News

CINCINNATI and WAYNE, N.J. — Macy’s and Toys"R"Us -- likely the two retailers most associated with Christmas -- have joined together for a unique retail partnership.

MINNEAPOLIS — More unsettling news from Best Buy this week, as the company announced the departure of EVP and CFO Jim Muehlbauer.

Muehlbauer, who joined the company in 2002, will support the company through 2013 as it searches for a new finance chief.

ISSAQUAH, Wash. — Costco reported fourth-quarter sales of $31.52 billion, an increase of 14% from $27.59 billion for the same period last year.

Net income for the quarter was $609 million, or $1.39 per diluted share, compared with $478 million, or $1.08 per diluted share, during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011.

Comparable-store sales, excluding fuel, rose 6% at U.S. stores, 7% internationally and 6% for the total company.

FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. — The Wet Seal has named four new members to its board of directors and Lynda Davey as chairman of the board.

The new members, who joined effective Oct. 4, include: Dorrit Bern, Lynda Davey, Mindy Meads and John Mills.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart said Tuesday it is testing same-day delivery service in four markets over the holiday shopping season.

The service is being tested in northern Virginia, Philadelphia, Minneapolis and San Francisco/San Jose, Calif. Geared toward customers who buy popular items online during the holidays, the test includes about 5,000 items and builds on a same-day grocery delivery service the retailer launched in San Jose in April 2010 and tested in San Francisco in 2011.

TOPEKA, Kan. — Payless Holdings has named Paul Jones as CEO. Jones was most recently chairman, president and CEO of Shopko Stores, a $2.7 billion mass merchandiser providing quality products and health services at great values in small to mid-sized markets. Jones will be based in Topeka and will join the company in an official capacity on Oct. 22.
 

WATERBURY, Vt., and PLANO, Texas — Green Mountain Coffee Roasters announced that Dr Pepper Snapple Group's Snapple iced teas soon will be available in K-Cup and Vue packs for GMCR's Keurig single-cup brewing systems.

GMCR and DPS said Snapple K-Cup pack iced teas will be offered in a variety of at-home and away-from-home channels for Keurig brewer consumers in the United States and Canada in spring 2013. Vue packs will debut later next year.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart plans a modest acceleration of its small format stores in the coming years as investors were assured Wednesday morning that financial returns are now comparable with the company’s large supercenters.

DOVER, N.J. — Casio America has joined with Registroid LLC -- an independent software vendor located in Mobile, Alabama -- to offer a comprehensive retail point of sale system called the Registroid Cloud to its Android VX-100 all in one POS unit.

SAN FRANCISCO — Gap Inc. is expanding its e-commerce service to Japan. Japaese customers can now shop Gap and Banana Republic products online through its new Japanese e-commerce sites (gap.co.jp and bananarepublic.co.jp).  The sites offer Gap, GapKids, babyGap and Banana Republic products.