Supermarket/Grocery

ISSAQUAH, Wash. — Costco reported fourth-quarter sales of $31.52 billion, an increase of 14% from $27.59 billion for the same period last year.

Net income for the quarter was $609 million, or $1.39 per diluted share, compared with $478 million, or $1.08 per diluted share, during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011.

Comparable-store sales, excluding fuel, rose 6% at U.S. stores, 7% internationally and 6% for the total company.

TOPEKA, Kan. — Payless Holdings has named Paul Jones as CEO. Jones was most recently chairman, president and CEO of Shopko Stores, a $2.7 billion mass merchandiser providing quality products and health services at great values in small to mid-sized markets. Jones will be based in Topeka and will join the company in an official capacity on Oct. 22.
 

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart plans a modest acceleration of its small format stores in the coming years as investors were assured Wednesday morning that financial returns are now comparable with the company’s large supercenters.

DOVER, N.J. — Casio America has joined with Registroid LLC -- an independent software vendor located in Mobile, Alabama -- to offer a comprehensive retail point of sale system called the Registroid Cloud to its Android VX-100 all in one POS unit.

Los Angeles -- CBRE Group said Wednesday that the U.S. commercial real estate market continued to show moderate improvement across all property sectors in third quarter 2012.

In the retail sector, properties continued to see modest improvement in availability, which fell 10 bps to 12.9%, during the third quarter.

Rogers, Ark. -- In its annual meeting with analysts on Wednesday, Wal-Mart Stores U.S. president Bill Simon said the retailer would accelerate small-store growth to compete with dollar stores and drug stores, and announced plans to have 500 Neighborhood Market stores and 12 Express stores by fiscal 2016.

“This gives us the opportunity to build more stores for less money," Simon said. Wal-Mart currently operates 217 Neighborhood Markets and 10 Express stores.

White Plains, N.Y. -- Oak Brook, Ill.-based Inland Diversified Real Estate Trust announced the acquisition of a majority interest in City Center at White Plains, a four-story, 381,905-sq.-ft. mixed-use shopping center and apartment property in White Plains, N.Y.

The property was acquired in a joint venture between a subsidiary of Inland Diversified and affiliates of real estate developer Cappelli Group. The joint venture valued the property at approximately $166.4 million.

Mississauga, Ontario -- Walmart Canada said Tuesday it will complete 30 real estate projects by the end of October, including two supercenter conversions and 28 new stores totaling 2.4 million sq. ft. of retail space.

The new stores were former Zellers locations; 10 will be converted to supercenters and 18 will be Walmart Canada discount stores.

“This is an exciting month for Walmart Canada,” said Jim Thompson, COO, Walmart Canada.

Atlanta -- The Sembler Co. said that Charlie Heard has joined the firm as VP development and southeast market leader for the company. He will be based in Atlanta.

Heard’s duties consist of pursuing new shopping center development opportunities in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.  He has been involved in development projects for retailers such as Publix, Kroger, Target, Home Depot, Best Buy, CVS and Walgreen's and has worked with top-tier retailers on site selection across industry sectors.

New York -- Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Retail Group said it has secured a long-term lease for Chill Berry Frozen Yogurt at 2121 Frederick Douglass Blvd., between 114th and 115th Streets in New York City.

It is the second of two Harlem-based stores for the owners, with the first on Lenox Avenue and 131st Street.

Neighboring businesses along the corridor include Harlem Tavern, the 5 and Diamond, Jado Sushi, Posh Paws, Mod Squad Cycles and Best Yet Market.