Mass Merchant

MONTVALE, N.J. — Grocer A&P is launching a discount program that offers seniors savings on groceries purchased at A&P, Pathmark, Waldbaum's, Food Emporium and Superfresh banner stores.

On April 4, the company is launching its "Senior Appreciation Days" program, starting with "Senior Appreciation Mondays," a new special discount program for seniors in all Pathmark banner stores.

Family Dollar is at the midpoint of its fiscal year, and on track to open a total of 300 new stores, the company announced in conjunction with the release of it second-quarter financial results. Dollar stores have emerged as a key competitive threat to Walmart as they have beefed up assortments of food and consumables and their abundant stores are often more convenient than Walmart’s supercenters. A few weeks earlier, Dollar General said it would open 625 stores during it fiscal year.

Seattle -- Nordstrom announced plans to open a Nordstrom Rack in Boise, Idaho.

The 37,000-sq.-ft. store will be part of the Boise Towne Plaza shopping center and is expected to open in spring 2012.

With 329 stores in China producing $7.5 billion in sales annually, Walmart has experienced dramatic growth since it entered the market in 1996 with two stores. Last year, the company pursued its most aggressive expansion to date with the opening of 49 stores, and at a meeting for financial analysts earlier this week in Shenzhen, China, senior executives detailed plans to get a lot bigger.

In a move to generate online traffic and pre-orders for the upcoming release of Justin Bieber’s Never Say Never documentary, Walmart.com this week offered autographed copies of the DVD/Blu-Ray combo pack for $24.96. Bieber personally autographed 1,800 copies of the combo-pack, which chronicles his rise to become a pop phenomenon. The strategy appeared to work as by mid-day Thursday the autographed copies were no where to be found on Walmart.com, although there was plenty of other Bieber paraphernalia.

The PFresh initiative at Target, which results in the addition of fresh food and an expanded offering of consumables, arrived in more Target discount stores last month, further elevating the competitiveness with Walmart supercenters.

New York City -- Walmart, Target, The Home Depot, Best Buy and CVS took top honors in Interbrand’s annual ranking of the 50 most valuable U.S. retail brands. The U.S. brands are valued in collaboration with Interbrand Design Forum, the retail experience group within Interbrand.

Walmart this week filed its annual report on form 10-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and in keeping with good disclosure practices around risk factors the company offered an update on the sex discrimination case that has been all over the news.