News

NEW YORK — Discount grocer Aldi has opened its first-ever New York City-area store in the borough of Queens.

The store, which is located in Rego Park, marks the first of three grocery stores the company plans to open in New York, including new locations in the Bronx and Bay Shore, Long Island.

Aldi, which offers a limited assortment of items, said it will bring its standard floor plan to Queens, which includes wider-than-typical 8-ft. aisles.

BENTONVILLE, Ark.  -- Walmart announced a new relationship with NASCAR to give Walmart customers and race fans new NASCAR branded merchandise and special savings on race tickets available on Walmart.com/NASCAR for select races.  The new retail program, branded "Race Time", is the largest retail promotion in NASCAR's history, according to Walmart, and launches in 1,500 Walmart stores just in time for the start of the season with the 53rd running of the Daytona 500 (FOX, Sunday, Feb. 20 at 1 p.m. ET).

So Target plans to call its new small format stores CityTarget. It was a little over a year ago the company first disclosed plans to open stores ranging from 60,000-sq.-ft. to 100,000-sq.-ft. in urban locations, but the new name was revealed only last week in connection with the announcement of a 2012 opening of a small store in downtown Chicago.

MONROE, Mich. -- La-Z-Boy reported that sales for the third quarter declined 4.3%, partly due to ongoing challenges related to housing and consumer confidence. Net income for the fiscal 2011 third quarter was 19 cents per share, which includes a 6-cent tax benefit, versus 21 cents per share in last year's third quarter.

The retail segment's sales increased 9.2%, and it experienced its eighth consecutive quarterly improvement of operating margin performance compared with the prior year, the company reported.

New York City -- Italian eyewear maker and retailer Luxottica Group SpA said Thursday it will acquire two specialty sunglass retailers in a deal worth about $23 million in a move to gain entry to the Mexican market.

Luxottica’s deal to buy Stanza and High Tech includes more than 70 stores that will eventually be rebranded as Sunglass Hut locations.

Walmart and Target are being blamed for driving shares of Canadian retailers to their lowest level in six years, according to a Bloomberg report this week. Bloomberg said the ratio between the S&P/Toronto Stock Exchange Retailing Index and its counterpart in the Standard & Poor’s 500 narrowed to 4% on Feb. 11, the smallest in six years. The retailing index has retreated 2.3% this year, while a separate index of companies that sell food and basic necessities has lost 1.1%, the biggest declines among 24 industries in the S&P/TSX. 

Sidney, Neb. -- Cabela's reported Thursday that net income for the quarter ended Jan. 1 rose to $59.9 million, compared with $52.4 million in the year-ago period.

Total revenue for the quarter increased 8.4% to $934 million; retail store revenue increased 11.4% to $479 million.

Same-store sales increased 7.3%.

"With this quarter's performance, it is clear our strategies are working and we are gaining momentum," said Tommy Millner, Cabela's CEO.

Global supply chains in an Ayn Rand World is the theme of the 10th annual Supply Chain Management Research Center spring conference to be held Thursday, March 17 at the University of Arkansas Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development. The event will last from 7:15 a.m. to 4 p.m. with industry leaders slated to share their views on a wide range of supply chain topics.