Distribution

New York City -- Shoppers are crowding hardware stores, supermarkets and big-box retailers up and down the Northeast to pick up generators, bottled water, batteries and flashlights in preparation for Hurricane Irene. Experts say that demand for hurricane-related supplies is giving some retailers a boost that is likely to continue as people clean up in the storm’s wake.

Woonsocket, R.I. -- CVS/pharmacy’s distribution center in Chemung County, N.Y., has been awarded LEED Gold certification from the United States Building Council. It it the chain’s first LEED-certified distribution center.

Talk about visibility. Target went way beyond the norm in the retail industry earlier this year when it said that within six or seven years sales would reach $100 billion and earnings per share would double to at least $8. Expressing such a long term outlook is not without considerable risk, chief among them is the rapid pace of change in the retail industry and the fact that the competitive landscape and the factors influencing consumer demand could look very different within six or seven years.

Boulder, Colo. -- Organic grocer Sunflower Farmers Market said Monday that it will open a second location in San Jose in 2012, the company’s fourth in the Bay Area.

Sunflower said it will anchor West Valley Shopping Center, and is slated to open the 32,000-sq.-ft. store in second quarter 2012.

In a second-quarter earnings season characterized by weather-depressed sales figures, Oak Brook, Ill.-based Ace Hardware Corp. managed to show a gain in revenues.

For the three months ended July 2, Ace saw revenues increase 0.5% to $1.021 billion. For the six-month period, sales increased 1.6% over the same two quarters in 2010.

San Francisco -- Gap said Tuesday it plans to open stores in both Vietnam and Guam as part of the retailer’s efforts to ramp up overseas expansion.

A Gap store is slated to open in Vietnam in October, followed by a Banana Republic store in late 2012.

The first two Gap stores will open in Ho Chi Minh City as part of a franchise deal with Imex Pan Pacific, with additional stores set for Hanoi in 2012.

Cape Town, South Africa -- A Tuesday report by Bloomberg said that Shoprite Holdings Ltd. has announced plans to speed up its store expansion this year as it faces increased competition from Wal-Mart Stores.

South Africa’s largest retailer by market value, Shoprite said it will add 106 stores by June 2012. That compares with 96 openings in the same period last year. The company currently operates 1,246 stores.

SAN FRANCISCO — Gap Inc. announced that it has released its fifth social and environmental responsibility report, a comprehensive update on its supply chain operations, environmental programs and community investment efforts from 2009 to 2010.