Strategy

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway Inc. reported net income of $145.8 million, or 41 cents per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2011 compared with $141.3 million, or 37 cents per diluted share for the second quarter of 2010.

The company reported that total sales increased 7.1% to $10.2 billion in the second quarter of 2011 from $9.5 billion in the second quarter of 2010. Identical-store sales, excluding fuel saw a 0.5% increase.

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.

MATTHEWS, N.C. — Family Dollar Stores announced that it has named Christopher Nielsen to the position of VP loss prevention. Nielsen will report to Bryan Venberg, SVP human resources.

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.

WASHINGTON — NRF reported that total back-to-school spending on grades K to 12 is expected to reach $22.8 billion. According to NRF’s 2011 Back-to-School survey conducted by BIGresearch, families with children in grades K to 12 will spend an average of $603.63 on apparel, school supplies and electronics, within a few dollars of last year’s $606.40 average. 

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.

Naperville Ill. -- OfficeMax announced Thursday that Steve Parsons has been named executive VP and chief human resources officer for the office supply chain, effective July 25.

Parsons will report to Ravi Saligram, president and CEO, and will be responsible for all aspects of global human resources for the company, including talent management, compensation and benefits, training, leadership development, recruitment, diversity, and internal and corporate communications.

Most recently, Parsons was senior VP human resources at Rite Aid Corp.

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