News

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A down economy means people are less likely to buy new cars, which means they will need to take care of the ones they do have, and that's good news for companies like O'Reilly Automotive, which reported sales and earnings growth for the third quarter.

St. Louis -- Build-A-Bear Workshop reported Thursday a profit of $0.9 million for the third quarter, compared with a loss of $1.4 million in the year-ago period.

Sales rose 3.1% to $95.4 million, and same-store sales increased 1.1%.

“We remain optimistic about our business and expect the ongoing implementation of our strategies to enable us to continue our positive performance,” said Maxine Clark, Build-A-Bear Workshop’s chairman and chief executive bear. International revenue surged 14%.

Dallas -- SRS Real Estate Partners said that Dollar Tree/Deal$ has leased four new retail spaces, all in New York.

The company leased 12,000 sq. ft. in Maspeth, N.Y.; 12,000 sq. ft. in Brooklyn; 10,250 sq. ft. in Sunnyside; and 9,341 sq. ft. on Broadway in New York City.
 

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. — Pet Supplies Plus, the third-largest pet specialty retailer in the United States, announced that Harvey Solway, executive chairman of the company, is retiring effective Dec. 31.

Solway, 60, began his twenty-year career with Pet Supplies Plus as EVP and general counsel and served as the company's CEO from January 1993 through June 2011. Solway led PSP through its formative years and was instrumental in growing the business to its 92 corporate and 159 franchise stores today, the company reported. 

Citigroup found that toy prices at both Walmart and Target fell by 4% and that the price gap between the two retailers on toys has narrowed since its first survey.

According to Ciitgroup, retail prices of a basket of “hot” toys for holiday 2011 are now 30 bps cheaper at Walmart than at Target, compared with 50 bps cheaper at Walmart in its previous survey. However, taking into account Target’s 5% rewards discount, the basket of toys became 470 bps more expensive at Walmart, compared with 450 bps more expensive in the previous survey.

Naperville, Ill. -- OfficeMax reported Thursday that net income for the quarter ended Sept. 24 rose to $21.5 million, compared with $20 million in the year-ago period.

Sales dipped 2.1% to $1.77 billion from $1.81 billion, barely meeting Wall Street’s expected $1.807 billion. Same-store sales dropped 4.3%.

“We remain focused on driving operational efficiencies as we position the company for long-term growth," said Ravi Saligram, president and CEO, OfficeMax.

GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn. — Dollar General announced that it is going to head-to-head with toy retailers and discounters alike by offering more than 300 toys for $5 or less.

"Customers will find the toys their children want at great prices at Dollar General," said Todd Vasos, Dollar General's chief merchandising officer. "We've worked hard all year to bring our shoppers an exciting toy assortment this season. Our toy department features many new toys and twice the number of licensed toys compared to previous years."

Camp Hill, Pa. -- Rite Aid Corp. reported Thursday that same-store sales increased 2.9% in October, boosted by a 3.6% surge in pharmacy same-store sales. Front-end same-store sales edged up 1.3%.

Total drugstore sales for the four-week period increased 2.8% to $1.96 billion compared to $1.91 billion for the same period last year.