Convenience Stores

New York City -- Warehouse club operators  Costco and BJ’s Wholesale Club continue to benefit from high fuel prices and bargain-seeking consumers, with both chain reporting solid results.

Costco reported a 10% rise in same-store sales In July, beating Wall Street's expectations for an 8.6% increase.

BERLIN, N.J. — A.C. Moore Arts & Crafts saw sales for its second quarter decrease 0.8% to $99 million from $99.9 million last year. According to the company, the decrease was primarily due to a decrease in comparable-store sales of 0.7%. Net loss for the quarter was $7.9 million, or 32 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $9.7 million, or 40 cents per share in the second quarter of last year.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens on Wednesday reported July sales of $5.82 billion, an increase of 4.7%.

New York City -- Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, the U.S. division of Tesco, has joined the growing number of retailers opening smaller-format stores. The grocery store operator plans to test a new concept, called Fresh & Easy Express, in San Pedro, Calif.

Fresh & Easy’s new format will be in the 4,000 sq. ft. range, compared with its typical 10,000-sq.-ft. footprint.

For more, go to freshneasybuzz.blogspot.com/
 

Milford, Conn. -- Subway Restaurants said Monday that its franchisees have opened nearly 600 new locations in 48 countries, 42 U.S. states and seven Canadian provinces over the past three months, bringing the total of new Subway restaurants to just over 1,200 for the year so far.

The new restaurants account for 1.4 million sq. ft. of retail space.

Mansfield, Conn. -- Westport, Conn.-based Charter Realty & Development Corp. said that ground was broken on Storrs Center, a new mixed-use town center to be located adjacent to the University of Connecticut in Mansfield.

At completion, the project will include approximately 200,000 sq. ft. of retail space, 700 residential units, and significant open space.

New York City -- Manhattan-based Atco Properties & Management said it has purchased Crossroads Center, a 99,000-sq.-ft. neighborhood shopping center in Austin, for $14.25 million.

The center is currently 70% leased to a mix of national tenants such as Bennihana, Chili’s, West Marine, Cycle Gear, as well as locals Trudy’s, Plucker’s and Big Daddy’s Burgers. 

WASHINGTON — Amazon and other online-only retailers have been dealt a major blow, as legislation introduced last week seeks to require such retailers to collect sales tax.

The Main Street Fairness Act would allow states that have adopted the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement to require out-of-state sellers to collect sales tax whether they have a physical presence in their state or not. The bill would cover all “remote sellers,” which include online retailers, catalog merchants and “1-800” offers on radio and television.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Grocery distributor and retailer Spartan Stores reported that its net sales for the first quarter increased 4.4% to $602.6 million compared with $577.2 million in the same period last year. Both the distribution and retail segments reported improved sales during the quarter, the company said.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid’s same-store sales increased by 1.9% in July, the retail pharmacy chain said Thursday.

During the four-week period ended July 23, comp sales jumped 3.1% on the front end and 1.4% in the pharmacy, including a 151 basis point reduction resulting from introduction of new generic drugs. Prescription counts decreased by 0.4%. Total sales during the four-week period were about $1.92 billion, a 1.6% increase over July 2010.