Corporate Governance

New York -- New York State Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Oing on Thursday denied Macy's Inc.’s attempt to block J.C. Penney Co. from proceeding with plans to sell a number of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia home goods products in its stores.

In January, Macy’s sued Martha Stewart Living to stop it from executing a sales agreement with J.C. Penney. Macy’s claimed it had the exclusive right to sell Martha Stewart products in certain categories,  including bedding and cookware.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Walmart announced a new search engine for Walmart.com. The new engine, named Polaris, was developed by a small team within @Wamart Labs,  the research and technology hub for innovation at Walmart. It uses semantic search technology to anticipate the intent of a shopper's search to deliver highly relevant results for them.  

MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- Lowe’s Companies and the collegiate multimedia, marketing and licensing/brand management firm IMG College announced a national marketing agreement that helps the home improvement retailer reach college sports fans where dialogue is a game changer: official social media platforms.
 

New York -- Whole Foods Market is in talks to buy or take over leases for half a dozen Johnnie’s Foodmaster locations in eastern Massachusetts, the Boston Globe reported.

Whole Foods wants to move into six of the 10 Johnnie’s Foodmaster sites in Arlington, Brookline, Charlestown, Melrose, South Weymouth, and Somerville, the report said.

Whole Foods currently operates 21 stores in Massachusettes.

New York -- Macy's, Limited Brands and Gap Inc. all posted August same-store sales that topped analysts' estimates as retailers across the board generally posted strong sales, boosted by back-to-school shopping and aggressive promotions. The strong showing comes shortly after the news that consumer confidence for August slumped to its lowest level of the year.

New York -- Discounters reported strong-than-expected sales for August, fueled by back-to-school shopping, promotions and cooler weather in the Northeast.

Costco Wholesale Corp.'s same-store sales in August rose 6%, beating the 4.5% rise analysts had projected.

Target Corp. reported a 4.2% increase in same-store sales, better than the 3.1% increase that analysts had expected.

New York -- Shares of Sears Holdings were under heavy selling pressure Thursday morning, sliding 7% to $53.38 on Standard & Poor's. S&P plans to remove the chain from its S&P 500 Index because the chain’s public float has has been below the index's 50% threshold for an extended period of time.

The Sears' name, in one form or another, has been in the S&P 500 since it was created some 55 years ago. Sears will be removed from the index at the close of trading on Sept. 4. The retailer will be replaced by chemical maker LyondellBasell.

An 8% same store sales increase is atypical for a food retailer which is why The Fresh Market’s second quarter performance is so noteworthy.

SIDNEY, Neb. — Cabela’s is opening its second store in Saskatchewan, Canada in Regina. The 50,000 sq. ft. store will join the company's Saskatoon location in fall 2013 or spring 2014. With this new store, Cabela's will be in four locations in Canada.

The store is expected to employ more than 125 full-time and part-time employees, most of whom will come from Regina and the surrounding area.