Corporate Governance

Bi-Lo Holdings and Harris Teeter announced plans to acquire select Piggly Wiggly-branded stores. Bi-Lo plans to acquire 22 Piggly Wiggly stores in South Carolina and coastal Georgia. Harris Teeter plans to purchase six locations and a future store location in the Charleston, S.C., area.

CVS unveiled the details of a company-wide information and outreach program to help customers navigate their insurance options under the new healthcare law during a store visit in Orlando with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

The program includes retail events and brochure displays at more than 7,500 CVS/pharmacy stores and 650 MinuteClinic locations. Information is also available online at cvs.com/insurance.

Ulta Beauty CEO Mary Dillon outlined some of the key priorities for her first 100 days at the helm of the beauty retailer, following a 24.8% boost in second quarter net sales.

Dillon, a former PepsiCo executive, joined the company as CEO on July 1. She succeeded Chuck Rubin, who left the company to become CEO at Michaels Stores. Serving as interim CEO following Rubin’s departure was Dennis Eck.

Twitter is going public and announced its intention to file for an IPO with a tweet.

“We’ve confidentially submitted an S-1 to the SEC for a planned IPO,” stated the tweet. “This Tweet does not constitute an offer of any securities for sale.”

As the winter season approaches, Burlington Coat Factory experienced overall sales growth that led to a comparative store sales increase of 7.8% for the second quarter ended Aug. 3.

Total net sales increased 11.5% to $963.7 million for the months quarter compared with last year.

“We are proud of our second quarter results including 11.5% overall sales growth and, most important, our 7.8% comparative store sales increase. I would like to thank our store and corporate teams for contributing to these results,” said Tom Kingsbury, president and CEO. 

Although retail sales in August increased, they came in at a much slower pace than anticipated, according to the National Retail Federation. Sales (excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants) increased 0.1% seasonally adjusted from last month, and increased 3.9% unadjusted year-over-year.

MINNEAPOLIS — Yoplait yogurt has unveiled new packaging design for Go-Gurt, which features prominent health labels. 

"Our consumers expressed their need for a product that doesn't contain high fructose corn syrup for their kids and we listened and acted," said Justin Conzemius, Yoplait associate marketing director. "For the past year, we have been working on a product that would achieve those goals, yet continue to deliver a product that kids found fun and delicious."

Vornado Realty Trust chairman and CEO Steven Roth has resigned from J.C. Penney’s board of directors, according to a Reuters report. 

The article went on to say that Vornado, which owns office buildings and retail properties in New York and Washington, took a 9.9% stake in Penney at the same time that Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management bought a 16.5% stake in 2010 to push for big changes at the company.

New York -- On their recent earnings (second quarter) call with analysts, Coldwater Creek CEO Jill Brown Dean and CFO/COO James Bell talked technology, specifically discussing the results of the company’s implementation of the new Oracle-based inventory planning system.

The implementation was competed in March 2013, Bell noted. He added that while the company had, in recent years, developed many inventory management disciplines, it was lacking adequate tools to fully maximize its inventory investment.       

New York -- Washington, D.C., Mayor Vincent Gray vetoed a controversial bill that would have required Wal-Mart Stores and other large retailers to pay their employees at least $12.50 an hour. The bill applied only to retailers with stores of 75,000 sq. ft. or larger, at least $1 billion in annual sales and non-unionized workforces.