Mass Merchant

As the International Council of Shopping Centers’ New York Deal-Making Conference in New York City quickly approaches, it seems appropriate to zero in on the world’s No. 1 retailing market. Chain Store Age talked with Ivan Friedman, president and CEO of New York City-based RCS Real Estate Advisors about the Dec. 5-6 conference, and the state of retail in the Big Apple and its surrounding region.

What are your thoughts on the upcoming NY ICSC show?

Purchase, N.Y. -- Dollar General is now accepting MasterCard credit cards at all of the nearly 10,000 Dollar General locations across the country, expanding on previous acceptance of MasterCard debit and prepaid cards. 

“Dollar General was the first among small-box value discounters to roll out readers for electronic benefits cards and bank debit and credit cards, making transactions even more convenient for customers.

Chicago -- Nearly 70% of U.S. adults would avoid shopping at a retail store if they encountered empty shelves, according to a nationwide survey commissioned by Galleria Retail Technology Solutions, a leading provider of retail and category optimization solutions. Long checkout lines are another big turnoff (64%).

If you’re someone who puts off your holiday shopping until the last minute to save a few bucks by scouring for the best “deals” and taking advantage of those absolute bargain basement prices, I’m afraid you may be in for a rude awakening this holiday shopping season. If my sense of the retail landscape is correct, I think it’s possible we’ll see prices increase as Christmas gets closer.

By Donna L. Wilson and Kirk D. Jensen

Illustrating the adage that no good deed goes unpunished, retailers offering financially-strapped or credit-challenged consumers the option of layaway are facing criticism and threats of litigation and regulatory scrutiny. 

Walmart continues to gain online momentum, judging from the most recent monthly report from measurement firm comScore Media Metrix.

Walmart consistently ranks in the firm’s Top 50 U.S. Web properties report, and that was the case again in October when Walmart.com was ranked 23rd with 45.2 million unique visitors. By comparison, Target.com, which experienced some difficulties with a major relaunch several months ago, was the only other traditional retailer on the list and ranked 46th with 27 million unique visitors.

Sam’s Club president and CEO Brian Cornell may have been the last of Walmart’s three divisional presidents to speak on the company’s conference call, but he had the best news to share.

Sam’s produced a 5.7% third-quarter same-store sales increase that was unaided by fuel prices, and Cornell indicated the string of seven consecutive quarters of sequentially increasing comps could be extended in the fourth quarter, with guidance that set 6% as the upper end of the forecast range. 

Walmart gave investors an early Christmas gift earlier this week in the form of a long-awaited third-quarter same-stores sales increase, then ruined the holiday spirit by coming up a penny short of analysts’ earnings estimates.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. That seems to be the message implied in Walmart’s guidance for fourth-quarter same-store sales in a range of flat to up 2%. The company’s comps expectations follow a third-quarter increase of 1.3% that ended a two-year string of negative results, but appear rather muted against the backdrop of talk about the company’s gathering momentum, the effectiveness of strategies and solid positioning for the holidays.

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway Inc. announced that its stores raised $1 million for the Wounded Warrior Project, an organization that exists to honor and empower military men and women who incurred service-related injuries on or after Sept. 11, 2001.

The money was raised during Veteran's Day weekend by all Safeway, Vons, Pavilions, Dominick's, Randalls, Genuardi's, Tom Thumb and Carrs stores in the United States