Walmart

Miller Zell, a retail design and implementation firm headquartered in Atlanta, is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Harmon B. “Sandy” Miller founded Miller Zell in 1964 as a printing firm focused on point-of-sale promotions and fulfillment. As the retail landscape changed, Miller Zell evolved to offer comprehensive store design services aimed at improving the customer experience, while controlling implementation costs and creating greater efficiency throughout the production, storage and installation process.
 

Walmart’s health and wellness president John Agwunobi shared wide-ranging thoughts earlier this week regarding the state of health care in America and ways in which the evolving marketplace is impacting Walmart customers.
 

Washington, D.C. -- Wal-Mart Stores announced that it has created a $10 million fund to support manufacturing in the United States. In a joint announcement, Kent International, a New Jersey-based bicycle maker and one of the chain’s suppliers, said  that it will move its production from overseas to Clarendon, S.C.

Walmart U.S. President and CEO Bill Simon joined 280 of the nation's mayors in Washington, D.C., at the U.S. Conference of Mayors Meeting to announce a new fund for innovation in American manufacturing and a new supplier commitment to bring production of bikes and jobs to South Carolina.

The Walmart Foundation’s Colorado State Giving Program has awarded $321,000 to eight Colorado nonprofits that are helping to fund local programs to improve education, women’s economic empowerment, healthy eating and fighting hunger.

The organizations include We Don’t Waste, Lapuente Home, Care and Share, Kids Aid, Project Angel Heart, Women’s Resource Agency, Broadway Assistance Center and Discover Goodwill of Southern and Western Colorado.

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart Stores has reportedly registered a new company called “Wal-Mart India Private Ltd.” in India, setting the stage for entering the Indian grocery market with a new local partner. According to the Free Press Journal, an Indian publication, Wal-Mart registered the company on Jan. 15, 2014 with the Indian Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

A 20,000-sq.-ft. store called TargetExpress is set to become the newest addition to the retailer’s portfolio of formats when it opens this July in downtown Minneapolis.

In an interview with The New York Times, Target EVP for property development John Griffith said Target signed a lease last week for a space on the ground floor of an apartment building called the Marshall which is under construction near the University of Minnesota campus. The store is scheduled to open July 27.

As the holiday dust clears and we settle into a new year, it’s only fitting that retailers take a moment to reflect on successes of 2013 and identify opportunities for 2014. How can we be more efficient this year? Can we waste less while producing more? Where can we make simple adjustments that add up to big bottom line savings?