Walmart

NEW YORK — Soupman Inc., the parent company of The Original SoupMan, is about to see "the soup that made 'Seinfeld' famous" hit shelves at nearly 500 Walmart stores. 

The brand's soups, which are already sold in more than 4,000 supermarkets nationwide, include the classic soups that made the company famous: lobster bisque, chicken noodle, lentil and tomato bisque. 

Bentonville, Ark. -- Judge Charles R. Breyer of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has ruled against a request by plaintiffs in a gender discrimination suit against Wal-Mart who were seeking certification of a class-action suit against the mass merchandise giant. Referring to a 2012 Supreme Court decision about limitations on class-action suits, Breyer ruled that the individual situations of the plaintiffs are too different to be grouped into a single class-action suit.

Walmart pulled a dietary supplement from its Web site this week following a report by USA Today that called into question the product’s safety and the track record of the supplier.
 
The product in question was a pre-workout supplement called Craze from supplier Matt Cahill who USA Today said has a history of putting risky supplements on the market. Walmart spokeswoman Dianna Gee said the product was pulled to, “allow us time to look further into not only the safety of the product, but also the integrity of the supplier.”

“Retail sales” ranked fourth on this year’s list of the top consumer complaints compiled by the Consumer Federation of America. That’s good news for Walmart.
 

Left-leaning individuals in large urban areas find lots of reasons to dislike Walmart, so it is noteworthy when someone in a liberal stronghold forcefully sides with Walmart and personal freedom.
 
That was the case in Boston this week when the Boston Globe ran an article by Shirley Leung with the headline, “It’s time to say yes to Walmart.”

She acknowledged the familiar narrative put forth by those who seek to block Walmart’s expansion.

New Delhi, India – The Indian government has eased its notoriously difficult restrictions on how foreign retailers must invest and source when doing business in the country. As reported by Reuters, foreign retailers will still have to source 30% of the products they sell locally, but now have five years to initially reach that goal and then have to meet it annually.

Surging home prices and 401K balances have millions of Americans feeling better about their personal balance sheets and the state of the economy, but Walmart’s core shoppers remain under duress and that could spell trouble for second quarter sales.
 

CARLISLE, Pa. — Ahold USA has appointed Nick Bertram as its senior VP store strategy and execution, the supermarket operator said Thursday.

Bertram previoulsy worked for Jewel-Osco, where he oversaw operations across Illinois, Indiana and Iowa. He was also senior VP of Supervalu and worked in executive positions at Walmart in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. His new position at Ahold USA will be based out of the company's Carlisle, Pa., headquarters.