News

Purchase, N.Y. -- A report released Thursday by MasterCard Advisors, which tracked sales activity in the MasterCard payments network coupled with cash and check estimates, said that June sales continued May’s mixed bag with some sectors gaining and some losing momentum.

BOCA RATON, Fla. — Office Depot announced that it is partnering with Superior Financial Group (SFG), a leading small usiness administration (SBA) lender, to provide qualified small business customers with access to capital in the form of SBA Loans between $5,000 to $25,000. Customers can apply for a loan by visiting www.officedepot.com/sba.

WASHINGTON — The National Retail Federation said it supports a transportation reauthorization proposal released today by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica, R-Fla., but expressed concern over the measure’s funding levels.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Kmart that it will be the exclusive retailer for the new Gordon Ramsay Everyday kitchen collection. The collection will debut in stores this fall and will include cookware, dinnerware, cooking utensils and small kitchen appliances.

MINNEAPOLIS - The 4.5% increase in same-store sales Target reported for June was at the high end of the company’s expectations and came on top of a prior year increase of 1.7%. The gain was driven primarily by an increase in average transaction size while growth in the overall volume of transactions appeared to moderate somewhat.

Target chairman, president and CEO Gregg Steinhafel said he was very pleased with the company’s performance at the upper end of a guidance range that called for a low-to-mid single-digit improvement.

Now that Walmart has completed its acquisition of a majority stake in South African retailer Massmart a major competitor contends it will need to lay off 8.6% of its work force to improve its competitive position.

That’s according to South African media reports indicating rival Pick n Pay Stores said it was looking to eliminate 3,137 of its 36,673 positions. Conversely, Walmart has said it will create 15,000 jobs in South Africa within five years, implying a fairly robust level of expansion.

Stronger-than-expected retail sales in June had media outlets using words like “soar” and “surge” to describe the gains reported by retailers who disclose monthly results. While it is probably overstating things to characterize increases of 4.5% at Target, 6.7% at Macy’s and 4.8% as Walgreens as anything other than an “increase,” the hyperbole on the part of the media and analysts can be forgiven because everything is relative, and the numbers are fantastic compared with earlier this year.

New York City -- With same-store sales increases of 6.7% and 7.5% respectively, Macy’s and Kohl’s outperformed rival J.C. Penney in June, as J.C. Penney came up short of Wall Street estimates with a slight 2% gain.

Macy’s saw total sales rise 7.5% in June to $2.4 billion.

“Sales growth in June exceeded our expectations,” said Terry J. Lundgren, chairman, president and CEO. “Once again, the growth came from across the company -- Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s stores and online sites.”