Mass Merchant

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will hold its Annual Meeting of Shareholders on Friday, June 7, including an executive update by president and CEO Mike Duke.

As many as 14,000 global Walmart associates are also attending the event, most arriving in time for elaborate pre-meeting activities. "Our success is only possible because of the hard work and dedication of our 2.2 million associates around the world,” said Susan Chambers, executive VP global people, at Walmart.

Boston -- A new study from Kantar Retail and TNS revealed that shoppers prefer The Home Depot over Canadian Tire, Rona and other DIY retailers when shopping for home improvement items and do-it-yourself projects.  

In the April 2013 survey, Canadian shoppers rated top DIY competitors on a variety of attributes, including assortment, price, service, and community appeals.  



Indianpolis -- Simon Property Group and McArthurGlen Group announced an agreement to form a joint venture through which SPG will invest in McArthurGlen, the leader in upscale, European designer outlets. 

Under the agreement, SPG will acquire an ownership interest in six properties and will also become a partner in McArthurGlen's property management and development company.  Included assets are in Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Canada.

Tokyo -- A Sunday report by Bloomberg said that 7-Eleven parent Seven & I Holdings Co. is planning more acquisitions here and may more than double the number of c-store stores it operates in North America.

The company “could increase our store number to 20,000 or even 30,000 [in North America],” chairman Toshifumi Suzuki told Bloomberg in an interview.  7-Eleven currently has more than 8,000 convenience stores in North America.

No time-frame for the planned expansion has been defined.

San Francisco -- Gap Inc. announced Monday that it will introduce the Gap brand to Paraguay and Hungary through new agreements with existing franchise partners: Neutral for Paraguay and Gottex Brands for Hungary. The first Gap store will open later this year in Paraguay, joining Neutral’s 2012 Gap launch in Uruguay. And, in Hungary, Gottex Brands will open two Gap stores in Budapest. A specific timeline wasn’t released.

CINCINNATI — Macy’s plans to open its second store in Puerto Rico in fall 2015.

The two-level, 150,000-sq.-ft. store will be located in the Plaza Del Caribe mall in Ponce. Construction is slated to begin next year and the store is expected to employ 275 associates.

NEW YORK — Costco Wholesale Corp. is looking to open approximately 150 locations over the next five years, CFO Richard Galanti said on the company’s quarterly conference call with investors.

“And if we get a little better than that, great,” he added. “But that’s certainly a good starting point given where we’ve come over the last few years.”

Of the total, about 55 of the new units would be in the United States, with the rest located in Canada or foreign markets.

TORONTO — Loft will open four new store locations in Ontario, Canada, following the retailer's initial foray into the Great White North late last year at the Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto.

The retailer also introduced e-commerce into its new Canadian market in March.