News

Mahwah, N.J. -- Connecticut retailer Pilgrim Furniture City has expanded its relationship with TD Retail Card Services, moving from the company’s Renovate Card program to a branded private label card created specifically for Pilgrim customers.

New York -- Shares of Safeway Inc. shares rose as much as 9% on Wednesday on rumors of increased buyout interest for its Canada operations by Canadian grocer Metro Inc. and Loblaw Companies Ltd.

On Tuesday, Metro announced it was selling off nearly half its stake in Couche-Tard Inc. for $482 million.

In December, Loblaw announced plans to spin off the vast majority of its property assets into a real estate investment trust.

A new research report by The NPD Group unveiled information I already knew:  the restaurant space is growing by leaps and bounds. In fact, the total restaurant count in the U.S. increased by 4,442 units over last year, according to NPD’s recent restaurant census Fall 2012 ReCount.

That’s no small potatoes.

Some 616,008 eateries now dot the country, representing a .7% increase over last year, with the biggest growth coming from the quick-serve segment (up 1% over last year, or an added 4,037 units).

When Target recently announced its new online price matching policy, I’m sure I wasn’t the only retail analyst whose first thought was: “This could be a pretty big deal.” While a number of retailers (including Target itself) have experimented with similar price-matching or pricing guarantee programs in the past, this new policy takes things to a new level.

By Akhilesh Srivastava, [email protected]

CITY OF INDUSTRY, Calif. — Jim McGinty, CFO of teen retailer, Hot Topic, has resigned from the company, effective March 29, the company announced Monday. George Wehlitz, VP, Finance, will serve as the interim CFO.

“We are grateful for Jim’s committed service to the company over the past 12 years and wish him well in the next phase of his career,” said Lisa Harper, chairman and CEO of Hot Topic.

TRACY, Calif.   — Amazon will open a new fulfillment center in Tracy, Calif., creating hundreds of jobs in the process, the company announced.
 

DALLAS — Tuesday Morning has named John Rossler as EVP, COO, effective immediately. Rossler has been serving as an executive advisor to Tuesday Morning since October, 2012, and his focus has been primarily on operational efficiencies, including overall cost control, supply chain and real estate. His distinguished career in retail includes serving as president and CEO of DSW Inc. and Retail Ventures Inc.

NEW YORK — Expect to see more consumer package goods on warehouse club shelves, as a new survey reveals this to be a high growth area for CPG companies.

According to new research from Deloitte, consumer products executives expect their highest growth to come from the warehouse club channel compared with any other retail sales channel over the next three years, including mass merchandise, grocery, and e-commerce.

NORWALK, Conn. — BJ’s Wholesale Club has reached a multi-year agreement with LogicSource Inc. to provide enhanced print procurement and management services that will deliver significant cost savings to BJ’s. Terms were not disclosed.

LogicSource will provide onsite co-sourcing for all of BJ’s print procurement needs by collaborating with BJ’s to identify new potential supply chain partners and procurement efficiencies.