News

Sears Holdings plans to hire an investment banking firm to explore strategic alternatives regarding its 51% ownership stake in Sears Canada.

The strategic alternatives are said to include the potential sale of Sears Holdings’ interest or Sears Canada as a whole, according to a statement by the Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based company. In a separate statement, Sears Canada said its board of directors intended to cooperate fully with Sears Holdings in the strategic alternatives exploration process to achieve full value for all shareholders.

New York – Macy’s Inc. beat Wall Street expectations with profits of $224 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2014, up 3.2% from $217 million in the same quarter the prior year.

Earnings rose even as sales fell 1.7% to $6.38 billion, from $6.39 billion. Same-store sales declined 0.8%. Increased operating income and decreased cost of sales helped boost net income, while severe winter weather took a toll on sales.

Hy-Vee has won the 2014 RFID Journal Award for “Best Use of RFID to Enhance a Product or Service” at this year’s RFID Journal Live Event in Orlando, Fla. Hy-Vee, along with its technology provider, TempTRIP, implemented the first complete cold-chain management system for retail to monitor temperature of perishable foods from the vendor to the distribution center and continuing to the store.

La Paz, Bolivia - Bolivian drugstore chain FarmaCorp S.A., has entered into a five-year agreement for Revionics Price Optimization with Revionics Inc. FarmaCorp was searching for a price optimization solution and a partner that would help analyze customer demand and shopping preferences.

Weis Markets has appointed David Gose as the company’s SVP of operations.

In that capacity Gose will oversee the day-to-day operation and management of the company’s stores. He reports to COO Kurt Schertle.

New York – A user-centric approach is the best way to enhance trust, transparency and privacy in personal data usage. In conjunction with A.T. Kearney, the World Economic Forum has released three reports as part of its Rethinking Personal Data initiative.

The nation’s leading department store retailer overcame weak first quarter sales to muster a 3.2% profit improvement and expressed confidence in its performance the remainder of the year.

The company’s first quarter earnings per share of 60 cents was a penny better than analysts forecast and a 9% improvement from prior year earnings of 55 cents. However, sales declined 1.7% to nearly $6.3 billion while same store sales, excluding sales from departments licensed to third parties, fell 1.6%.

Jackson, Texas - Convenience store operator Buc-ee’s is using a complete software, hardware and services solution from NCR. The NCR solution is helping to streamline operations as well as increase speed and reliability at the point-of-sale.