Supply Chain & Merchandising

New York City -- Target Corp. will sell off Zellers’ prescription customer files to other companies and start its own business from scratch once it launches Target in Canada, according to reports in The Globe and Mail.

While Zellers pharmacies are money-makers, keeping them open while Target closes the stores for remodeling would be costly and complicated, according to the report.

The potential suitors for the files are likely to include Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. and Katz Group Canada Ltd., the report said.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. That seems to be the message implied in Walmart’s guidance for fourth-quarter same-store sales in a range of flat to up 2%. The company’s comps expectations follow a third-quarter increase of 1.3% that ended a two-year string of negative results, but appear rather muted against the backdrop of talk about the company’s gathering momentum, the effectiveness of strategies and solid positioning for the holidays.

As cost savings continue to be the name of the game in retail, supply chain has come under even closer scrutiny as a major expense to be controlled. Chain Store Age talked with George Prest, COO of the Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA), about what lies ahead for the supply chain and global trade, as well as the association’s inaugural trade show MODEX, to be held in early 2012. 

What one trend do think will most shape the supply chain in 2012?

An early November announcement that an area of downtown Atlanta would become the site of a multi-modal transit hub was welcome news to anyone who has ever sat in the southern city’s many traffic snarls.

Foothill Ranch, Calif. -- The Wet Seal reported Thursday that net income for the third quarter rose to $3.7 million, from $2.6 million a year earlier.

Sales increased to $152.1 million from $146.4 million. Same-store sales declined 0.9% on a consolidated basis.

The company had six store openings and two store closings at Wet Seal and four store openings and no store closings at Arden B during the third quarter. It expects to have 22 net Wet Seal store openings and three net Arden B store openings for the full year.
 

Nashville, Tenn. -- Kirkland’s net profit in its fiscal third quarter as operating expenses and cost of sales rose, and same-store sales declined. But its results still beat Wall Street's expectations. The company earned $1.2 million, compared with $2.3 million a year earlier.

Operating expenses rose 8% to $31.3 million, while the company's cost of sales rose 7% to $60.9 million.

Sales rose 5% to $97.1 million, from $92.7 million. Same-store sales were down 3.6%.
 

PHOENIX — Even in a tough economy, consumers are reluctant to cut back spending on their pets, as was made clear by PetSmart's whopping 32% growth in earnings and strong sales performance during the third quarter.

The retailer reported reported earnings of 50 cents per share, up 32% compared with 38 cents per share in the third quarter of 2010. Net income totaled $56 million in the third quarter of 2011, compared with $46 million in the third quarter of 2010.

Sam’s Club president and CEO Brian Cornell may have been the last of Walmart’s three divisional presidents to speak on the company’s conference call, but he had the best news to share.

Sam’s produced a 5.7% third-quarter same-store sales increase that was unaided by fuel prices, and Cornell indicated the string of seven consecutive quarters of sequentially increasing comps could be extended in the fourth quarter, with guidance that set 6% as the upper end of the forecast range.