Supply Chain & Merchandising

Seattle -- Cooking retailer Sur La Table said Monday it will open a flagship store in Hearst Tower, New York City, in late 2011.

The chain’s first NYC space opened in SoHo in 2005 and a second store in the Upper East Side opened in 2010.

The new store will include Sur La Table’s largest kitchen and cooking class program. Customers will be able to take cooking classes, as well as attend events with media partners and renowned chefs from around the world. Cooking classes are currently slated to start in early December.

Target has a lot of things going right for it right now with some decent sales momentum and a mix of current and long term initiatives to drive growth. Even so, Target is in the same boat as other retailers who are posting solid profits, but doing so in an uncertain economic climate where fragile consumer confidence makes it hard to get to aggressive when it comes to forecasting future performance.

IRVING, Texas  — Michaels Stores and procurement management firm announced on Friday a five-year agreement under which LogicSource will provide print procurement and related services to Michaels.

More than $250 million of print and promotional spend will be covered over the life of the contract.

Prior to beginning the relationship, LogicSource conducted a strategic analysis of Michaels’s print production ecosystem, from creative through to distribution, and developed a program designed for cost savings and operational enhancements.

Bentonville, Ark. -- According to reports by Reuters and Bloomberg on Friday, Wal-Mart Stores is transferring management of its e-commerce business to store-level leadership in developed countries and said that two online executives are leaving the company.

According to the reports, e-commerce leaders in markets such as the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, will now report directly to the heads of stores in those countries instead of global e-commerce executive Eduardo Castro-Wright.

SUNBURY, Pa. — The Professional Recyclers of Pennsylvania recently recognized Weis Markets for its commitment to recycling and its innovative program to recycle waxed cardboard used to ship and store fresh vegetables and meats, the grocer announced Monday.

In 2010, Weis Markets teamed up with Envirolog to recycle its waxed cardboard and produce Envirolog fireplace logs, which are sold in Weis Markets stores.  Typically, supermarkets send most of their waxed cardboard to landfills since it is difficult to recycle.

Mooresville, N.C. -- Lowe’s Cos. reported Monday that profit for the quarter ended July 29 was $830 million, down from $832 million in the year-ago period. The home improvement retailer closed seven underperforming stores on Sunday and trimmed its earnings forecast for the year.

“Despite some recovery in our seasonal business, our performance for the quarter fell short of our expectations," said Robert A. Niblock, CEO.

Net sales edged up 1.3% to $14.5 billion; same-store sales dipped 0.3%.

Target is set to report second quarter earnings Wednesday morning, and let’s just say it would be a surprise if there were any surprises. The company is pretty thorough when it comes to managing investor expectations and provides commentary regarding whether analysts’ estimates are too high or too low.

That was the case at the end of the first quarter when the company indicated the then consensus estimate of $1 a share for the second quarter was too high, or as CFO Doug Scovanner indicated “above the midpoint of a reasonable range of likely outcomes.”

New York City -- Target announced that the British take-out chain Pret A Manager will open a location in CityTarget in Chicago.

The new, smaller Target format is set to open in the Windy City in 2012.