News

DALLAS — Neiman Marcus is getting set to deck its flagship downtown Dallas location in gold and pink to celebrate beauty brand Mary Kay's 50th anniversary.

Known for its high fashion window displays, Neiman Marcus — which is headquartered in Dallas — has dedicated four of its windows to the brand's milestone and to its founder, Mary Kay Ash.

Walmart knows it isn’t going to win any supermarket industry prizes for store experience, not when operators such as Whole Foods and Publix are involved, but not leading the pack on price is a different matter.

St. Louis — Build-A-Bear Workshop narrowed its second-quarter loss to $6.2 million from $7.5 million in the year-ago period, boosted by improved sales and store productivity.

Total revenues were $81.9 million , up 1.9% from the $80.4 million reported in the second quarter of 2012.  Same-store sales rose 7.3%, including an 8.6% increase in North America and 1.7% increase in Europe. E-commerce sales rose 5.2%.

Last week it was veteran retail analyst Walter Loeb bemoaning what he viewed as Walmart’s deteriorating store standards. This week Ad Age took aim at the company’s brand image.
 
In a piece by Simon Dumenco, he recounts how early shopping experiences at Walmart stores were an eagerly anticipated experienced. However, like Loeb Dumenco took a shot at the store experience and then when a step further.

HERSHEY, Pa. — Core brand growth and new products in U.S. and key international markets bolstered Hershey Company’s second quarter results for the period ended June 30. The company reported consolidated net sales of $1.5 billion for the quarter, a 6.7% increase from $1.4 billion for same quarter a year ago.

Hershey’s reported net income for the quarter was $159 million or $0.70 per share-diluted, compared with $135 million or $0.59 per share-diluted for the comparable period of 2012.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — O’Reilly Automotive achieved a record quarterly gross margin of 50.8% for the second quarter ended June 30, primarily driven by improvements in acquisition costs, product mix and pricing management, according to president and CEO Greg Henslee.

The automotive aftermarket industry retailer saw sales for the quarter rise to $1.71 billion, a 10% increase from $1.56 billion for the same period one year ago. Gross profit for the second quarter was $872 million, a 12% increase from $780 million for the same period one year ago. 

Abilene, Kan. -- Alco Stores Inc. has entered into an agreement to be acquired by private investment firm Argonne Capital Group LLC.

The Atlanta-based Argonne will acquire all the outstanding share of Alco's common stock for $14 per share in cash. The proposed transaction, expected to close later year, would total about $47 million.

Alco's board of directors has unanimously approved the merger agreement and is recommending that shareholders approve it.

NEW YORK — Colgate-Palmolive saw a boost in second-quarter net sales as its global market share in toothpaste and manual toothbrushes hit record highs year-to-date.

Net sales for the quarter totaled $4.35 billion, up 2% compared with the year-ago period. 

Net income, which included charges related to its restructuring program, totaled $561 million, or 60 cents per diluted share, for the quarter. This compares with net income of $627 million, or 65 cents per diluted share, in the year-ago period.