News

Electrolux North America has recently begun production on its first Memphis, Tenn.-made home cooking appliances.

The inaugural products produced at the Memphis facility, the Frigidaire and Frigidaire Gallery slide–in ranges, rolled off the assembly line, were crated and loaded onto trucks for warehousing and retail distribution throughout the United States. This marks the culmination of a two-year construction effort of the $266 million facility.

Fresh off another quarter of same store sales growth, Food Lion held grand re-opening activities at 169 stores in North and South Carolina beginning Wednesday, November 13 in observation of investments the company said it has now made in nearly all of its 1,100 stores.

The retail industry continues to hurtle toward an omnichannel reality with the most recent example involving SharperImage.com and the integration of “buy now” mobile capabilities provided by Digimarc into its print catalogs.

Rite Aid has elected president and CEO of Catholic Health Initiatives Kevin Lofton to its board of directors.

Lofton has worked with the Englewood, Colo.-based operator of hospitals and long-term care centers since 1998 and was appointed as its president and CEO in 2003.

Import volume at the nation’s major retail container ports grew 6.5% in October over the same month last year despite the government shutdown. Year-over-year increases are expected to continue for the remainder of the year, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

Veteran information technology executive Joe Zucchero has joined the board of advisors at big data solutions provider Profitect.

Profitect said Zucchero’s expertise in IT operations, cross-organizational implementation, and an understanding of the technology needs of the retail industry aligned perfectly with the company’s suite of solutions.

Lowe’s is kicking off the holiday season by positioning itself as the go-to place for DIYers to shop for materials that will allow them to tackle budget-friendly DIY projects so they can prepare their homes for the holidays.

The home improvement retailer has a dedicated landing page offering inspiration from do-it-yourselfers and designers, including Design Mom, Little Green Notebook, Brit + Co., Curbly and P.S. – I made this… and Oh Happy Day.

Leading food wholesaler Nash Finch said its third quarter sales growth was cut in half as a result of the government shutdown in September.

Total sales increase 3.5% to $1.56 billion during the period ended October 5, but the rate of growth would have been nearly double without the government shutdown which impacted defense department commissaries that are Nash Finch customers.

Less than a week after Office Depot and Officemax consummated their merger, the combined companies have a new chairman and CEO in former Delhaize America CEO Roland Smith.

In conjunction with the appointment of Smith, who also previously served as CEO of Wendy’s, the two CEOs of Office Depot and OfficeMax who were serving as co-CEOs of the combined company both resigned. Neil Austrian served as CEO of Office Depot and Ravi Saligram served as CEO of OfficeMax prior to the merger.

Los Angeles -- Sport Chalet reported a loss for the second quarter of fiscal 2014 of $3.0 million, compared to net income of $0.8 million in the year-ago period. Sales decreased 5.2% to $86.7 million from $91.5 million, with a 2.5% comparable store sales decrease. Among the few bright spots was a 32.4% increase in online sales, and a better-than-expected performance by the chain's new store concept.