News

Walmart said Tom Mars, EVP and chief administrative officer, will leave the company effective March 13.

Mars spent 11 years with the company and served as general counsel from 2002 to 2009 when he was promoted to his current role. In his current capacity, Mars was responsible for real estate, financial services for U.S. stores and company’s shows and events team and labor relations.

BELLEVUE, Wash. — Coinstar, a self-service coin-counting machine operator, has added a new feature that enables consumers to conveniently and securely add coins and paper currency into or withdraw funds from their PayPal account, as well as send money to another PayPal account. The rollout began this month in Texas, Northern California and Ohio and will continue at select kiosks throughout the year.  

LOS ANGELES — Sport Chalet, a sporting goods chain operating mostly on the west coast, has expanded its online assortment.

Sport Chalet customers now have the opportunity to buy expanded offerings of bikes, fitness equipment, and snow sports apparel and hardgoods online at www.sportchalet.com and have their order seamlessly fulfilled by the vendor. The company expects to continue to grow the assortment of vendors and product categories using this new drop ship functionality.

Columbus, Ohio -- Limited Brands Inc. said that its fourth quarter net income in the 14-week period through Feb. 2, 2013, rose a better-than expected 14% to $411.4 million. That compares to a 13-week period that ended on Jan. 28, 2012, in which net income came to $359.4 million. The chain also forecast profit for the current quarter and fiscal year below analysts' expectations.
 

Sixty percent of retailers with at least two years of negative comps turn them positive.

Here’s how. 

Two years of deep same-store sales declines can easily feel like a death sentence for most retailers. However, the data suggests it is indeed far from that. 

We analyzed all specialty retailers with sufficient public data over the last 20 years—nearly 70 retailers—and found that the majority of retailers who substantially underperformed the market ended up turning their comps positive in relatively short order. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Gap Inc. reported that net sales for the fourth quarter were $4.73 billion, compared with $4.28 billion for the same period last year. Same-store sales were up 5% for the quarter, compared with a 4% decrease during the same period last year.

Net income for the quarter was $351 million, or 73 cents per share on a diluted basis. This compares with net income of $218 million, or 44 cents per share on a diluted basis, for the same period last year.

New York -- Barnes & Noble reported on Thursday a loss in the fiscal third quarter, hurt by a 26% decline in revenue for its Nook e-book readers.
 
The company posted a loss of $6.1 million quarter through Jan. 26, compared to a profit of $52 million in the year-ago period. The retailer blamed the loss partially on charges stemming from weaker-than-expected sales of Nook e-readers during the holiday shopping season.
   
Revenue fell 9% to $2.22 billion. Analysts had predicted sales of $2.4 billion.

Amazon lead the pack in the retail field on Fortune’s “Most Admired Companies” list. The e-commerce juggernaut was third ranked overall (behind Apple and Google) for, among other reasons, its efficient customer service and leadership under CEO Jeff Bezos.

Nordstrom captured the number 16 spot for generating buzz for its first full-line retail store in Manhattan, well before its planned open date in 2018 and for its successful clearance brand, Nordstrom Rack.