News

SEATTLE — In another sign that the U.S. economy is affecting lower-income families more than those in higher earning brackets, luxury retailer Nordstrom reported a same-store sales increase of 7.3% for its second quarter and net sales of $2.72 billion, an increase of 12.4% compared with net sales of $2.42 billion for the same period last year.

Jacksonville, Fla. -- Body Central Corp., operator of the Body Central and Body Shop retail chains, reported Friday that net income for the second quarter was $5.3 million, compared with $2.3 million in the year-ago period.

Net revenues increased 22.1% to $74.7 million, compared with $61.2 million for second quarter 2010. Same-store sales increased 14.7%.
 

SARASOTA, Fla. — Charlie Bowlus, CEO and founder of ECRM has died unexpectedly from complications following emergency surgery three weeks ago.

ST. JOHNS, Fla. — Just one week after opening a remodeled store in Apopka, Fla., Winn-Dixie has opened another reformatted store in St. Johns, making it the company's first overhauled location in the North Florida area.

The renovated Winn-Dixie features an expanded grocery department, as well as a deli serving restaurant-quality entrees and side dishes, the retailer said.

The ongoing emphasis on expense reduction and every day low prices saw Walmart curtail its promotional activity during July, according to the last monthly report from Market Track examining promotional activity at the nation’s leading retailers. Click here to see results for the nation’s top 15 retailers.

Armonk, N.Y. -- IBM announced that S&S Worldwide grew recommendation sales 75% in just three months with IBM Smarter Commerce software in the cloud.  S&S is a national distributor of sporting goods products for recreation, health care, and education professionals and is using IBM software to drive personalized product recommendation sales via its Web sites.

WASHINGTON — Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have announced a $3 million initiative designed to help D.C. residents get the skills and training they need to gain employment. The program will offer literacy, customer service and retail training to 2,000 District residents.

Walmart’s policy of prohibiting employees from accepting the smallest of gratuities has been in place for a long time and for good reason. Veterans of the company will tell you that early on it was a key driver of success because there was a time when the retail industry was rife with merchants who tended to make buying decisions that were in their best interest as opposed to those of customers.