Retail

Sarasota, Fla. -- The Retail Industry Leaders Association said Tuesday that Bill Simon, president and CEO of Walmart Stores, along with Steven Preston, president and CEO of OakLeaf Waste management, have joined the RILA board of directors.

Simon replaces Walmart vice chairman and president and CEO of global e-commerce and global sourcing Eduardo Castro-Wright on the board.

The RILA board meets twice a year to discuss the issues facing retailers and to offer insight into the opportunities and challenges confronting the industry.

NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- OfficeMax and organization expert Peter Walsh announced the launch of a new collection under the "Peter Walsh you.organized" brand. 

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores on Tuesday denied reports by a Santiago, Chile, newspaper that it would consider opening banks in Chile and Argentina.

The reports are “completely untrue,” Wal-Mart spokesman Kevin Gardner told Bloomberg in an e-mailed response to questions.

Chicago -- A survey released Tuesday by the e-tailing group said that nine merchants out of the 100 benchmarked excelled at online customer service.

According to the group’s 13th Annual Mystery Shopping Study, conducted during fourth quarter 2010, Lands’ End made the list for a third consecutive year. Coach and Saks Fifth Avenue are two-year repeat achievers.

Conventional wisdom seems to be that Target will be as successful in Canada as it has been in the United States, following last week’s bombshell announcement that the company would enter the market via an acquisition. Target said it would acquire leasehold interests in 220 Zellers stores from the Hudson’s Bay Company, and during 2013 and 2014 it would open between 100 and 150 of the locations as Target stores.

Long Beach, Calif.  -- Epson America announced that Friendly's Express, a new fast-casual concept from Friendly Ice Cream Corp., is using Epson's TM-T88 ReStick thermal printer with MAXStick liner-free, biodegradable and recyclable labels to identify orders in all five of its locations. By installing an intelligent label interface into the Epson ReStick printer, Friendly's Express was able to configure its point-of-sale (POS) systems to print individual item labels for only its carryout orders.

Between announcing its first international acquisition and disclosing details of its U.S. expansion program, the Target board found time to squeeze in authorization of a quarterly dividend payment. The company’s dividend is currently 25 cents a share and is payable on March 10 to shareholders of record on Feb. 16. The first quarter dividend will be the company’s 174th consecutive dividend paid since October 1967 when the company became publicly held.

Savannah, Ga. -- Centro Properties Group said that Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt has opened a 1,215-sq.-ft. store at Eisenhower Square.

The shopping center, located in Savannah, Ga., is owned by New York City-based Centro Properties Group.