Strategy

New York City -- OSI Restaurant Partners LLC, operators of Bonefish Grill and Outback Steakhouse as well as several other restaurant chains, told securities analysts that it planned to remodel as many as 150 Outback Steakhouse units and focus of expanding its Bonefish Grill brand this year.

OSI operates or franchises 968 Outback Steakhouses, 152 Bonefish Grills, 233 Carrabba’s Italian Grills, 64 Fleming’s units and 22 Roy’s locations.

NEW YORK -- Walmart, Target, The Home Depot, Best Buy and CVS took top honors in Interbrand’s annual ranking of the 50 most valuable U.S. retail brands. The U.S. brands are valued in collaboration with Interbrand Design Forum, the retail experience group within Interbrand.

New York City -- Macy’s is undertaking a multi-million dollar remodel of its store in Chicago’s Water Tower Place, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The eight-floor, 227,000-sq.-ft. department store was last renovated in 1996, when it operated as Marshall Field’s. It became Macy’s in 2006.

The new décor will include a white ceramic floor, brighter lights and silver accents, the report said. The store’s first three levels will receive the lion’s share of the updates.

Walmart’s past and future collided this week in a stark juxtaposition of events. While the company’s lawyers were engaged in oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court stemming from events in the past, senior executive of the international division were gathered with financial analysts in a hotel ballroom in Shenzhen, China to discuss the future.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Ebay announced that it has added a new feature to Ebay.com that will allow shoppers to check product and merchandise availability at local retailers. The feature is made possible through Ebay's partnership with Milo, the leading local shopping engine that Ebay acquired last year.

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- Staples announced that it has formed a new strategic alliance with one of the leading Swiss office products companies, Büro Schoch Direct AG. Within Switzerland, Staples and Büro Schoch Direct will work together exclusively on international accounts and collaborate to exchange best practices, the company reported.

Los Angeles -- Sony Electronics will unveil its newly branded Sony store on Friday, in Westfield Century City, Los Angeles. The 4,200-sq.-ft. store is designed to allow consumers to explore the complete Sony experience, including electronics, games, movies, music, network services and future technologies.

When Walmart executives speak about prices, inflation or the nation’s economic condition their comments create quite a stir, and that’s what we saw again this week when Bill Simon spoke to USA Today.