Walmart

CHICAGO — About a week after announcing it would join First Lady Obama and other retailers in bringing more choices to so-called "food deserts", Walmart announced its official presence in Chicago today with the news that it has begun work on a new supercenter in Chatham. According to the company, the store will give more options to residents of Chicago's South Side neighborhood while at the same time creating approximately 400 jobs.

It’s a good thing Target is preparing a major relaunch of its digital platform considering traffic to the company’s website has decelerated this year, according to online measurement firm comScore, which publishes a monthly list of the top 50 U.S. Web properties. Target climbed back into comScore’s to 50 ranking in June with 23.8 million unique visitors.

New Delhi, India -- A Monday report by Bloomberg said that an Indian governmental panel recommended easing market-entry restrictions, making Wal-Mart Stores’ and Carrefour SA’s path into the India retail market potentially much easier.

Citing a finance ministry official as its source, Bloomberg reported that a panel of New Delhi bureaucrats recommended on Friday that overseas companies be allowed to own up to 51% of stores that sell more than one brand if they invest a minimum of $100 million.

American consumers may not like inflation, but retailers are enjoying the favorable impact rising prices have on their same-store sales calculations. It was evident last month when most retailers reported healthy comp increases, and more of the same could be in store for July as it appears retailers are effectively passing through increased prices to shoppers.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — PNI Digital Media on Monday announced an agreement with Walgreens to provide and operate an online stationery service for the Chicago-based pharmacy.

The service will allow Walgreens customers to create and customize unique cards, invitations and other printed material, including personalized photo books and photo calendars, wedding invitations and business cards.

San Francisco -- Wal-Mart Stores said Friday it agreed that women planning potential gender-bias suits, after a group lawsuit was rejected by the Supreme Court, should get an extra 90 days to file their cases. Opposing lawyers are seeking to extend the filing deadline by 120 days.

It is logical that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. president and CEO Mike Duke would top Supermarket News’ Power 50 list of the food industry’s most influential executives. The company sells more food, by a large margin, than anyone else, therefore a case could be made that Duke, or whoever is CEO of Walmart, should top the publication’s list each year.

The ministers of economic development, trade and industry and agriculture, forestry and fisheries in South Africa are protesting the nation’s Competition Tribunal’s approval of a merger agreement between Walmart and Massmart. The three government entities are seeking to set aside a ruling that allowed Walmart to acquire a 51% ownership stake in Massmart last month on the grounds that the tribunal acted irregularly with regard to matters of documents presented during the discovery process and the scheduling of decisions.