Walmart

Walmart has borrowed a page from the playbook of Home Depot and Lowe’s with a new Spring seasonal promotion that leverages the equity of Black Friday.

Waban, Mass. -- Sam's Club and Amazon.com deliver the best customer experience in the retail industry, according to the 2014 Temkin Experience Ratings, an annual ranking of companies based on a study of 10,000 U.S. consumers. Sam's Club and Amazon.com continue their reign as the highest-rated retailers for the third straight year, each earning an "excellent" rating.

A study of 10,000 U.S. consumers’ attitudes about retail customer service saw Sam’s Club best Amazon.com and dozens of other retailers among a field of 268 companies.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Starting Wednesday, March 26, Wal-Mart customers will be able to trade in their video games and apply the value immediately toward the purchase of anything sold at Walmart and Sam’s Club, both in stores and online. The traded-in games will then be sent to be refurbished and made available for purchase in like-new condition at a reduced price.

The program will work as follows:

• Customers bring their working video games, in the original packaging, to the electronics department.

Walmart this week opened its first small format convenience store branded as Walmart To Go in its hometown of Bentonville.

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart is piloting a new small format convenience concept called “Walmart To Go.” The first Walmart To Go store has opened in Bentonville, Ark., location of the retailer’s corporate headquarters.

Walmart has extended an electronics trade-in program to the gaming category and will introduce the sale of refurbished games later this year in a move that could boost traffic to the entertainment department.

Bloomfield Hills, Mich. — Jimmy Johns has signed leases for three new restaurants in the Detroit metropolitan area, two in Livonia and one in Northville.

In Livonia, Jimmy Johns signed a 2,277-sq.-ft. lease on Middlebelt Road. Mid-America Real Estate-Michigan (www.midamericagrp.com) represented Jimmy Johns and the landlord, CVS, in the transaction.