Corporate Governance

Minneapolis -- Caribou Coffee Co. announced it will be expanding its retail and commercial footprint in the Chicagoland area by teaming up with supermarket operator Jewel-Osco, which is part of the Supervalu company.

Caribou Coffee opened its first retail location within Jewel-Osco's Barrington store last week, with plans to introduce two additional coffeehouses in the grocery's Hoffman Estates and Countryside locations in the near future, as well as five additional coffeehouses within Jewel-Osco in 2013.

Dallas -- 7-Eleven announced today that it has closed a deal to acquire 74 operating convenience stores and two land parcels from Prima Marketing LLC, a 7-Eleven licensee with stores in West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Kentucky. The bulk of the stores being purchased are in West Virginia.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Brisbane, Calif. -- Women's apparel retailer Bebe stores Inc. said Emilia Fabricant, president, has resigned from the company for personal reasons.

Her duties have been taken over by chairman and CEO Manny Mashouf and Renee Bell, the company's head of merchandising. Fabricant joined the company in August 2010.

The company runs 246 stores under the Bebe and 2b Bebe names.
 

Mooresville, N.C. -- Lowe's Cos. Inc. on Monday reported lower-than-expected second quarter results, with its results hurt by a timing shift and a charge tied to job cuts. The chain also lowered its fiscal 2012 earnings and revenue outlooks.

Lowe’s earned $747 million for the period ended Aug. 3, down from $830 million in the year-ago period. Sales fell 2% to $14.25 billion. Same-store sales fell 0.4% and dipped 0.2% at U.S. locations.

The company noted that fiscal 2012 has one less week than last year.

Minneapolis -- Best Buy Co. has named Hubert Joly, the former chief executive of global hospitality company Carlson, as the chain's new CEO and president. Carlson, which operates such businesses as Radisson and T.G.I Friday's, announced Sunday that Joly resigned from that company.

WILLMAR, Minn. — Jennie-O Turkey Store has launched its new  and improved turkey bacon. Now available in stores, the product offers delicious bacon flavor and crisp texture, but with significantly less sodium and fat than pork bacon,according to the company.  

It may be the right thing to do long-term, but Walmart’s plans to slow growth in China, Mexico and Brazil didn’t sit well with investors this week.

The revelation that Walmart would add between 21 and 23 million square feet of space versus the previously planned addition of 30 to 33 million square feet will result in Walmart International spending between $4.6 billion and $5 billion compared to a previously budgeted amount of $5 billion to $5.5 billion.

Same-stores sales increased 4.2%, total sales increased 4.6% to $12.5 billion and operating profits advanced 10.1% to $536 million.

Impressive is how Sam’s Club president and CEO Rosalind Brewer characterized the warehouse club operator’s performance during the second quarter.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Hibbett Sports raised its outlook and remains confident in its strategy after reporting a near 43% spike in earnings per diluted share.

The company reported an impressive 42.9% growth in second-quarter earnings per diluted share to 30 cents from 21 cents for the same period last year. Net income increased 32.9% to $7.9 million from $5.9 million in the comparable-year period.

Merchant Customer Exchange is the name of a new mobile payments group in which Walmart and other leading retailers are involved.

Expectations are high that mobile payments represent the future of commerce and group of leading retailers this week formed a new organization to offer an alternative way to pay.

The group is called the Merchant Customer Exchange and currently consists of 14 retailers. Plans call for development of a payment application available for smartphones that offers secure technology to process transaction.