Financial/Banking

Plymouth, Minn. -- Christopher & Banks Corp. said Tuesday it had received a takeover offer from private equity firm Aria Partners. The value set on the retailer is approximately $64 million.

The retailer said it will review the offer.

Aria currently owns 4% of Christopher & Banks shares.
 

New York -- Best Buy’s founder and former chairman Richard Schulze is not expected to present a buyout or other proposal to the company's board anytime soon, Reuters reported, citing a person familiar to the situation.

Schulze owns more than 20% of the company’s shares. He abruptly resigned from the Best Buy board last June and said he was exploring options for his ownership stake. The company’s shares have risen lately on speculation that Schulze close to presenting a buyout offer.

Union, N.J. -- Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. announced that its tender offer for the outstanding shares of common stock of Cost Plus was successful.

The company said Friday that about 20.8 million shares representing about 92% of Cost Plus' outstanding stock were tendered. The company currently has approximately 22.5 million outstanding shares, according to FactSet.

Cost Plus will become a Bed Bath & Beyond subsidiary and will stop trading on the Nasdaq the first business day after the deal closes.

New York -- U.K. retailing giant Tesco PLC could give up its American supermarket venture, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, if the chain continues to disappoint and not make a profit, RetailWeek and other British news organizations reported.

In remarks at the company’s annual meeting on Friday, Tesco CEO Philip Clarke said: “If we see there is no chance of success, we’ll do as we’ve just done in Japan,” referring to Tesco’s deal this month to exit that market.

New York -- The Finish Line Inc. said Friday its fiscal first-quarter profit fell 25% as higher costs offset sales growth.

For the quarter ended June 2, the company earned $12.3 million, just beating Wall Street expectations, down from $16.4 million in the year-ago period.

Sales rose 6.5% to $319 million, from $299.5 million. Same-store sales were up 8%.

The company's cost of sales rose 9.3% to $214.4 million. Selling, general and administrative expenses increased 11% to $84.8 million.

Sam's Club was among the highest-rated companies for customer service, according to new research from the Temkin Group. Other retailers included Publix, Hy-Vee, H.E.B., ShopRite, Aldi, Giant Eagle and JCPenney.

Other companies earning top marks included Chick-fil-A, credit unions and Starbucks. Meanwhile, companies with the lowest ratings included Charter Communications, Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Citibank, Qwest, Cigna, and Bank of America.

Matthews, N.C. -- Family Dollar Stores Inc. reported Thursday that profit for the quarter ended May 26 rose 12.1% to $124.5 million, compared with $111.1 million in the year-ago period.

Sales increased 9.6% to $2.36 billion, just missing Wall Street’s forecasts of $2.37 billion in sales. Same-store sales climbed 5%.
   

I mentioned briefly in my last column that I’ve been a little puzzled by what seems to be an industry-wide reluctance to design and develop, and in many cases redevelop centers into, true mixed-use venues. It’s not that our industry doesn’t get excited about mixed-use spaces — they clearly do. But, something is getting lost between the glamorous articles and design concepts, and the real-world execution.