Supermarket/Grocery

Strong performance of the fresh department at Sam’s Club and exceptional leadership earned SVP Shawn Baldwin the highest honor Walmart can bestow on one of its employees.

Orlando, Fla. — The Global Market Development Center has awarded Jerry Brown its 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award. The honor was given on June 3 during the “Dinner with the Chairman” at the 42nd Annual 2012 General Merchandise Conference in Orlando, Fla.

Same-store sales at Costco’s U.S. stores increased 5% during the four week period ended May 27.

Ric Jurgens spent the past 43 years working for and building Hy-Vee into a strong regional chain and later this summer his accomplishments will be acknowledged by the Grocery Manufacturers Association when he receives the organization’s Hall of Achievement Award.

New York -- Target and TJX Cos. both reported better-than-expected results in May, with a 4.4% and an 8% increase in same-store sales, respectively. Wall Street expected Target same-store sales to be up 3.5% in May and forecasted TJX sales to rise 5.3%.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target reported a 4.4% increase in May same-store sales that was toward the upper end of a guidance range that called for a low-to-mid single-digit increase.

Washington, D.C. -- The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) issued the following statement in response to the announcement that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has reached an agreement with Amazon.com requiring the online retailer to begin collecting state sales tax on purchases made in New Jersey by July 1, 2013.

"Today's announcement ends the practice of giving out-of-state retailers like Amazon.com an unfair advantage over those retailers who are an integral part of communities across New Jersey," said RILA president Sandy Kennedy

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — May sales at Fred's Inc. increased 6% to $152.1 million from $143.6 million in May 2011. Comparable-store sales for the month rose 1.3% compared with an increase of 0.2% in the same period last year.

Fred's total sales for the first four months of fiscal 2012 increased 4% to $652.6 million compared with $628 million for the same period last year. On a comparable-store basis, year-to-date sales increased 0.1% on top of an increase of 0.8% in the same period last year.