Corporate Governance

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West Elm will open its first Idaho store, in downtown Boise, on Thursday, June 9.

The 14,158-sq.-ft. -store incorporated wooden “Tater Blocks” salvaged from the renovation of Simplot’s Caldwell-based potato storage facility into the store’s custom interior design. The blocks, once used as industrial flooring for potato storage facilities, have been repurposed to create a unique art installation at the new store.

The CEO of Wal-Mart Stores called on associates to reimage the chain’s future at the company’s 46th annual shareholders meeting.         “We have the opportunity to reimagine retail again,” said president and CEO Doug McMillon.  

Watch out Target — Walmart is also looking to reinvent its store experience.
 
Walmart is testing an array of new initiatives, from sleeker fixtures and signs to a cool BBQ eatery to a giant kiosk for online order pick-up — at a new store in Arkansas, according to TheStreet.
 

Signet Jewelers Ltd., whose store banners include Kay Jewelers and Zales, issued a strong rebuttal against charges that its stores swapped customers’ gems for lesser-quality stones while they were in for service.   The controversy started with an article by BuzzFeed about a Maryland woman who said her engagement ring — purchased at a Kay Jewelers store — had its diamond swapped out for a lower-quality manmade stone while in for service. The story quickly went viral on social media.   

With a couple of exceptions, May same-store sales figures reported by several major apparel, specialty and discount chains were less than impressive.

First the good news. Bath & Body Works reported a 3% same-store sales lift for May 2016 compared to the same month a year earlier. Same-store sales at Costco Wholesale Corp. and L Brands were flat, which may not sound that encouraging but was better than most other retailers reporting figures for the month.

Here is a roundup of other chains reporting negative same-store sales growth for the month.

The search capability on Amazon.com reportedly malfunctioned for several hours the morning of Thursday, June 2.

According to TechCrunch, an outage prevented users from being able to search for products or open product categories on the Amazon.com homepage. The homepage itself and product pages were not affected by the service interruption, which appeared to be resolved as of 10 a.m. EDT.
 

Specialty retailer Five Below Inc. beat Wall Street projections for earnings and same-store sales in a hot first quarter of fiscal 2016.

Net income was $6.8 million, up 58% from $4.3 million the same quarter a year earlier. Higher gross profit and lower expenses boosted profit. Net sales rose 25% to $192.7 million, from $153.7 million. And the company reported same-store sales growth of 4.9%.