News

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Lowe's continues to implement its customer-focused strategy with the creation of new executive roles. The company has created a customer experience division that will be led by Gregory Bridgeford, chief customer officer, who is responsible for creating customer experiences that will best serve customers and differentiate Lowe’s from its competitors.

Reporting to Bridgeford are:

North Bergen, N.J. -- Vitamin Shoppe reported Tuesday that net income for the quarter ended March 31 rose to $18.3 million, from $11.6 million in the same period last year.

Sales surged 14.4% to $248.1 million, boosted by a strong 9.6% rise in same-store sales. E-commerce sales rose 15.5% in the quarter.

The vitamin retailer said it plans to open 52 new stores in fiscal 2012.
 

WAYNE, N.J. — Babies“R”Us is offering customers a new way to support military moms-to-be through a partnership with Operation Shower, an organization that hosts baby showers for military wives to ease the stress of their husbands’ deployment. The retailer has launched Babiesrus.com/OperationShower, which will serve as an online information portal, where visitors can learn how they can support this charitable program and ensure that military moms-to-be, who are often far away from friends and family, receive basic essentials for their newborns.

Cary, N.C. -- C-store operator The Pantry said Tuesday that it lost $9.7 million in the second quarter, compared with a loss of $300,000 in the same period last year. Results were hurt by rising gas prices.

Same-store merchandise sales rose 4.8%
 

NAPERVILLE, Ill. — Charges related to store closures in the United States caused OfficeMax's first quarter net income to drop from $4.9 million, or 6 cents per diluted share, compared with $11.4 million, or 12 cents per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2011. Adjusting for these charges, net income for the quarter was $20.3 million, or 23 cents per diluted share, compared with $11.4 million, or 13 cents per diluted share for the same period last year.

MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis. — Kohl's has added athletic merchandise from Fila to its exclusive of Kohl's Care collection. Available now through the end of July, the collection offers chic and stylish athletic apparel, accessories and gifts which can be found in all 40 Wisconsin Kohl's stores and online at Kohls.com, with 100% of the net profit donated to support the fight against breast cancer, the company said.

Naperville, Ill. -- OfficeMax Inc. reported Tuesday that net income for the quarter ended March 31 slid to $4.9 million, compared with $11.4 million in the year-ago period. Results were hampered by charges related to U.S. store closures.

Total sales edged up 0.5% to $1.9 billion. In the retail segment, sales dipped 2.7% to $912.3 million; same-stores sales fell 2.1%.

CINCINNATI — Kroger announced that it has kicked off a sales event during May that will support the broad range of programs and services the United Service Organizations provides to service members, their families and veterans.