Mass Merchant

While an abundance of celebrities and references to Walmart founder Sam Walton gave this year’s shareholders meeting a familiar feel, there also was an unmistakable emphasis on e-commerce and social media.

Target isn’t off to a great start in the second quarter- with a same store sale increase of 2.8% that was toward the low end of the company’s guidance range that called for a low to mid-single digit increase. The company also fell short of its comp guidance in April.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Wal-Mart Stores's board of directors has approved a new program authorizing the company to repurchase $15 billion of its shares, the company announced at its 41st annual meeting of shareholders Friday. This program replaces the previous $15 billion program, announced on June 4, 2010, that had approximately $2 billion of remaining authorization. Under the program, repurchased shares are constructively retired and returned to unissued status.

New York City -- Robert K. Futterman & Associates said it has arranged a 14,564-sq.-ft. lease for Anthropologie at 1230 Third Ave. for its first Upper East Side location.

Set to open this holiday season, the retailer will consist of 5,051 sq. ft. on the ground-floor and 9,513 sq. ft. of lower-level retail space. 

This will be Anthropologie’s fifth location in Manhattan. 

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — After nearly four hours of music, cheering, celebrity appearances and brief presentations by senior executives, Wal-Mart Stores president and CEO Mike Duke wrapped up the company’s annual shareholders’ extravaganza Friday morning by sharing five priorities associated with serving what he called the next generation of customers.

New York City -- Wal-Mart will debut its Walmart Express format on June 8, in Gentry, Ark. The 15,000-sq-.ft.-store will sell many of the product categories that a traditional Walmart carries, from general merchandise to consumables. There is also a pharmacy. But it will have from 11,000 to 13,000 items, compared with the more than 100,000 items found in a typical supercenter.

Given all the talk of EDLP at Walmart’s annual shareholders’ meeting, it was understandable the company chose Maki Nakamura, chief merchandising officer at Walmart Japan, as the recipient of the Sam M. Walton Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Walmart’s Seiyu stores in Japan have been implementing every day low prices for several years, and the company’s patience has finally paid off with improved business results in what has been a challenging market.

New York City -- Wal-Mart Stores on Friday morning kicked off its annual shareholders meeting in Fayetteville, Ark., by announcing a $15 billion stock buyback.

Among the early speakers was Doug McMillon, chief of Wal-Mart Stores' international division, who told the audience that the chain is building sales around the world by using the same retailing style that company founder Sam Walton developed.