Supply Chain & Merchandising

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — The market on Friday cheered a move by Kmart parent company Sears Holdings to cut 700 positions from the appliance departments at 225 stores. Shares of Sears Holding advanced $2.67 on Friday to close at $74.03 after news of the layoffs was reported Friday morning by the Wall Street Journal.

New York City -- Borders Group has reached agreements with its landlords to extend the leases on 11 stores it had previously asked a bankruptucy court to shutter, the Associated Press reported.

Last week, the chain asked permission to start liquidating 51 stores because of a condition for its financing. But it said at the time it was actively working to keep them open.

Repeated assurances by Walmart’s most senior executives that their top priority is growing U.S. same-store sales may be reassuring news to investors, but the company’s ability to do so by the end of the year now is a firmly established expectation. This is especially true, given the recent performance of once of the company top grocery competitors.

New York City -- Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel met with executives from six grocery chains, including Walgreen Co. Wal-Mart Stores and Aldi about eliminating food “deserts” in six Chicago neighborhoods, the Associated Press reported.

Emanuel showed a detailed map of Chicago food deserts and made business cases to the grocery executives for specific properties in each food desert area. He said 450,000 Chicagoan's don't have access to fresh food.

Sam’s is enjoying some solid momentum these days, but a potential buyout of BJ’s Wholesale Club announced Friday morning could create some competitive issues in market where the companies operations overlap.

Of course, that assumes the private equity firms Leonard Green & Partners and CVC Capital Partners, the companies who have joined forces to take BJ’s private, are interested in growing the business and investing in operations as opposed to simply squeezing the 190 unit retailer for cash.

Washington, D.C. -- Organized retail crime should not be an issue solely addressed at the store level, according to the results of the National Retail Federation’s seventh annual Organized Retail Crime survey. More than half of retailers (49.6%) say they have been a victim of cargo theft in the past 12 months.

Atlanta -- Sandal retailer Flip Flop Shops announced Thursday it has signed its 100th franchisee agreement for a new store to be located in Universal Studios, Calif. The store will be followed by openings in Santa Monica and Las Vegas.

The announcement follows recent news about the growing chain’s master franchise deal for Canada, which will see units open across the country.

Walmart executive were said to be among a group of major retailers who met with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday to discuss the elimination of the city’s “food deserts,” essentially areas where roughly 450,000 residents don’t have convenient access to fresh food.

According to an AP report, representatives from Walmart, Walgreen, Aldi and three other chains who were not identified met with Emanuel who reportedly showed a detailed map of the city’s food deserts and made an appeal for projects in specific areas.