Walmart

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is reportedly seeking to keep files regarding an internal probe of possible bribes paid to Mexican officials to aid real estate deals out of the hands of investors. According to Bloomberg, Wal-Mart is arguing in a case before the Delaware Supreme Court that the files in question are protected by attorney-client privilege.

Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania — Wolfson Group will launch a redevelopment of Hilltown Crossings, a community shopping center with a gross leasable area of 354,458 sq. ft., located on Route 309 at Orvilla Road in Hatfield, Pennsylvania.

ECRM compared retail circular advertising in June 2013 versus June 2014 and noted trends occurring across top retail chains. Both Walmart and Toys “R” Us experienced some extreme shifts versus last year. Toys “R” Us did not run any circulars during the month of June, down from two last year. Instead, it ran only web and email promotions. The inverse occurred in January, when it ran no print ads in 2013 and only a single short circular in 2014.

Having passed the calendar’s mid-point, we thought it would be interesting to take a look at the most viewed stories of the year to date on Chainstoreage.com.

Mumbai, India – In a move that may have implications for Wal-Mart, French retailer Carrefour S.A. will reportedly shutter its five Indian wholesale stores by the end of September 2014. According to Reuters, Carrefour is in advanced talks to sell its Indian assets to an unspecified buyer.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. - Sears and Kmart will allow pick up of Sears.com or Kmart.com orders at any of each other's more than 2,000 U.S. stores. Customers will be able to select free store pickup and a preferred pickup location for specially marked online items

The order will then ship to the chosen store and the customer will receive an email confirmation when it is ready for pickup. The customer has three pickup options – with each one offered in five minutes or less:

Five hundred suppliers, 200 merchants and 800 meetings equaled made in U.S.A. magic for Walmart as the retailer looked to accelerate domestic sourcing with a first ever event dubbed Open Call.

Walmart held the event at its Bentonville, Ark., headquarters on Tuesday, July 8, to discover domestically sourced products from new and existing suppliers that can help the company meet its goal of buying an additional $250 billion in American-made products in the next 10 years.

By Jason Baker and Kenneth Katz, co-founders and principals, Baker Katz