News

Mooresville, N.C. -- Lowe’s Cos. on Tuesday confirmed a July 8 proposal to acquire Canadian home-improvement and hardware retailer Rona, but said the Quebec-based chain rejected the $1.9 billion offer.

According to the 800-store Rona, the sale to Lowe’s would not be in its best interests.

"Rona's strategic focus remains to execute on its business plan with a view to capturing the significant opportunities that it sees for the business," Rona said in a statement.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Walmart has unveiled its 100th solar-powered store on College Avenue in San Diego. By working with California-based SolarCity, the company’s focus on solar power has generated more than 3,000 contract construction jobs in California. In turn, SolarCity has hired 1,213 employees since announcing its first Walmart projects in September 2010. The San Mateo, Calif.-based company will install, manage, and maintain 70 of the 100 new solar power systems.

J.C. Penney Co.’s visual transformation has begun. The company has rolled out three shop concepts to nearly 700 stores nationwide. The shops, the first wave of many more to come, are dedicated to three brands: Levi’s, I Jeans by Buffalo, and The Original Jean Co. 

Click here to take a video tour of the new shops.
 

Sunbury, Pa. -- Weis Markets reported Tuesday that net income for the quarter ended June 30 rose 12.1% to $23.2 million, compared with $20.7 million in the year-ago period.

Sales were essentially flat at $677.1 million, and same-store sales inched up 0.4%.

President and CEO David Hepfinger cited a “stagnant sales environment” for the near-flat sales but said the grocer continues to improve efficiencies and store-level productivity.
 

Veteran consumer packaged goods executive Phil Dolci was named president and CEO of airgun manufacturer Crosman.

The Rocherster, NY-based company is the leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of a wide range of products for the shooting sports under the Crosman, Benjamin, Centerpoint, Precision Optics, Game Face and Undead Apocalypse brands.

New York -- Sycamore Partners extended its tender offer to buy The Talbots Inc. to Aug. 2. It is the second extension given by Sycamore to the retailer.

The private equity firm said in May that it would buy Talbots for $193.3 million. The tender offer was previously scheduled to expire at 5 p.m. ET on July 27.

ATLANTA — Coca-Cola has streamlined its operating structure and the senior leaders for those businesses, the company said.

Pittsburgh -- First Insight, which provides predictive analytics generated from online consumer engagements, announced an agreement with The Limited. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The First Insight solution uses online social engagement tools to gather real-time preference, pricing and sentiment data on new products. This information is filtered through First Insight’s predictive analytic models to determine which products present the greatest opportunity.