.

Dallas -- Cypress Equities said it has hired Steven Hrbek as property manager for The Streets of Woodfield, located in Schaumburg, Ill.

Hrbek will be responsible for onsite management and operation of the open-air, core retail center featuring more than 700,000 sq. ft. of retail space. He was previously senior real estate manager for CB Richard Ellis in Downers Grove, Ill.
 

CINCINNATI — The International Association for Food Protection is honoring Kroger with the 2012 Black Pearl Award for advancing food safety and quality.

The  (IAFP) names one company annually for its efforts to advance food safety and quality through consumer programs, employee relations, educational activities, adherence to standards, and support of the goals and objectives of the IAFP.

Chicago -- Galleria Retail Technology Solutions said Tuesday that Lithuanian retailer Maxima Grupe will use a range of Galleria solutions to automate and optimize its merchandising strategy.

Maxima plans to implement Intelligent Store Optimization, Behavioural Cluster Planning, Customer Centric Merchandising and Galleria Foundation Services in more than 400 stores across Eastern Europe, according to Edvinas Volkas, chief food purchaser at Maxima group.

ATLANTA — Warm weather and demand for core products helped drive up sales and earnings at The Home Depot during its fiscal first quarter. The company reported sales of $17.8 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2012, a 5.9% increase from the first quarter of fiscal 2011. Comparable-store sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2012 were positive 5.8%, and comp sales for U.S. stores were positive 6.1%.