Sustainability

Miami -- Walmart Latin America CEO Eduardo Solorzano said Thursday in a speech that Walmart is using the company's expertise in sustainability as a means for profitable growth. 

Slowly but surely the headwinds Walmart has faced for years in its domestic expansion efforts have begun to diminish to the point where major victories are now being scored. Two examples stood out this week on opposite sides of the country. The highest profile of these is the situation in New York where it may not seem like Walmart won a victory this week, but it did. Walmart’s entry into the city has been the subject of considerable and heated debate for at least five years, but the situation has come to head in recent months.

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. -- Whirlpool Corporation announced fourth-quarter net earnings of $171 million, or $2.19 per diluted share, compared with $95 million, or $1.24 per diluted share reported during the same period last year.  Fourth-quarter adjusted diluted earnings per share totaled $2.11 compared with $1.67 in the prior year.  Sales of $5 billion increased 4% from the fourth quarter of 2009.

Fourth-quarter operating profit totaled $202 million compared with $199 million in the prior year.  

BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Walmart announced that the Walmart Foundation committing more than $750,000 in cash and in-kind donations to support emergency relief efforts in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where an estimated 827 people have been killed and thousands have been left homeless following torrential rains and mudslides. A $400,000 donation from the Walmart Foundation will help purchase critical supplies like water, food, medical supplies and long-term relief efforts.

New York City -- Tesco PLC will install touch-screen energy display boards in 500 locations across the United Kingdom. The screens, which will be located in staff areas, will display which areas of the store are consuming the most energy. The hope is that the associates will respond and adjust energy usage as needed throughout the day.

Corpus Christi, Texas -- La Palmera shopping center, located in Corpus Christi, Texas, said it has launched a new smart phone application designed for all smart phone platforms, including Android, Blackberry and iPhone.

The new app, in development since September 2010, officially launched with a La Palmera Facebook posting to its 6,600 fans.

New York City -- Hannaford Supermarket’s store in Duanesburg, N.Y., was awarded LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification by the United States Green Building Council.

Among the supermarket’s environmentally friendly features are seafood display cases that do not use ice, an energy-saving advanced refrigeration system, water-conserving restroom fixtures, high-efficiency lighting and solar-reflective roofing materials. 

The only other LEED-certified Hannaford store is in Augusta, Maine.

NEW YORK — At a press event in New York on Wednesday, Pacific World and Walmart officially took the wraps off a new eco-friendly beauty line for tweens, aptly named GeoGirl.

The line, which has a suggested retail price between $3.98 and $5.98, is launching exclusively at about 1,250 Walmart stores and on Walmart.com beginning in March. The 69-SKU collection includes makeup for face, lips, cheeks and eyes, as well as skin and body care. A GeoGirl website is slated to launch Feb. 24.