Events

As Hurricane Irene raged up the East Coast over the weekend of Aug. 26-28, Apple -- like many retailers strategically positioned in the storm’s path -- turned out the lights on its New York-area stores, including all three Manhattan locations, New Jersey and Connecticut, to shield itself from Irene’s wrath.

But on the same day it temporarily shuttered its East Coast stores, Apple officially opened locations in North Carolina, Arkansas and, yes, France.

Oakland, Calif. -- Cost Plus reported Friday that its loss widened in the second quarter to $8 million, from $7 million in the year-ago period.

Sales for the quarter rose 3.2% to $197.9 million, and same-store sales increased 2.8%.

The retailer of home living and entertainment products closed five stores in the first six months of fiscal 2011, and said it expects to relocate one store in the third quarter of fiscal 2011.
 

Denver -- Junction Solutions said Thursday it will co-host three events on Sept. 8 to announce global launch of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.

Together with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Microsoft Business Solutions President Kirill Tatarinov and Nigel Montgomery, research director for Gartner Research, Junction Solutions will host half-day events in Cincinnati, St. Louis, and in Mountain View, Calif. 

Columbus, Ohio -- Big Lots reported Thursday that net income for the quarter ended July 30 declined 8% to $35.7 million, compared with $38.9 million a year earlier. The company cited same-store sales declines and a charge related to its new Canadian stores for the performance slip.

Revenue rose 3% to $1.17 billion from $1.14 billion. Same-store sales fell 1.5%.

Big Lots acquired Liquidation World in July as part of a strategy to expand into Canada.
 

Seeing as how the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks falls on the final day of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G, tournament officials faced the delicate challenge of developing a respectful way to observe the event.

What they came up with was the following: 

New York City -- A Wednesday report by Bloomberg said that Borders and Books-A-Million reached an agreement for a lease sale involved 14 Borders superstores and specialty stores for $934,209.

Citing documents filed Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, the report said the store locations include Portland, Maine; Canton, Ohio; Concord, N.H.; and Mays Landing, N.J.

The agreement is conditional on approval by the bankruptcy court by Aug. 29. A deal for Books-A-Million to buy 30 Borders locations fell through in July.

Suppliers to Walmart will have plenty of opportunities to hear from Walmart EVP merchandising Duncan Mac Naughton in the months ahead.

First up is Walmart’s annual meeting for financial analysts held each fall and slated for Oct. 11 to 12 this year. An agenda isn’t yet available, but Mac Naughton presumably will be a featured participant, or at least he should be considering Walmart’s ongoing efforts to revive U.S. sales and recent moves Mac Naughton has made to the structure and leadership of the merchandising organization.

GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn. — Dollar General and NASCAR have announced the first-ever national retail program around the Chase for NASCAR Sprint Cup. As part of the partnership, Dollar General will launch the "Race to Win" sweepstakes on Aug. 28. The sweepstakes, which runs through Nov. 12, offers customers the chance to win more than 9,000 prizes including free gas for a year, a trip to Las Vegas and $250,000.

The sweepstakes will be promoted by NASCAR superstar Dale Earnhardt Jr. in stores, online and on national radio.