News

New York -- Households with school-age children (pre-kindergarten through 12th grade) plan a big cut-back in back-to-school spending. Results of the 2013 Brand Keys Back to School Report Card show that there will be a year-over-year decrease of 10% in back-to-school spending, or an average spend this year of just more than $600 per household.

However, not every retailer will experience a decline in back-to-school profits. This year, the eight retailers showing the greatest increase in consumer intent-to-shop were:

1. Amazon

Walmart pulled a dietary supplement from its Web site this week following a report by USA Today that called into question the product’s safety and the track record of the supplier.
 
The product in question was a pre-workout supplement called Craze from supplier Matt Cahill who USA Today said has a history of putting risky supplements on the market. Walmart spokeswoman Dianna Gee said the product was pulled to, “allow us time to look further into not only the safety of the product, but also the integrity of the supplier.”

Woonsocket, RI – CVS Caremark Corporation has reached an agreement in principle to pay a fine of USD $20 million to resolve an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into certain public disclosures, securities transactions and aspects of the purchase accounting adjustment related to the October 2008 Longs Drug Stores acquisition the company made during the third and fourth quarters of 2009.

WASHINGTON — The National Retail Federation has issued statements from president and CEO Matthew Shay and chief economist Jack Kleinhenz on the July employment numbers.

NRF pegged retail job gains at 37,000 in July, with increases in general merchandise, food and beverage and building and garden supply stores.

HH Gregg saw a significant improvement in its financial results for the three-month period ended June 30. Despite a net loss of $1.3 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, the specialty retailer narrowed the gap from a net loss of $5.7 million, or $0.16 per diluted share, for the comparable prior-year period. 

The decrease in net loss for the three month period ended June 30, 2013 was due, in part, to a comparable-store sales increase of 0.8%, offset by a decrease in gross profit as a percentage of net sales.

ATLANTA, Ga. — Vir2o, a new social media platform by East Coast Diversified Corporation, has announced that its online, interactive e-commerce engine is open for business and powered by Amazon. 

Members of the aStore will be able to browse through a wide range of products and shop online with friends in their network in real time, thanks to ECDC's nVite technology. ECDC's proprietary nVite technology also lets Vir2o members watch movies together and share photos in real time.

LAKELAND, Fla. — Publix has raised its private stock from $26.90 per share to $27.55 per share following a 5% sales increase for the first half of 2013 to $14.5 billion, compared to the first half of 2013. Comparable-store sales for the first half of 2013 increased 3%.

Camp Hill, Pa. — Rite Aid had another month of positive sales growth in July, the retail pharmacy chain said Thursday.

Rite Aid said same-store sales for the four-week period that ended last Saturday increased by 1.3% compared with the same period last year. The increase included a 0.7% increase in front-end same-store sales and a 1.6% increase in pharmacy same-store sales. Same-store scripts increased by 0.4%. Total sales for the month were $1.898 billion, a 0.9% increase over $1.881 billion last year.