Sustainability

Lowe's is renewing its partnership with Habitat for Humanity International. A new five-year, $23.5 million donation will bring Lowe's total contributions to more than $63 million since 2003 and is the company’s largest corporate donation to date.

Along with the funding, Lowe's pledged the continued support of Lowe's Heroes employee volunteers. In the past decade, Lowe's employees have donated thousands of volunteer hours in support of Habitat's work.

The Coca-Cola Company EVP and CFO Gary P. Fayard plans to retire in May, after 20 years of service with the company. Filling the role will be Kathy N. Waller. She will be elected CFO at the company’s April board meeting.

New York -- Walgreens will provide a first-hand look at its net zero-energy store during Chain Store Age’s 50th annual SPECS Conference, which will be held March 9 -12, in Grapevine, Texas.  

By Jason Roeder,  PowerhouseDynamics

As weather patterns and energy costs become less predictable, the need to maximize savings, gain control and monitor energy usage with minimum staff effort moves from the “nice-to-have” to “must-have list.”

Sidney, Neb. -- Richard N. Cabela, co-founder and chairman emeritus of the $3.6 billion, outdoor outfitters chain, Cabela’s Inc., died Monday at his home in Sidney, Neb. No cause was given. He was 77.  

Cabela served as chairman of the board until June 2013, when he transitioned to chairman emeritus and his brother, Jim Cabela, became chairman.

Health and beauty pioneer Horst Rechelbacher died at his home in Osceola, Wis., at the age of 72 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

By Richard P. Fennelly

It’s a well-known industry fact that refrigeration and freezer appliances, which are no longer exclusive to supermarkets, are major electricity “hogs” in retail stores.  

New York -- President Barack Obama visited Safeway Inc.’s distribution center in Upper Marlboro, Md., where he spotlighted the chain’s efforts to improve truck efficiency and called for new fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas standards for medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks by March 2016. The new standards will mean “thousands of dollars in savings every year” for truck operators, Obama said.