Retail

MCKINNEY, Texas — Blockbuster is taking advantage of recent pricing changes at Netflix to lure customers over to its Total Access service. 

The company is offering Netflix customers who switch to one of Blockbuster's two most popular Total Access plans a 30-day free trial. After the free trial, customers will continue to receive Total Access for a new everyday price of only $9.99 per month for "1 Disc" at a time or $14.99 per month for "2 Discs" at a time, the company reported.

ARLINGTON, Va. — Members of the Retail Industry Leaders Association on Wednesday arrived in Joplin, Mo., to help clean up the Midwest city that was hard-hit in May by a category F-5 tornado.

DALLAS — Tuesday Morning  reported fourth-quarter net sales of $194.8 million, a decrease of 3% from last year's fourth-quarter net sales of $200.8 million. Comparable-store sales for the quarter decreased by 4.5%, which was comprised of a 5.4% decrease in traffic and a 0.9% increase in ticket.

Small suppliers looking to establish business relationships with Massmart following Walmart’s acquisition of a controlling stake in the company would be well served to learn the correct pronunciation of Mncane Mthunzi.

Mthunzi will fill a new supplier development role at Massmart and comes to the retailer from an organization known as the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa where he served as CEO and Massmart CEO Grant Pattison serves as chairman.

That was the provocative, if somewhat dated, question Smart Money used as a headline on a story this week based on a consumer survey conducted by Morgan Stanley analyst Mark Wiltamuth. He initiated coverage of Walmart with an ambiguous “equal weight” rating and was quoted as saying, “Many consumers no longer think Walmart has the lowest prices.”

BOCA RATON, Fla. — Office Depot has combined its two largest divisions and named Kevin Peters to the new role of president of North America. The change gives Peters, who previously served as president of North American retail, continuing oversight of the retail group in addition to leadership of the company’s North American business solutions division which is focused on large and mid-size commercial customers.

SAN FRANCISCO — Levi's announced that it has appointed Paul Zadoff as its new SVP wholesale commercial operations for the Americas. In this role, Zadoff will be responsible for developing and implementing effective strategies to drive long-term sustainable revenue growth, as well as ensuring the integration of a consistent consumer experience across the brand's wholesale commercial operation channels in the Americas.

SAN ANTONIO — H-E-B announced that Jennette McCurdy, co-star of Nickelodeon’s "iCarly," will star in its new "Gear Up for Back-to-School" ad campaign. The campaign launched Wednesday and runs through Aug. 31 in Texas.