Trading Partners

Grand Rapids, Mich. -- Spartan Stores and Nash Finch Company on Monday announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Spartan Stores and Nash Finch will combine in an all-stock merger valued at approximately $1.3 billion, including existing net debt at each company.

Nash Finch, which had revenues of about $4.8 billion last year, will become a subsidiary of Spartan Stores, which had revenues of $2.6 billion.

New York -- Starwood Capital Group LLC, the investment firm headed by real estate developer Barry Sternlicht, has joined the bidding for Saks Inc., according to a report by the New York Post. Starwood Capital invests in retail, office and residential real estate.

The bid by Starwood is worth about $2.5 billion, or $17-$18 per share, according to the report. The amount is roughly equal to a previously existing bid from Canadian retail conglomerate Hudson’s Bay, which also owns the Lord & Taylor department store chain.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The competitive prospects of Spartan Stores and Nash Finch improved considerably on Monday when the two companies agreed to merge and create an enterprise with 177 stores, 22 distribution centers and annual sales of roughly $7.5 billion.

Toronto – Shoppers Drug Mart enjoyed a successful second quarter of fiscal 2013, reporting increases in net earnings, sales and same-store sales. Net earnings totaled up $141.8 million USD, up about 1% from $139.9 million in the same quarter a year earlier. Sales were about $2.45 billion, a 3.3% boost from the previous year. Same-store sales rose 2% during the quarter.

ELK GROVE VILLAGE, Ill. — Topco Associates has appointed Danell O’Neill as the company's director of corporate communications. She will report directly to president and CEO Randy Skoda.

Product safety data sheets don’t get a lot of love in the retail industry, but major changes are underway that will make this formerly mundane document the cornerstone of numerous best practices.

Cleveland – The Sherwin-Williams Company reported increases in net sales, diluted income per share and same-store sales during second quarter fiscal 2013. Consolidated net sales increased 5.5% to a record $2.71 billion in the quarter, up from roughly $2.6 billion the previous year. The company credited acquisitions, with some offsetting negative impact from unfavorable currency translation rates, for the net sales boost.

CORNING, N.Y. — Procter & Gamble group president of global beauty Deborah Henretta has been appointed to Corning's board of directors.

Henretta will also serve on the board's audit and finance committees. She will hold office until Corning`s annual meeting of shareholders in the spring of 2014, at which time she will stand for election to a one-year term. Her appointment brings to 13 the number of directors in the specialty glass and ceramics provider’s board.

FORT WORTH, Texas — RadioShack has unveiled its first branded section of a college bookstore at the University Co-op at the University of Texas at Austin, as part of the retailer’s five-year agreement with NACSCORP, which sports the retailer's new logo.

Oak Brook, Ill. – McDonald’s has signed a contract with Vietnamese businessman Henry Nguyen to serve as a developmental licensee for the company in Vietnam.

Nguyen, founder of Good Day Hospitality and managing partner of IDG Ventures Vietnam as well as a former part-time McDonald’s store employee in the U.S., is expected to open Vietnam’s first McDonald’s restaurant in Ho Chi Min City in early 2014.