News

Walgreens Walgreens has named Linda Filler as president of retail products and chief merchandising officer effective Jan. 1.

Walgreens President and CEO Greg Wasson said: “With the addition of Linda, our retail products division will be well-positioned to join with Alliance Boots to deliver the unique combination of products and services that will set apart our future combined company.”

Bentonville, Ark. - Sam’s Club is introducing a new free Sam’s Club Travel mobile application designed to offer Sam’s Club members savings on hotels, rental cars, vacation homes, and other travel activities. Sam’s Club is the first mass market retailer to offer members a mobile app exclusively dedicated to leisure and business travel needs.   

Amazon has introduced a line of “ethically sourced” products for Amazon Prime members.

Amazon Elements will consist of premium products with “transparent origins,” the company said. Amazon Elements will offer Prime members an upgraded level of information about products: when and where items were made, why each ingredient was included, where the ingredients were sourced and more.

Seattle - Starbucks Coffee Company isn’t resting on its laurels. The chain’s five-year strategic growth plan—unveiled Thursday at its biennial Investor Day—includes new store formats,  expanded food offerings, and digital initiatives.  

Even if Dollar General is unsuccessful in acquiring Family Dollar, the company plans to get bigger faster in 2015 by opening two stores every day and enhancing the productivity of an already expansive footprint.

Teen retailer Five Below elevated Joel Anderson to the role of CEO in conjunction with the release of third quarter results that showed strong improvement in profitability despite a modest 1.5 percent same store sales increase.

Columbus, Ohio – Express Inc. topped Wall Street expectations with net income of $14.6 million during the third quarter of fiscal 2014, a 24% decline from $19.3 million the same quarter the previous year. Increased buying and occupancy costs contributed to the decline in profits.   Net sales decreased 1% to $497.6 million from $503.8 million. Same-store sales, including e-commerce sales, decreased 5%. E-commerce sales rose 11% to $79.1 million.  

Kmart eked out a positive third quarter same store sales increase, but parent company Sears Holdings still reported a $548 million loss while CEO Edward Lampert claimed customers are responding to transformation efforts.