Mass Merchant

Cincinnati -- Kroger on Tuesday announced the planned retirement of VP and pension investment officer, Rich Manka. His retirement is effective July 15.

"Throughout his career, Rich has been a trusted member of Kroger's leadership team," stated Mike Schlotman, Kroger's CFO. "Pension plan trustees and participants alike have benefited from his vast knowledge and influence on investment strategies and plan designs. We thank Rich for his contributions to our company and industry and wish him the very best."

New York -- Saks Fifth Avenue announced Monday that John Cruz has been named SVP and director of the New York City flagship store, effective April 29.

Cruz currently serves as VP and general manager of the company’s Beverly Hills store. He has worked at the NYC store before – as general manager 2005-2007 and VP and GM 2007-2010.

Cruz replaces Suzanne Stemper-Johnson, who is leaving Saks to pursue other interests.

New York -- American Express and Wal-Mart Stores announced Tuesday that they are expanding their reloadable prepaid card program, Bluebird, to include direct-deposit capabilities for government checks.

Feed The Children, PepsiCo and Walmart partnered with Central Union Mission in Washington, D.C. this week to distribute two tractor-trailers full of food and essentials to help 800 area children and families in need.

PepsiCo, a longtime Feed The Children partner, donated Frito-Lay brand snacks, Quaker brand products and Pepsi brand beverages while Walmart, with the assistance of its suppliers, provided a loaf of bread and a five pound bag of apples and oranges to each of the 800 families.

New York -- Walmart plans to test the use of in-store lockers to hold goods ordered on its website until shoppers can pick them up, Reuters reported.

Neil Ashe, president and CEO of the discounter’s global e-commerce division, discussed the test, which will get underway this summer in about 12 locations, On Tuesday at the chain’s e-commerce media day. The event was held at its global e-commerce offices in San Bruno, Calif. Ashe also said that Wal-Mart is set to surpass $9 billion in annual online sales this year.

Best Buy, Costco, Petco and four other retailers were among a group of 145 companies identified as the World’s Most Ethical companies by Ethisphere.

Atlanta -- Jones Lang LaSalle’s Capital Markets announced that the firm has closed the sale of Bethesda Walk in the Lawrenceville suburb of Atlanta, on behalf of DLC Management Corp., Tarrytown, N.Y.

Solon Mack Real Estate purchased the 68,271-sq.-ft. shopping center, which is anchored by a 44,271-sq.-ft. Walmart Neighborhood Market that opened in mid-2012.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Fourth quarter same store sales increased 3% at Dollar General as the company capped of another record year and indicated it would open 635 stores this year.

Total sales for the company’s 13 week fourth quarter ended February 1, increased 0.5%, to $4.21 billion compared to $4.19 billion during the 14 week fourth quarter the prior year. Excluding the extra week from the prior year’s fourth quarter, sales would have increased 8%. The company said its same store sales increase was driven by consumables and a mix of increased transaction size and customer traffic.