News

Woonsocket, R.I. -- CVS Caremark said its board has approved a $4 billion stock repurchase program and that it intends to complete an earlier $2 billion program before the end of this year.

Under the new authorization, the retailer said it expects to repurchase about $1 billion in shares by the end of the year.
 

By Liana Hill, [email protected]

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Best Buy, Sears and Target ranked as the top three cross-channel performers in a study by CrossView, a provider of cross-channel commerce solutions. The study, which examined the cross-channel capabilities of 25 top retailers, found that a majority of retailers are providing an unsatisfactory cross-channel experience. 

Highlights of the study, which is due to be released Aug. 30, include:

• Only 12% of studied retailers could access a customer’s pending web order in store;

Berkley, Calif. -- Andronico's Community Markets has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The company is seeking debtor-in-possession financing that would allow it to sell itself to a private investment group that would keep its seven stores in Northern California in operation.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Reading into the Books-A-Million results, its easy to see how the liquidation at Borders took a toll on the book retailer's second quarter. Books-A-Million reported that net sales for its second quarter decreased 11.4% to $106.4 million from net sales of $120 million in the year-earlier period. Comparable-store sales for the second quarter declined 12.9% compared with the 13-week period in the prior year.

WAYNE, N.J. — Toys"R"Us Inc. continues to implement its strategy of integrating its Toys"R"Us and Babies"R"Us units, announcing that it will have opened 21 new stores by the end of 2011. These new stores include 11 "R" Superstores and 10 Side-by-Side locations. As part of an ongoing effort to upgrade the company's portfolio of stores nationwide, the remodeling of 23 existing locations to the Side-by-Side format is also underway and will be completed by the end of the year, the company reported.

It would appear the year is playing out much as Target’s senior executives envisioned many months ago when guidance was provided regarding how the retailer’s sales performance was likely to unfold. As expected, the second quarter same-store sales increase of 3.9% was an acceleration of the 2% gain reported during the first quarter, and now further improvement is anticipated during the third and fourth quarter judging from upwardly revised profit targets shared with investors.

San Francisco -- Williams-Sonoma reported Tuesday that profit for the second quarter surged 28% to $39 million, citing online strength and international sales for the improved performance.

Revenue rose 5% to $815 million.

The company has raised its outlook.