Corporate Governance

MINNEAPOLIS — Supervalu has named Kathy Persian as SVP and chief information officer. Persian joined the company in February 2010 in the role of group VP retail and merchandising systems, and later moved to group VP corporate planning, analysis and business process. Persian was named to the CIO post following the decision by Wayne Shurts to accept a position with another company. Shurts joined Supervalu in April 2010.

UNION, N.J. — Bed Bath and Beyond's earnings per diluted share for its second quarter rose 5.4% from 98 cents ($224.3 million) from 93 cents ($229.4 million) last year.

The company reported net sales of approximately $2.6 billion, an increase of approximately 12.1% from net sales of approximately $2.3 billion reported in the fiscal second quarter of 2011.  Comparable-store sales in the fiscal second quarter of 2012 increased by approximately 3.5%, compared with an increase of approximately 5.6% in last year's fiscal second quarter.  

Camp Hill, Pa. — Rite Aid narrowed its second-quarter loss to $41.4 million in the second quarter from a $94.7 million loss in the year-ago period.

Revenue slipped to $6.23 billion from $6.27 billion last year, missing Wall Street’s projected $6.25 billion in sales. Same-store sales were essentially flat for the quarter.

BALTIMORE — Sprout Foods is adding new toddler puree snacks to its portfolio and also will introduce more convenient product packaging, the company announced at the Natural Products Expo East in Baltimore.

QUINCY, Mass. — Stop & Shop customers and associates helped abate hunger by donating nearly $400,000 through the company’s first ever Healthy Ideas Food for Friends program. As part of the company’s hunger relief efforts, Stop & Shop will donate 100% of the funds to regional hunger relief agencies across the Northeast.

Talk about an uphill battle. Walmart is trying to educate shoppers about eating healthy on a limited budget and the importance of understanding unit prices when evaluating purchase decisions.

Widespread media reports have Walmart discontinuing the sale of Amazon’s popular Kindle devices, which begs the questions what took so long and will we ever see a Walmart tablet.

Walmart’s decision to begin selling the Kindle was one of the more wrong-headed moves the company has ever made. A Kindle is Amazon’s version of a Gillette razor, essentially a device that provides consumers a portal to purchase Amazon’s other inventory, or in Gillette’s case, more blades. Target wisely gave Kindle the boot earlier this year.

Arlington, Va. -- Retailers are up in arms over the proposed settlement filed in July of antitrust lawsuits filed by merchants against Visa, MasterCard and the nation's largest banks. A total of nine associations representing a broad swath of the retail industry expressed their reservations to members of Congress on Thursday, charging that their interests were not represented and asking Congress to reject that settlement.

Richmond, Va. -- An annual seasonal hiring survey released Thursday by Snagajob indicates that more holiday jobs will be available this year than have been expected in any previous season in the study’s five-year history.  


The survey of more than 1,000 hourly hiring managers with responsibility for seasonal hiring, conducted by IPSOS Public Affairs for Snagajob, included the following highlights:

Loveland, Colo. -- Bass Pro Shops has signed a letter of intent with Loveland, Colo.-based shopping center developer McWhinney to anchor a new northern Colorado development at Centerra.

The approximately 117,000-sq.-ft. Bass Pro Shops is intended to draw shoppers from Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, and beyond.

“We are very excited to bring Bass Pro Shops to Loveland and be part of the Centerra development,” said Johnny Morris, founder and CEO, Bass Pro Shops.