Sales & Marketing

Austin, Texas -- Whole Foods Market reported that profit for the third quarter rose to $151 million from $142 million last year, but revenue and same-store sales missed projections, sending the organic grocer’s shares downward.

Revenue rose to $3.38 billion from $3.06 billion, shy of the $3.39 billion expected by Wall Street. Same-store sales rose 3.9%, well short of the estimated 4.9% gain and marking the worst performance in at least 14 quarters.

Matthews, N.C. – Activist investor Carl Icahn, who had been pressuring Family Dollar to sell the company, has reduced his ownership stake in the company from 9.39% to 6.09%.

Big 5 Sporting Goods’ second-quarter results were affected by a continued reduction in demand for firearms and ammunition. The company also pointed to general softness in the overall consumer environment, adding that the calendar shift of the Easter holiday had a small but unfavorable impact on sales.

By Bill Davis, Director, MB&G Consulting

For much of the last year, traditional brick-and-mortar retailers have been mired in a slump. Not only was last holiday season the toughest in several years, the consumer discretionary sector, which includes retail, was the only one of the 10 macro S&P sectors to be in the red for the first half of 2014. As a result, retail is widely perceived to be in a funk.

The International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association (IDDBA) has named former HEB executive Michael J. Eardley as its new president and CEO. Eardley succeeds Carol Christison, who passed away in March, after leading the association for 31 years.

Eardley will join the IDDBA on August 25 from HEB Grocery Company in San Antonio, Texas, where he has worked for the past 13 years in various roles with increasing responsibility, becoming the director of deli, cheese and prepared foods in 2009.

El Segundo, Calif. – Expenses associated with the development of its e-commerce platform helped drive net income at Big 5 Sporting Goods Corp. down 59% to $2.5 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2014, from $6.1 million in the same quarter a year earlier.

For the fiscal 2014 full year, Big 5 currently anticipates opening approximately 12 net new stores

Global fitness brand Reebok is expanding its retail footprint in New York with a new 3,070-sq.-ft. FitHub in Union Square.

Reebok first unveiled the new retail store concept at a pilot location in New York’s 5th Ave., in 2012, and has since expanded throughout the city with locations in the Upper East Side; Paramus, N.J.; and White Plains, N.Y.

Phoenix — CBRE Group, Inc. announced that Geoffrey Harris has joined the firm’s Capital Markets’ Debt and Structured Finance team as senior VP.

Based in Phoenix, Harris will play a key role in originating net-leased transactions for the firm nationally, in the multi and single-tenant, office, retail and industrial properties space.

Harris joins CBRE from Meridian Capital where he was managing director. He previously served as VP of Capital Markets at Marcus & Millichap.