News

Boston -- Walmart continues to maintain its basket price advantage over Target, according to Kantar Retail’s semi-annual pricing study. But while Walmart maintained its lower-priced basket – with a leap even further ahead in non-edible grocery – the retailer’s basket was still only 1% less expensive than Target’s, the smallest price gap since the June 2012 study.  
 

I’m excited to announce a new partnership Chain Store Age is launching with Plug and Play Tech Center, an innovative Silicon Valley tech startup investor whose mission is to connect promising tech startups with retail corporations in an attempt to help retailers transition into the technological age. From time to time, you will be seeing Plug and Play-related content on our site and in our magazine.

Goodlettsville, Tenn. -- The battle between the extreme discounters is heating up: Dollar General Corp. said Monday it has made an all-cash bid of $9.7 billion for Family Dollar, topping a deal Dollar Tree made last month. Dollar General is bidding $78.50 per Family Dollar share, which includes a $2.26 per share premium over Family Dollar’s closing price on Friday. The offer is $4 higher per share than the $8.5 billion deal with Dollar Tree.

Dollar General bid $78.50 for Family Dollar Monday morning in a $9.7 billion deal that exceeds the $74.50 a share Dollar Tree offered for Family Dollar on July 28.

The deal would create a small format powerhouse with nearly 20,000 stores in 46 states and sales of more than $28 billion.

Online home and housewares retailer Wayfair.com is prepared to go public and has some of the biggest names on Wall Street lined up to sell its shares.

Wayfair.com, one of world’s largest online destinations for home furnishings and décor items, has grown sales rapidly in recently years, but true to form with other aspiring online retailers, its losses have increased as its spends more on marketing.

A new initiative at Books-A-Million called “The Write Stuff” will reveal whether book buyers value the opinions of the retailer’s merchants.

In the coming weeks, Books-A-Million will roll out its “The Write Stuff” program online and in stores. The program revolves around use of a Write Stuff logo next to different titles which signifies they were hand selected by the retailer’s buying staff.

Head & Shoulders and brand ambassador Sofia Vergara are leveraging social media for the shampoo’s latest contest. And the winner gets to meet Vergara.

“I’m excited to give one of my fans the chance to become part of my family for a day,” said Vergara. “Everyone knows eight out of nine Vergaras use Head & Shoulders, now we’re looking for the 10th! We’re looking for someone who flaunts their beautiful, flake-free hair with a little Vergara attitude!”

The Quest for Texas Best competition is a project of H-E-B Primo Picks, a two-year old statewide program that aims to find the best food and beverage products that Texas has to offer.

Judges whittled nearly 600 submissions from across the Lone Star State to 25 finalists. Submissions came from 128 towns across the state, yielding a mix of jams, jellies, spices and meats. Entries spanned 74 categories including beer, butter, cookies and milk, muffins, Mexican pastries, pickles, sauces and teas.

As Little League Baseball and Softball turns 75, the Heinz has been named the league’s official condiment and will play a role in upcoming events.

Nordstrom’s Sarah Jessica Parker line of handbags and shoes will be sold in five more stores this fall, bringing the total number of stores carrying the collection to 30.

The company announced Monday that locations in Troy, Michigan; Bellevue, Washington; Skokie, Illinois; Austin, Texas; and Newport Beach, California would start carrying the film and TV star’s products. To accompany the expansion, Parker will tour three malls from Aug. 21-23 to promote her line.