Corporate Governance

Woonsocket, R.I. – CVS Caremark Inc. beat Wall Street estimates with net income of $1.2 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2014, up 11% from $1.1 billion in year-ago period. CVS cited increased generic drug dispensing rates and favorable Medicaid reimbursement from the state of California as aiding net income results.

Deerfield, Ill. – Same-store sales at Walgreen Co. rose 5.2% in July. Walgreens had July sales of $6.39 billion, an increase of 6.1% from $6.02 billion for the same month in fiscal 2013.

Total front-end sales increased 1.4% in July compared with the same month in fiscal 2013, while same-store front-end sales increased 1.1%. Same-store customer traffic decreased 2.6% while basket size increased 3.7%.

Fort Worth, Texas -- RadioShack is opening 23 new interactive remodel stores in the Washington, D.C., metro area. RadioShack began remodeling and opening highly experiential concept stores across the country in July 2013, and has refreshed its more than 4,000 U.S. company-owned stores.

Locally remodeled stores feature RadioShack's new Fix It Here service, a mobile device repair program that typically delivers same-day repair for mobile devices. Technicians will diagnose and repair the device at an in-store kiosk, often in as little as an hour.

Tamarac, Fla. – Mayors Jewelers, a brand of Birks Group Inc., will use private label credit card services from Alliance Data Systems Corp. Alliance Data is offering a customized, multi-channel credit program for the Mayors Jewelers brand, designed to help deliver incremental sales, cross-product selling and increased transaction size.

Salt Lake City - Overstock.com Inc. is launching a partnership with Give Back Box, a non-profit organization dedicated to facilitate charitable donations. Through the partnership, Overstock.com gives customers the ability to re-use the box in which their order arrived, along with Give Back Box's free shipping label, to ship used household items directly to non-profit organizations across the U.S.

Pittsburgh – In a surprise announcement, GNC Holdings Inc. said that Joe Fortunato, chairman, president and CEO of the company, is stepping down. It named Michael G. Archbold, 53, CEO and CFO of The Talbots Inc., as CEO and member of the board, effective immediately. The change comes a week after GNC announced its second disappointing quarter this year.

Scottsdale, Ariz. – On dates ranging from October 19, 2013 and April 10, 2014, hackers compromised the security of credit card processing systems at 33 locations of the P.F. Chang’s restaurant chain in Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Nevada and North Carolina, and may have stolen consumer credit card data. The U.S. Secret Service notified P.F. Chang’s of the breach on June 10, 2014 and P.F. Chang’s says it has been processing credit card numbers securely since June 11.

A city with a booming population, one of the nation’s lowest unemployment figures, and an expanding presence on the national and international stage, Houston, Texas is on this rise. Already the fourth largest city in America, Houston has been recognized in recent years as a social and economic powerhouse that deserves to be considered alongside iconic cities like New York and Chicago. Unsurprisingly, Houston’s retail development growth has been a big part of its ascendance.

Plano, Texas -- J. C. Penney Company will open its first-ever store in Brooklyn, further increasing its New York City footprint, on Aug. 29. The all-new 124,000-sq.-ft., single-level store, located in Gateway Center, will provide a look at Penney's updated store model, which includes a new footwear format.  

Office Depot softened the blow of weak second quarter sales by bumping up the pace of 400 store closings to drive greater than expected operating profit growth and expense savings related to the merger with OfficeMax.