Club & Warehouse

New York -- Traditional retail categories are increasingly blurring, and more and more shoppers are turning to drug stores and other types of outlets to buy groceries, according to a survey of Millenial, Gen X and Baby Boomer consumers. The study was conducted by retail design firm King Retail Solutions in conjunction with the University of Arizona Center for Retailing.

Ann Arbor, Mich. - Customer satisfaction improved for a third consecutive year for retail. According to a report released by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), the retail sector overall gained 1.7% to an ACSI benchmark of 77.9, boosted by higher customer satisfaction with specialty retail stores, supermarkets, drug stores, and gasoline service stations.

BJ’s Wholesale Club is outsourcing and expanding its product demonstration program with the help of Crossmark’s PromoWorks division.

Plans call for PromoWorks to manage, enhance and ultimately expand the company’s demo and events program. BJ’s current demo and events staff, made up of approximately 1,400 employees, will be given priority to apply for the demo program with PromoWorks, which plans to grow the current program by more than 25% or about 500 jobs, the companies said it a joint statement.

Acosta Sales & Marketing acquired Anderson Daymon Worldwide, a sales and marketing agency focused exclusively on Costco.

Anderson Daymon Worldwide has had a relationship with Costco since 1983 and currently has 200 employees and 11 regional offices in the United States and the United Kingdom. The company exclusively serves Costco. As part of the transaction, Daymon Worldwide, which operates a product demonstration division called Interactions, will no longer hold an interest in the Costco business and will not be affiliated with the newly created Acosta division.

All eyes will be on Walmart’s new CEO Doug McMillon next week when the company reports worse-than-expected fourth quarter results on Thursday, and McMillon makes his first public comments since becoming CEO.

McMillon is no stranger to providing financial updates during the company’s pre-recorded earnings calls, investor conferences and analysts’ meetings. He performed those duties on numerous occasions during the past decade while serving as president and CEO of Walmart International and president and CEO of Sam’s Club before that.

San Diego - For the month of January 2014, net sales at PriceSmart increased 11.5% to $193.5 million from $173.5 million in January a year earlier. For the four weeks ended Jan. 26, 2014, same-store sales for the 30 warehouse clubs open at least 13 1/2 full months increased 8.4%, compared to the same four-week period last year.

There were 32 warehouse clubs in operation at the end of January 2014, compared to 30 warehouse clubs in operation in January 2013.

Costco reported net sales of $8 billion for the four weeks ended Feb. 2, representing an increase of 6% from the similar four-week period last year.

Comparable store sales across Costco's U.S. store base were up 5%.

For the 22 weeks ended Feb. 2, Costco reported net sales of $46.3 billion, representing a similar increase of 6% versus the year-ago period.

The company plans to release its operating results for the second quarter Thursday, March 6.

New York -- Snowstorms and bitterly cold weather took a bite out of sales for some retailers in January. One of the retailers feeling the chill was Fred’s, which posted a 1.8% decline in January same-store sales.

"The weather was a significant challenge for us in January," said CEO Bruce Efird, who added that it disrupted shopping patterns, but also resulted in “more than 120 store closings during the final week of the month."