Retail

"Come grow with us," could have been the title of the presentation Sam’s Club EVP of merchandising Charles Redfield gave earlier this week at the Grocery Manufacturers Association’s annual executive conference.

NEW YORK — Woolite is opening a branded pop-up boutique during New York Fashion Week. Located at 372 West Broadway in New York, the WooliteWashed boutique will open its doors to the public on Sept. 6 with a kick-off party during Fashion's Night Out, hosted by Cat Deeley from "So You Think You Can Dance" and celebrity style expert Jacqui Stafford.

Everyone who is anyone will be on hand in New York next week for the nineteenth annual Goldman Sachs Global Retailing Conference so its not surprising that Walmart U.S. president and CEO Bill Simon will be in attendance.

Ross Stores and The TJX companies both reported a better-than-expected 8% same store sales increase during August. Shoppers continued to beat a path to Ross and TJX stores during August where exceptionally strong sales suggest consumers are unrelenting in their search for value amid protracted economic weakness.

New York -- Macy's, Limited Brands and Gap Inc. all posted August same-store sales that topped analysts' estimates as retailers across the board generally posted strong sales, boosted by back-to-school shopping and aggressive promotions. The strong showing comes shortly after the news that consumer confidence for August slumped to its lowest level of the year.

A 4.2% increase in August same-store sales at Target was at the high end of the company’s forecast range.

The solid showing during August was noteworthy because it came on top of a prior year increase of 4.1% and was attributable primarily to an increase in average transaction size. According to Target, about three fourths of the increase was due to growth in ticket with increase shopper traffic accounting for the remainder of the comp increase.

New York -- Whole Foods Market is in talks to buy or take over leases for half a dozen Johnnie’s Foodmaster locations in eastern Massachusetts, the Boston Globe reported.

Whole Foods wants to move into six of the 10 Johnnie’s Foodmaster sites in Arlington, Brookline, Charlestown, Melrose, South Weymouth, and Somerville, the report said.

Whole Foods currently operates 21 stores in Massachusettes.

 

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