Mass Merchant

The Wild Oats brand will begin appearing on Walmart shelves this month as the retailer plans to offer 100 low priced organic dry grocery items.

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart will carry Wild Oats organic food items later in April with a new, more affordable price point on products covering a broad variety of categories. Wal-Mart estimates customers will save 25% or more when comparing Wild Oats to national brand organic products.

Whole Foods Market might as well declare bankruptcy now judging from widespread media coverage of Walmart’s decision to sell roughly 100 organic dry grocery items under the Wild Oats brand.

First it was signage and then came the freezer case and parking lots. Now Walmart and GE are moving forward with their biggest lighting initiative to date.

The companies announced plans to use GE LED lights in ceiling fixtures in hundreds of stores throughout the U.S., Asia, Latin Amerian and the United Kingdom. The new fixtures use 40% less energy than traditional overhead lighting systems and move Walmart forward on its goal of reducing energy required to power its buildings globally by 20% by 2020. It is Walmart’s largest purchase of GE LED lighting to date.

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. is introducing “Made to Matter – Handpicked by Target.” The collection brings together 17 natural, organic and sustainable brands to introduce new products.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Walmart, a pioneer in the use of LED lighting in its freezer cases and parking lots, is now extending its use of LEDs to the sales floor. The retailer plans to install energy-efficient LED ceiling lighting from GE in its new supercenters in the United States, along with stores in Asia, Latin America, and the United Kingdom.

Sales and profits were as bad as Bed Bath & Beyond initially feared due to extensive weather related store closures during the company's fourth quarter ended March 1.

The company said sales during its 13 week fourth quarter declined 5.8% to $3.2 billion while same store sales advanced 1.7%. Profits during the 13 week period declined to $333 million, or $1.60 a share, compared to the 14 week period the prior year when profits totaled $374 million, or $1.68 per share.

Target is expanding its sustainable products offering with a new collection called “Made to Matter — Handpicked by Target.”