Corporate Governance

New York City -- Apple will open a store in Manhattan’s Grand Central Terminal on Dec. 9.

The store will have regular hours starting at 7 a.m. Monday through Friday, accommodating commuters. It will open later on weekends.

New York City -- Roundy's Supermarkets Inc., which operates 158 supermarkets under several banners in three states, expects to raise $230 million through an initial public stock offering.

The Milwaukee-based Roundy's is currently owned by Chicago private equity firm Willis Stein & Partners. The number of shares to be offered and the price have not yet been determined.

Seattle -- The combined store count of the four national dollar store (or extreme value) chains — Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar and 99 Cents Only — has now surpassed that of the three biggest national drugstore chains (Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid), according to a new report  by Colliers International, the third-largest commercial real estate services company in the world.

Deerfield, Ill. -- Walgreens reported that for November same-store sales rose 1.8% while total sales climbed 4.2% to $6.09 billion, from $5.84 billion in the year-ago period.

Comparable pharmacy sales rose 1.2%, while total pharmacy sales rose 3.4%.

Total sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2012, which ended Nov. 30, were $18.16 billion, up 4.7% from $17.34 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2011. Same-store sales increased 2.5%, while front-end comp-sales for the quarter also increased 2.5%.
 

Framingham, Mass. -- Staples announced the appointment of Cynthia Pevehouse to senior VP general counsel, effective Jan. 3, 2012. She will have global management responsibility for the company’s legal team and report to Ron Sargent, Staples’ chairman and chief executive.

Pevehouse joins Staples from international law firm Steptoe & Johnson LLP.
 

Goodlettsville, Tenn. -- Dollar General Corp. reported that its fiscal third-quarter net rose 34% to $171.2 million on higher sales. The results beat Wall Street expectations and the discounter boosted its full-year earnings guidance

Revenue for the quarter ended Oct. 28, 2011, increased 12% to $3.6 billion from $3.22 billion, topping Wall Street's estimate. Same-store sales rose 6.3% as customer traffic improved and the average transaction amount rose.

Hingham, Mass. -- It’s official: Talbots Inc. is seeking a new CEO as it works to turn around its struggling business. The retailer said Monday that president and CEO Trudy Sullivan plans to retire as soon as a successor is named.

The company said it has created a search committee of independent board members and hired executive search firm Spencer Stuart to assist in its search.

By Selena Linde and Michael Sharkey

Pam Kohn and Cameron Geiger are the headliners at this year’s annual luncheon for the Northwest Arkansas chapter of the Retail Link Users Group also known as the nwaRLUG.

Organizers of the event expect upward of 800 people will attend the 13th annual affair, which couldn’t take place at a more opportune time considering the heightened emphasis Walmart has placed on store level execution and on-shelf availability as the only metric that matters when it comes to assessing in-stock.

As retailers assess what worked and what didn’t in terms of Black Friday promotions and Thanksgiving weekend sales, overall there are a few things that stand out.