Sam's Club

A huge redevelopment in Longmont, Colo., now has big new tenant names to promote. NewMark Merrill Mountain States has just named three new anchors for the redeveloped Twin Peaks Mall: Longmont’s first Whole Foods Market; a new, state-of-the-art Regal Cinemas; and Sam’s Club. The project, which is slated to open in 2014, also unveiled its new name – Village at the Peaks.
 

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores on Thursday reported profit and sales that were just below Wall Street expectations as the giant retailer struggled with a number of issues that impacted its U.S. sales, from the payroll tax increase to an unseasonably cold spring to delayed tax returns. The discounter also scaled back its earnings expectations for the current three-month period.

Wal-Mart’s net income rose 1.1% to $3.8 billion. Revenue edged up 1%, to $113.4 billion.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Same store sales at Walmart's U.S. stores declined 1.4% in the first quarter, but the retailer forecasts comps should rebound during the second quarter. 

Sales were just below Wall Street expectations as the giant retailer struggled with a number of issues that impacted its U.S. sales, from the payroll tax increase to an unseasonably cold spring to delayed tax returns. The discounter also scaled back its earnings expectations for the current three-month period.

Bentonville, Ark. -- For the first time in the retailer’s history, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said that, through Walmart and the Walmart Foundation, it has given more than $1 billion in cash and in-kind contributions.

The Monday announcement makes Walmart the first U.S. retailer to achieve the $1 billion in giving mark, up from $872.7 million last year. The growth in global giving was largely due to increased in-kind donations in the U.S. to local food banks and families impacted by disasters.

FORT WORTH — RadioShack has named Jennifer Warren as its new SVP and CMO, and Michael DeFazio as its new SVP of store concepts. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Alliance Data Retail Services recently collaborated with Locaid, the world's largest LaaS (Location-as-a-Service) company, to run an opt-in geofence pilot program between Black Friday and New Year's Eve in 2012.

Sam’s Club this week opened a new 136,000-sq.-ft. club adjacent to a Walmart supercenter in La Marque, Texas.

The club, built in 1991, was relocated from neighboring Texas City. The communities are located along I-45 southeast of Houston en route to the coastal community of Galveston. The new club, Sam’s first of the year, is one of an expected 15 to 20 new units this year that mark Sam’s most aggressive expansion in roughly a decade. Sam’s ended last year with 620 clubs and sales of $56.4 billion.

WABAN, Mass. — Sam's Club and Amazon were among the retailers that earned top marks for customer service, according to the consulting firm Temkin Group.

According to the 2013 Temkin Experience Rankings which queried 10,000 U.S. consumers about customer service issues across 246 companies in 19 industries, Sam's Club and Amazon earned the top spots in the retail sector and RadioShack was the lowest rated retailer for the third consecutive year.