Walmart

The nation’s two largest office-supply chains have pulled the plug on their $6.3 billion merger.

Wal-Mart Stores filed a lawsuit against Visa Inc., saying the payments network wants it to verify transactions made with debit cards with signatures rather than the chip-and-PIN protocol, Bloomberg reported.

Wal-Mart Stores filed a lawsuit against Visa Inc., saying the payments network wants it to verify transactions made with debit cards with signatures rather than the chip-and-PIN protocol, Bloomberg reported.  

Both Walmart Canada and Loblaw companies sent financial aid to support the relief efforts in the Fort McMurray community. According to reports published Friday morning, fires in the province of Alberta have to date forced the evacution of 88,000 residents and destroyed more than 1,600 structures.

The employees who once greeted shoppers with a friendly “Welcome to Walmart” are making a comeback.

Walmart is reviving and updating its door-greeter program in an effort to improve customer service and also deter shoplifting.

The greeters were the invention of company founder Sam Walton, who saw them as a way to put a friendly face on the chain’s large stores. But in recent years, most of the employees who served as greeters were moved to other parts of the store.

Amazon.com is making its Prime Now on-demand delivery service more accessible, but is not adding new markets.

Following several weeks of media speculation, Amazon has made the formerly smartphone app-only Prime Now available as a page on its e-commerce site. Members of the paid Amazon Prime loyalty program in one of the 27 metro areas where Prime Now is available can place orders for one- or two-hour delivery.

Wal-Mart and other retailers who operate stores in Canada’s Quebec province are going to have make some changes to their store signage.

The Quebec government plans to modify the language laws of the province, where French is the predominant language, to add French to their exterior signage. Companies, however, will not have to change their trademarks.

Haverty Furniture Company has been around since the late 19th century, but the specialty furniture retailer has a decidedly 21st-century approach to energy management.

“We want Havertys to be the company everyone wants to come work for,” said Rawson Haverty Jr., senior VP real estate and development, Havertys, during a session at Chain Store Age’s SPECS 2016 Conference, March 13-15, in Dallas.

Environmental stewardship, and thus energy conservation, is on the Atlanta-based furniture retailer’s list of 10 core values, Haverty explained.

Amazon.com Inc. swung from loss to profit and significantly boosted net sales during a first quarter that topped analysts expectations.

The world’s largest online retailer reported better-than-expected net income of $513 million, compared to a net loss of $57 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2015.

Chicago is one of the nation’s leading retail markets and a new report from Mid-America Real Estate details the area’s evolving growth patterns, retailers driving development and hot properties.