Walmart

Thursday, September 13 at 9 a.m. central time is the start date for another one of Walmart’s sustainability milestone meetings. The company uses the gatherings, Webcast from its home office auditorium, to highlight a wide range of environmental initiatives that increasingly contribute to efforts to operate more efficiently.

Walmart was ranked second on this year’s Latina Style 50 Report, the publication announced earlier this week.

Now in its 15th year, the Latina Style 50 report seeks to identify companies that are providing the best career opportunities for Latinas in the U.S. Cable television operator Comcast was this year’s top ranked company.

If it seems like Dollar General stores are everywhere it’s because they are. And more keep coming presenting price sensitive shoppers with a viable alternative to Walmart.

Walmart this week modified a layaway program that had yet to begin after Toys "R" Us said it wouldn’t charge a service fee and lifted minimum purchase requirements for its program.

The layaway saga began in late August when Walmart said the start date of its layaway program would begin on September 16, a month earlier than the prior year. Curiously, Walmart also said at that time the fee to open a layaway account would increase to $15 from $5 the prior year.

Bentonville, Ark. -- According to multiple reports on Tuesday, Walmart is testing a new iPhone app that will allow shoppers to scan items using their iPhones and complete their transactions at in-store self-checkout kiosks.

Walmart is piloting its Scan & Go program in its Rogers, Ark. store. The system is not designed for mobile payment transactions but rather to allow shoppers to complete purchases as they shop in the store.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores said Friday that its new store in Portland, Ore., will feature the state’s largest green roof.

According to a report by Oregon’s Daily Journal of Commerce, the 90,000-sq.-ft. store, which broke ground Friday in North Portland, will be topped by a 40,600-sq.-ft. green roof, surpassing by more than 10,000 sq. ft. the current largest green roof over the Ramona apartment complex in Portland.

Toys "R"Usenhanced its layaway program by dropping some fees and Walmart quickly responded.

Toys "R" Us dropped the $5 service fee and minimum purchase requirement from its layaway program in a bid to capture sales of those who begin their holiday shopping early.The company said it changed the rules for its layaway program, instituted in 2009, to waive the $5 upfront service fee and eliminate the minimum purchase requirement for all orders created in stores through October 31.

Walmart is touting another e-commerce win by the smart people working at its Silicon Valley research and technology hub known as @WalmartLabs.