News

Walmart and the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation have teamed up to donate $1 million to fund the renovation and expansion of the current Sam M. Walton College of Business display, honoring Walmart’s founder, Sam Walton. Each organization donated $500,000 to update the display in the Business Administration Building on the University of Arkansas campus. 

Dallas -- Family Express has improved its inventory management operations significantly by deploying Retalix Ltd.’s demand-driven replenishment solution across its convenience stores in Northwestern Indiana, Retalix said.

Specialty retailer Brookstone has hired Stephen Bebis as its new president and CEO, effective immediately.

Prior to joining Brookstone, Bebis spent 14 years as founder, president and CEO of Golf Town, the largest specialty golf retailer in Canada. Starting the business from scratch, Bebis grew Golf Town to 57 locations across Canada and led the expansion of the company into the Boston market last year with seven stores.

TOPEKA, Kan. — Net sales at Collective Brands during the first quarter increased 5% to $912.1 million over the same period last year, driven in part by an 8.1% increase in comparable-store sales. The company reported net income of $33.2 million, or 54 cents per share, compared with $26.4 million, or 42 cents per share, in the first quarter of 2011.

Minneapolis -- Target announced it will now offer shoppers the shopkick app via their smartphones. The service will allow shoppers to earn points for shopping at Target that can be redeemed for a variety of rewards.

“In our test launch, Target guests in seven cities had the opportunity to experience shopkick at Target and we received rave reviews. Now guests nationwide can start earning valuable points just by shopping our stores,” said Bonnie Gross, Target VP marketing and guest engagement.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Sears is encouraging customer feedback for the products it sells by offering shoppers the chance to vote for their favorite participating charity every time they post a product review. Through its "Love/Hate: Share Your Thoughts, Send Some Love" project, Sears is offering customers the chance to share their opinion -- good or bad -- on products and in return vote for one of four charities to receive a grand prize of $100,000. The participating charities competing for the grand prize  include the American Cancer Society, St.

Dallas -- Zale Corp reported a narrower third-quarter loss on Wednesday.

Zale’s net loss narrowed by about a half to $4.5 million in the third quarter ended April 30, from $9 million a year ago.

Revenues for the quarter ended April 30, 2012 rose 8.1% to $445 million, compared with $412 million in the same period last year. Same-store sales increased 8%.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Customers who wish to pay their bills in person can now do so at Kmart through the retailers new CheckFreePay walk-in bill payment service from Fiserv. The program is available at all Kmart stores nationwide and accepts bill payment from more than 3,000 companies—everything from electric, gas and cable bills to credit card statements and auto loans.