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Trading Partners

  • NRF: Swipe fees haven't dropped enough

    WASHINGTON — The National Retail Federation is responding to a report from the Federal Reserve, which revealed that debit card swipe fees collected by the nation's largest banks have significantly dropped since reform regulations took effect last fall.

  • Loblaw Q1 profit falls 22%

    Brampton, Ontario -- Canadian grocery chain Loblaw Cos. reported Wednesday that net income for the first quarter plummeted 22% to $128 million, compared with $156 million in the year-ago period. The country’s largest food retailer was squeezed by higher costs and heightened competition as Wal-Mart Stores continues its march into Loblaw territories.

    Revenues for the quarter edged up .9% to $7.02 billion. Same-store sales dipped 0.7%.

  • Ascena gains access to plus-size market with Charming Shoppes buy

    SUFFERN, N.Y. — The Ascena Retail Group will acquire Charming Shoppes Inc., parent company of Lane Bryant, for about $890 million.

    The move gives Ascena -- which owns the Dressbarn, Maurices and Justice chains -- entry to the steadily-growing large-size women's clothing market. In addition to Lane Bryant, Charming Shoppes also owns the Fashion Bug and Catherines Plus Sizes banners. It operates more than 1,800 stores nationwide. In 2011, nearly 85% of Charming Shoppes’ sales involved plus-sized apparel.

  • Target kisses Kindle goodbye, but could gain sales in the process

    Retailers are in business to sell products customers want, except when they’re not, which appears to be the case with the retailer’s decision to stop selling Amazon.com’s hugely popular Kindle devices.

  • Federal Realty Celebrates a Half-Century in Retail

    As one of the oldest REITs in existence today, Federal Realty Investment Trust has every right to send up some fireworks over reaching the 50-year mark this year.

    The Rockville, Md.-based real estate company was established in 1962 with three properties in the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area, including Congressional Plaza (shown here, both then and now). Today, Federal Realty’s portfolio comprises about 19.3 million sq. ft. primarily in its core base of the northeastern and Mid-Atlantic U.S., as well as in California.

  • FMI forms partnership with TopSource to provide procurement solutions

    Dallas -- The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) announced that it has entered into a strategic business partnership with TopSource LLC, a sourcing company and wholly owned subsidiary of Topco Associates LLC. FMI said the partnership will provide its members the opportunity to support the foundations of their growing businesses with significant savings related to costs in not-for-resale areas.

  • J.D. Power survey: Ace Hardware tops in customer satisfaction for sixth consecutive year

    Oak Brook, Ill. -- Ace Hardware ranked highest in customer satisfaction in the J.D. Power and Associates 2012 U.S. Home Improvement Retailer Store Satisfaction Study. Ace has taken the top spot ever since J.D. Powers began researching the home improvement category six years ago.

  • Online disadvantage is $23 billion and expanding

    Following up on last week’s article (One area where Amazon.com doesn’t have an advantage), the extent of that advantage in the U.S. was on display in the nation’s capitol this week.

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