Mass Merchant

Grand Rapids, Mich. -- Grocery retailer Meijer announced it will open a 14th Chicago-area store, this one under its Meijer Marketplace banner designed to bring a smaller-size localized concept to the Melrose Park neighborhood.

Meijer Marketplace spans 96,000 sq. ft. – about half the size of the grocer’s supercenters – and features a tailored offering as well as a variety of general merchandise items.

Walmart said it will donate $20 million to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art to provide for free admission for the next five years. The expansive world class facility scheduled to open Nov. 11 in Bentonville, Ark. was founded by the Walton Family Foundation in 2005.

WAYNE, N.J.— Amazon, which reported record 2Q sales, will get even more help boosting its bottom line now that Toys"R"Us will start selling the online retailer's popular Kindle e-reader.

Seattle -- Amazon reported Tuesday that sales for the quarter ended June 30 soared 51% to $9.9 billion.

Profits dipped 8% to $191 million from $207 million on surging operating costs, but still beat Wall Street expectations.

New Lenox, Ill. -- Urban Retail Properties, LLC, Center Creek Development, LLC and Mansur & Co. announced Wednesday a joint venture to build, lease and manage Spring Creek Outlets of Chicago, located in New Lenox, Ill.

Bentonville, Ark. -- The Walton Family Foundation revealed Wednesday that it will donate $50 million to Teach For America, a commitment that stands to nearly double the size of the organization’s teaching ranks.

The charity that was created by the founder of Wal-Mart Stores will mete out half of the funds over a three-year period, and will increase the number of teachers to 15,000 by 2015. The remaining half of the donation will support the training of existing Teach for America instructors in seven communities.

MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis. — Kohl’s Department Stores announced that it has awarded 10 students, ranging in age from 10 to 17, with a total of $10,000 in scholarship money for post-secondary education. In addition to the scholarships, Kohl’s will donate $1,000 to a nonprofit organization of each winner’s choice. 

Bentonville, Ark. -- A Wednesday report by Bloomberg said that Wal-Mart Stores has named Morten Knudsen as CFO for Asia, as the retailer recasts its leadership roles in the region amidst top-heavy turnover.

Knudsen, who was previously VP for corporate finance in Asia for Danone, takes the financial chief spot for Wal-Mart Asia effective Sept. 1.

Since May, Wal-Mart has lost Japanese chief Toru Noda and three of its top executives in China, including the CFO and COO Roland Lawrence and Rob Cissell, respectively.