Mass Merchant

Walmart was ranked second on this year’s Latina Style 50 Report, the publication announced earlier this week.

Now in its 15th year, the Latina Style 50 report seeks to identify companies that are providing the best career opportunities for Latinas in the U.S. Cable television operator Comcast was this year’s top ranked company.

Back-to-school shopping, the second-largest shopping season in the United States, helped make this August a strong month for retailers. Shoppers took advantage of back-to-school promotions to outfit students for the new school year. ShopperTrak, the world’s largest counter and analyzer of retail foot traffic, found that August’s retail foot traffic increased 6.3% compared with the previous month and increased 12.3% compared with the same month last year. 
   

Camp Hill, Pa. — Rite Aid posted a 0.4% increase in same-store sales for the month of August.

The increase included a 2.4% increase in front-end comps and a 0.6% decrease in pharmacy comps.

Total store sales for the five-week period that ended Saturday were $2.406 billion, a 0.4% decrease from last year's $2.414 billion. Same-store prescription count increased by 4.5%.
 

New York -- Hudson’s Bay Co., owner of the Lord & Taylor and The Bay chains, plans to file for an initial public offering, according to The New York Times.

A listing, which is expected to be on the Toronto Stock Exchange, could come this fall, before the end of November, the report said, with as much as 20% of the company being sold to the public.
 

Dallas -- Retalix Ltd., a leading global provider of software and services for high-volume, high-complexity retailers, announced that it has acquired Cornell Mayo Associates, a leading provider of store systems serving top tier department stores and large specialty retailers.

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway on Wednesday announced that it plans to file a registration statement in the United States for a potential initial public offering of a minority ownership stake in Blackhawk Network Holdings, a leading prepaid payments network.

TOPEKA, Kan. — Collective Brands reported net earnings of $9.7 million, or 16 cents per share, for its second quarter compared with a loss of $35 million, or 58 cents per share, in the second quarter of 2011.

Net sales increased 0.4% to $886 million, driven by a 2.9% comparable-store sales ncrease and sales growth of 6.1% in the Performance + Lifestyle Group  Wholesale segment, offset in part by operating 375 fewer stores.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores said Friday that its new store in Portland, Ore., will feature the state’s largest green roof.

According to a report by Oregon’s Daily Journal of Commerce, the 90,000-sq.-ft. store, which broke ground Friday in North Portland, will be topped by a 40,600-sq.-ft. green roof, surpassing by more than 10,000 sq. ft. the current largest green roof over the Ramona apartment complex in Portland.