Supply Chain & Merchandising

Dollar Tree's yearlong takeover saga, in which the retailer's offer to buy Family Dollar prompted a separate buyout attempt from Dollar General, is finally over.

Dollar Tree Inc. announced that it has completed its $8.5 billion acquisition of Family Dollar Stores Inc. Dollar Tree also named a new president and COO of Family Dollar. The combined company will operate about 13,000 stores, making it the largest dollar store chain in the U.S. by store count. 

American Apparel Inc. is launching a restructuring plan aimed at cutting costs as the retailer looks to turn around its struggling business.

The retailer said it would be closing stores, cutting jobs and unveil a new fall line.

Mississauga, Canada – Walmart Canada is looking to extend its omnichannel grocery experience.

Starting on July 7, customers will be able to place online grocery orders for select product, including fresh food, for pickup in six stores in the Ottawa area. An additional five stores will offer the service starting on July 21. The pickup fee is $3 and customers will be able to order up to 21 days in advance.

Seattle – July is often a slow-paced month for consumers, but Amazon.com is seeking to change that. In an effort to promote its Amazon Prime paid loyalty program, the retailer is encouraging customers to celebrate “Prime Day,” a one-day global shopping event on July 15 that is says will have more deals than Black Friday.

Los Angeles -- American Apparel on Monday announced it would close some stores as part of a $30 million cost-cutting initiative in its strategic turnaround plan. (American Apparel CEO Paula Schneider discussed the plan with CSA in a recent interview.) The embattled company also made two other revealing disclosures.

RadioShack plans to enhance its in-store experience and deliver an exciting new product mix now that it has $75 million in new funding.

General Wireless Operations Inc., doing business as RadioShack, has completed new financing consisting of a $50 million asset-based lending credit facility led by RBC Capital Markets and a $25 million first-in last-out term loan led by Great American Capital Partners.

Walmart has experimented with grocery delivery and store pick up in the U.S. for several years and now it is testing the waters in Canada.

Walmart chose Ottawa, a medium-sized city an hour west of Montreal in the French-speaking province of Quebec, as the first market in Canada to receive the Online Grocery Pickup service. Eleven stores in the city are part of the program. Six locations are scheduled to go live on July 7 with another five stores due to come online July 21. Walmart operates 395 stores throughout Canada.

Charlotte, N.C. – Family-owned Belk Inc., which hired Goldman Sachs in April to explore “strategic alternatives,” may have landed on a high-end shopping list. According to Reuters, New York-based equity firm Sycamore Partners may be considering bidding $3 billion to $3.5 billion for Belk.

Belk operates about 300 stores and averages about $4 billion in annual sales. In the first quarter of fiscal 2015, Belk reported earnings of $21.8 million and sales of $958 million, both of which were year-over-year improvements.