Discount Store

MATTHEWS, N.C. — Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic supermarket chain, Harris Teeter, reported that sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 increased by 3.7% to $1.16 billion from $1.12 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2012. The increase in sales was driven by an increase in comparable-store sales of 2.53% and sales from new stores, partially offset by store closings.

NEW YORK — Saks has introduced its Saks Love Your Cause Initiative, which will give 5% of all registered purchases to the American Red Cross and select local organizations, during February.

“Saks Fifth Avenue is committed to our local communities. We appreciate our customers’ charitable involvement and look forward to giving back locally for a second year with this exciting and newly implemented national program,” Steve Sadove, chairman and CEO, Saks Inc., said.

St. Louis -- Retail veteran Maxine Clark announced she is stepping down as CEO of Build-A-Bear Workshop, the chain she founded in 1997. Clark, 63, said she will remain as CEO until a successor is found. She will also remain on the company's board of directors.
 

NEW YORK — Shopping online for high fashion at low prices is a popular activity for fashionistas, and now one of the more iconic brands has jumped on the trend. Style seekers who can't make it to New York City to shop Barneys New York's famous warehouse sale will soon have a new way to get their fashion fix.

Green Bay, Wis. -- Shopko announced it has completed the conversion of 163 Pamida stores making it one of the largest U.S. retailers focused on serving smaller and rural communities. It was a year ago that Shopko and Pamida first announced their intent to merge the two companies and convert the existing Pamida locations to the Shopko Hometown store format. One year later, the conversion of the last group of Pamida stores is now complete with the final 36 stores celebrating their official grand openings as Shopko Hometown.

New York -- Barneys New York said Thursday it will launch its off-price website Barneyswarehouse.com on Monday, following a two-week pilot in August. Merchandise on the warehouse site will be past-season sale items at discounts of up to 75% off retail, and will be used along with its brick-and-mortar outlets for liquidation.

Organized labor was dealt a setback in its attacks on Walmart on Thursday when the National Labor Relations Board sided with the retailer in a dispute involving the United Food and Commercial Workers.

The UFCW reached a settlement with Walmart stemming from demonstrations the union organized at various Walmart stores on Black Friday. The protests received considerable media attention at the time as the union sought to persuade Walmart employees to walk off the job on the busiest day of the year.

New York -- Labor groups that have long spoken out against Wal-Mart Stores will stop much of their picketing against the world's largest retailer, though they still plan to continue to push the company to improve working conditions.

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, or UFCW, and OUR Walmart reached an agreement with the National Labor Relations Board, the groups and Walmart said on Thursday.