Supermarket/Grocery

New York – Same-store sales generally showed modest growth in May 2015, on the whole meeting Wall Street analyst expectations. The apparel vertical in particular generally outperformed analyst predictions, although Gap, Banana Republic and Zumiez all reported negative same-store sales growth.

Following is a review of May same-store sales by vertical:

Apparel
Banana Republic: – 5%
The Buckle: 2.4%
Gap: – 6%
L Brands: 5%
Old Navy: 6%
Stein Mart: 1.9%

For the third year in a row, Amazon has claimed the top spot in the Reputation Institute’s annual survey of America’s 50 most reputable companies in the retail industry.

Walmart is reportedly raising starting wages for more than 100,000 U.S. department managers and workers in its deli and other specialized departments.

According to the Associated Press, Walmart told the AP that department managers of complex and service-oriented jobs in areas like produce, electronics and auto care, will start at $13 per hour and top out at $24.70 per hour, beginning next month.

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The Kroger Co. has earned more recognition for its investments in food safety innovation.

The company's innovative electronic temperature monitoring project has been named a winner of the 2015 CIO 100 Award by International Data Group's CIO Magazine.

Target plans to sell its pharmacy business to CVS Health for $1.9 billion and rebrand its nearly 1,700 prescription departments as CVS/pharmacy in a blockbuster deal that stunned the health care world.

Chicago - It may seem counterintuitive, but retailers should welcome the irate shopper who vents their frustration. That’s because it’s the mistreated customer who walks out the door in a silent huff who places the most revenue at risk, according to a collaborative study of dysfunctional retail touch-points conducted by LoyaltyOne, Verde Group and Dr. Deborah Small, professor of marketing and psychology, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Chicago -- Retailers looking for opportunities in emerging markets should look East, particularly to China, which ranks as the top country in A.T. Kearney’s annual Global Retail Development Index (GRDI). China, which returns to number one in the GRDI rankings for the first time since 2010, is expected to surpass the United States as the world's largest retail market by 2018.

Cincinnati -- Kroger Co. plans to bring nearly 650 jobs to new centers in a suburban city in southwest Ohio.

Kroger and Ohio officials announced Monday the $46 million investment by Kroger in buildings and renovations for a distribution center and a business administration center for customer service, human resources recruiting and digital innovation in Blue Ash.