Mass Market Retailers back issues from June 2002:
Dallas rejects plan. (Industry News).(by Wal-Mart to build Supercenter in city's downtown)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
Jun 17, 2002 ... The Dallas Plan Commission has rejected a proposal by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to build a Supercenter in the city's downtown area. The 15-member Plan Commission turned down the plan ...
Ahold supply exec. (Industry News).(Daniel Currie)(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... Ahold USA Inc. has named Daniel Currie executive vice president of supply chain logistics. Currie, who had been executive vice president of operations at Giant Food Inc., oversees the development and ...
Safeway.com grows. (Industry News).(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... Safeway.com has more than doubled in size in the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento areas since the Internet shopping and delivery service, a joint venture of Safeway Inc. and Tesco PLC, was launched in northern ...
Banks set for H.E.B. (Industry News).(H.E. Butt Grocery Co.)(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... H.E.B. Grocery Co. has partnered with International Bancshares Corp.'s International Bank of Commerce (IBC) unit to open IBC branches within five former ...
Giant broadens test. (Money News).(Giant Food, Toys "R" Us program)(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... Giant Food Inc. will expand its test of a store-within-a-store program with Toys `R' Us Inc ....
Wal-Mart the same, only better. (Spotlight).(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002; ... FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.--Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is the same as it has ever been. That was the message at the company's recent annual shareholders meeting here, an event that marked Wal-Mart's 40th anniversary, its 32nd year as a public company, and its first year as the world's ...
Kroger set to expand in Dallas.(acquires Winn-Dixie Stores)(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... CINCINNATI--Kroger Co. has purchased seven Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. supermarkets in the Dallas metroplex in the latest move by the nation's leading supermarketer to expand in Texas. The seven 52,000-square-foot stores, which are in North Richland Hills, Grand Prairie, Fort Worth, ...
Cool weather hurts May sales.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
Jun 17, 2002 ... NEW YORK--Cool weather for most of May depressed the month's retail sales, as consumers postponed purchases of summer apparel. The arrival of warmer temperatures after Memorial Day did lift volume at discounters, but department stores continued to struggle. A "pent-up ...
Underwood returns as Kmart exec.(William Underwood)(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... TROY, Mich.--Troubled Kmart Corp. has called on another former executive to rejoin the retailer as it strives to reorganize its merchandising unit. William Underwood returned to the company earlier this month as executive vice president of its sourcing and global operations. ...
Celebrating a unique `culture'. (Money News).(Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s annual shareholders meeting)(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.--Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s annual shareholders meeting has never been strictly business. There has always been an element of fun, as associates and executives celebrate the company's performance and its unique culture. "The defining difference between Wal-Mart ...
Scoreboard. (Money News).(retailers)(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
Jun 17, 2002 ... <Pre> SCOREBOARD Net Quarter Dollar %Income RETAILERSEndedSales Change (Loss) Albertson's (1) 05/02 8.92 bil - 1.0222.0 mil Big Lots...
Kmart shareholders win representation. (Money News).(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... A committee representing Kmart Corp. shareholders will have a say in the discounter's reorganization, according to lawyers for supermarket magnate Ronald Burkle, a major shareholder. Burkle ...
Fleming announces offering. (Money News).(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... Fleming Cos. plans to offer 8 million shares of common stock and $200 million of senior notes. The company will use the proceeds of the offerings and borrowings from its proposed new credit ...
Shoppers Drug Mart plans filing. (Money News).(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. has announced that it intends to file a prospectus with Canadian regulators for a secondary ...
Kroger completes new bank credit facilities. (Money News).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
Jun 17, 2002 ... Kroger Co. has executed new revolving-credit facilities totaling $1.95 billion. The ...
Biggest gainers. (Money News).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
Jun 17, 2002 ... <Pre> BIGGESTGAINERSClose Change % Stock 05/24/02 vs.05/10/02 Change Dillard's29.69 +6.47 +27.9 BigLots 17.93 +3.04 +20.4 Lowe's 48.10 +6.30 +15.1 Staples 21.72 ...
Biggest losers. (Money News).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
Jun 17, 2002 ... <Pre> BIGGEST LOSERS Close Change% Stock 05/24/02 vs. 05/10/02 Change HomeDepot 43.42-2.08 - 4.6 Kmart1.11-0.05 - 4.3 Fleming 24.28-1.07 - 4.2 McKesson36.29...
Most active. (Money News).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
Jun 17, 2002 ... <Pre> MOST ACTIVE Vol. (000)As a % Change vs.1Wk. Ended of Total 1Wk. Ended Stock 05/24/02 Shares 05/10/02 Toys `R' Us 34,612 12.0 + 434.8 Big Lots 6,4206.0 + 242.6 Home Depot ...
Eckerd profits soar in quarter. (Money).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
Jun 17, 2002 ... PLANO, Texas -- Eckerd Corp., lifted by a host of positive indicators, saw operating profits almost double during the 13 weeks ended April 27. The chain's solid showing helped parent J.C. Penney Co. more than double its bottom line for the first quarter of fiscal 2002. LIFO ...
Wal-Mart off to fast start in '02. (Spotlight).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
Jun 17, 2002 ... BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Aided by comparisons with a grueling first quarter last year, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. achieved double-digit gains in sales and earnings in the first quarter of fiscal 2002. Net income for the three months ended April 30 jumped 19.7% to $1.65 billion. On a per-share basis ...
Financial woes mount at Kmart. (Money).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
Jun 17, 2002 ... TROY, Mich. -- About a week before disclosing mounting losses for the first three months of fiscal 2002 Kmart Corp. announced its long awaited--and restated--results for the fiscal 2001 year ended January 30, 2002. Kmart, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on January 22 of ...
Target earnings jump 35.9% as sales grow 14.1%. (Money).(Target Corp., first quarter fiscal 2002)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
Jun 17, 2002 ... MINNEAPOLIS -- Fueled by a double-digit sales gain at its discount store division and improved profitability in other segments, Target Corp. saw its bottom line jump 35.9% in the first quarter of fiscal 2002. Net earnings soared to $345 million on a 15.1% rise in revenues to ...
Operating earnings fall 10.8% at Longs. (Money).(Longs Drug Stores Corp.)
Jun 17, 2002 ... WALNUT CREEK, Calif.--Longs Drug Stores Corp., hampered by lower operating profits and a onetime accounting item, sustained a bottom-line loss during the 13 weeks ended May 2. After-tax earnings fell 5.2% to $11 million before the accounting item. However, the chain posted a ...
The order of the day. (Opinion).(highlights of the International Mass Retail Association's annual convention)(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002; ... Rapid change is the rule in retailing these days, according to speakers at the International Mass Retail Association's recent annual convention. The challenge lies in the fact that although retailers know they need to keep moving in order to stay competitive, it is not always ...
The phenomenon of Wal-Mart. (Opinion).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
Jun 17, 2002; ... Wal-Mart, in keeping with its relatively new position as the world's largest corporation, is more forthcoming with information than was once the case. So it is that, each month, the Bentonville retailer disseminates a press release detailing its recent performance. The document ...
A look at the changing history of Mass Market Retailing for the past 17 years. (Commentary).
Jun 17, 2002 ... On the following pages MMR presents a selection of editorials by editor David Pinto that span the publication of the newspaper. On one level, the columns constitute a history of mass market retailing since 1985. In that respect, they provide a remarkable picture of the events ...
Kmart and Wal-Mart: execs make the chains tick. (Commentary).
Jun 17, 2002 ... Perhaps the two most interesting retailers in America these days are Kmart and Wal-Mart, the former for its dramatic new directions and aggressive new positioning, the latter for its unprecedented success and its dedication to both customer and employee. Understandably, Kmart ...
Kmart acquisition shocks chain drug industry. (Commentary).
Jun 17, 2002 ... The announcement last month that Kmart, the nation's largest discount store chain, plans to acquire Pay Less NW, America's 10th-largest drug chain, stunned the chain drug industry. It did more than put Kmart into the chain drug store business. It made the discounter, which already operates ...
Buy-outs, mergers pare ranks of major drug chains. (Commentary).
Jun 17, 2002 ... In mass market retailing the chain drug industry is getting all the attention and headlines these days. And for good reason. For it is an industry in turmoil. Three years ago Bud Fantle, the wise and perspicacious chief executive at Peoples Drug Stores, predicted, somewhat in jest, that by ...
Retailers make their mark among top U.S. firms. (Commentary).
Jun 17, 2002 ... The various Fortune 500 lists always make for interesting reading, although their practical value may not always be what their publishers claim for them. The magazine recently published its list of the nation's 50 largest retailers, and it contains more than a few surprises. No ...
Changes sustain vibrancy in chain drug industry. (Commentary).
Jun 17, 2002 ... Change is a necessary by-product retailing. It is change that keeps a retailing segment healthy, vibrant and competitive. And of the three mass market retailing trade classes, the one changing most rapidly these days is the chain drug segment. Consider these developments: ...
Wal-Mart is dominant force in mass market retailing. (Commentary).
Jun 17, 2002 ... It's difficult not to write about Wal-Mart Stores. Not that Wal-Mart is looking for publicity. To the contrary, the people who run the Bentonville, Ark.-based discounter would just as soon see nothing in print about their efforts or results. But the plain fact is, Wal-Mart dominates mass ...
Wal-Mart celebrates 50th Sam's Club Unit. (Commentary).
Jun 17, 2002 ... Wal-Mart Stores, a retailer that has become used to celebrating, threw a big party for itself earlier this month, inviting employees, friends and vendors to the opening of the 50th Sam's Wholesale Club, in Springfield, Mo. And quite a party it was. In all, some 600 guests showed ...
NACDS Conference model of successful trade show. (Commentary).
Jun 17, 2002 ... The stunning success of the first National Association of Chain Drug Stores Marketplace Conference has raised many questions about the kinds of programs retail trade associations should offer their members. But it has raised even more pertinent questions about why the NACDS show succeeded ...
Walgreens is an industry leader by many yardsticks.
Jun 17, 2002 ... If Wal-Mart Stores is the most successful mass market retailer in America today, Walgreens has to be No. 2. And the chain's 1987 fiscal year, which ended in September, proved anew how good Walgreens really is. Not that 1987 was Walgreens' best year. Hurt by tax law changes and ...
Supers need to be more responsive. (Commentary).
Jun 17, 2002 ... For over 25 years U.S. supermarket operators have held a position as quite simply the smartest, most sophisticated, most-enlightened retailers in the nation. After all, haven't they managed to succeed in a business that returns a penny in profit on a dollar in sales? Yet when forced to do ...
Ziegler's debut is impressive. (Commentary).(Ron Ziegler, National Association of Chain Drug Stores president)(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... The 1988 National Association of Chain Drug Stores Annual Meeting will be remembered as the formal, if somewhat delayed, debut of Ron Ziegler as NACDS president. And an impressive debut it was. From the moment Ziegler delivered his state-of-the-association address on the ...
Retailer/supplier relationship is facing a crisis. (Commentary).(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... How good--or bad--are retailer/supplier relationships? Are they, as some industry people have said, deteriorating rapidly, as retailers make impossible demands and suppliers become increasingly recalcitrant in attempting to meet them? Or, as others believe, are we on the verge ...
Implication of shift in shopping habits is great. (Commentary).(mass market retailing)(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... In one of the more significant developments to affect mass market retailing in this decade, there are indications that the traditional frequencies with which American consumers shop various mass market retail segments are changing. If so, the potential implications for these retailers are ...
Chains must build excitement to boost results. (Commentary).(mass market retailers)(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... Mass Market retailing is in a rut. With summer two-thirds gone, the majority of mass market retailers in the U.S. are expressing disappointment with the sales they've achieved of late. More than that, many are stating that consumers are just not buying the merchandise these ...
Walton is not slowed by illness. (Commentary).(Wal-Mart's Sam Walton faces serious illness)(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... Sam Walton is ill. He is currently commuting between Wal-Mart's Bentonville, Ark., headquarters and a Houston hospital, where he is undergoing treatment for bone cancer. Characteristically, he is upbeat, and has succeeded in convincing himself and others that he will shortly be up and ...
Time for an IMRA-NRF merger? (Commentary).(International Mass Retailing Association, National Retail Federation)(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... In the months since the annual meeting of the International Mass Retailing Association in southern California, mass merchandise retailers and their suppliers have commented at length about the poor retailer turn-out and participation. Though IMRA offered a strong business program and the ...
The legacy of an industry giant. (Commentary).(Joe Long, founder of Longs Drug Stores)(Obituary)
Jun 17, 2002 ... Joe Long, one of the chain drug industry's founding fathers and true giants, died last December in California. The chain Long founded with his brother in 1938 came to epitomize chain drug retailing at its most creative, most exciting and most successful. And the man who ...
When Wal-Mart comes to town. (Commentary).(Sam Walton opens New Hampshire store)(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... Sam Walton came to New Hampshire early this month, just in time for the opening of Wal-Mart's first store in New England. He arrived in Manchester, N.H., late on a Monday evening, having spent the day at locations and openings in Toledo, the Rochester, N.Y., suburb of Greece, and New ...
Walton: it was a wonderful life. (Commentary).(Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton)(Obituary)
Jun 17, 2002 ... Sam Walton died at eight in the morning, Central Daylight Time, on Sunday, April 5. He had been ill with bone cancer for over two years, gravely ill for the past five months. Less than two hours later Wal-Mart president and chief executive officer David Glass broadcast the news of Walton's ...
Wal-Mart's worldwide vision. (Commentary).(Wal-Mart opens in Puerto Rico)(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... Wal-Mart formally came to Puerto Rico early this month with the grand opening of a store in Fajardo, 35 miles east of San Juan. In truth, the store had been open since June 20, giving it the longest dry run in Wal-Mart history. The opening was the first for a Wal-Mart discount ...
Warehouse clubs at a crossroad. (Commentary).(target should be either small businesses or retail customers)(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... Warehouse clubs, the darlings of retailing as recently as a year ago, have fallen on hard times. Current stores have trouble recording sales increases of any size. Once-loyal customers are becoming disenchanted and bored with older clubs. And new clubs are not attracting customers the way ...
Rx image benefits drug chains. (Commentary).(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... For the first time in recent memory, the nation's drug chains are outperforming the other two mass market segments. While they typically generate higher sales increases than the supermarket industry, they've lately been turning in better numbers than the nations discount store retailers as ...
Longs changes with the times. (Commentary).(Longs Drug Stores Inc.)(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... Change is always difficult. It is most difficult when there is no apparent or obvious need for change, when the company debating change is successful. So it is with Longs Drug Stores Inc. For the better part of 60 years, or since its founding in 1938, Longs has arguably been ...
Today it's survival of the fittest. (Commentary).(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... Retailing today has become a business of consolidation. Individual retailers are downsizing or right-sizing. Retail segments are shrinking. Consolidation is the word of the day. And concern is the word of the moment. Industry observers are obsessed with what they view as the ...
Rx may be on the road to ruin. (Commentary).(mandatory Pharm. D. degree for pharmacists places burden on retail pharmacies)(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... Pharmacy education is out of control. It is rapidly speeding down a road toward disaster, a road which narrows and narrows, making a return increasingly difficult. And it is carrying retail pharmacy along with it. The road is of course the suicidal path toward a mandatory ...
Price/Costco units epitomize clubs. (Commentary).(opens new warehouse club)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
Jun 17, 2002 ... Price/Costco Inc. opened a warehouse club in Melville, N.Y., earlier this month. Nothing new in that. Nor is there anything distinctive about the club. It is typical of the clubs Price/Costco is opening these days, something around 125,000 square feet. Its mix as well is typical ...
Dawn of a new era at Wal-Mart. (Commentary).(Wal-Mart Stores Inc.)
Jun 17, 2002 ... Last month in this space we noted that Sam Walton's death less than three years ago signaled the end of the beginning at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and that the time has finally come for those who lead the world's largest--and arguably still best--retailer to start the very painful process of ...
NACDS adjusts to new realities. (Commentary).(National Association of Chain Drug Stores)(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... The test of any good organization is its ability to change, to identify and adopt to new realities, to remain relevant in the face of an uncertain and perhaps hazardous future. The National Association of Chain Drug Stores has not only identified the new realities of retail pharmacy but is ...
Walgreens--a visionary retailer. (Commentary).(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... If Wal-Mart is logically this generation's most successful mass market retailer, a legitimate ease can be made that Walgreens is a close second. A generation ago Walgreens was just another average drug chain. Though its 1975 sales of $1 billion placed it atop the chain drug ...
Building on strengths. (Commentary).(International Mass Retailing Association)(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... The International Mass Retailing Association's Annual Meeting is over, having been held last month in Dallas. Perhaps this is an appropriate time to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the organization, and offer some suggestions as to where it needs to go from here. At the ...
China calls to mass marketers. (Commentary).(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... Ron Ziegler, president of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, spent one week in China earlier this fall, accompanied by Jerry Heller, president of May's Drug of Tulsa, Okla., and this year's NACDS chairman. Coincidentally, and not without some relevance, the visit coincided with ...
Remembering a legendary figure. (Commentary).(Sheldon W. Fantle)(Brief Article)(Obituary)
Jun 17, 2002 ... Sheldon W. Fantle died on December 27, 1996. He was 73 years old and lived in Washington, D.C. He is survived by his wife Geraldine, his son Jeff and two grandchildren. Fantle ran Peoples Drug Stores of Washington, D.C. In the 1970s and early 1980s he revived a moribund drug ...
Wal-Mart understands a new store. (Commentary).(Wal-Mart Stores Inc.)(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... Those retailers who have stopped looking to Wal-Mart to provide them with new ideas and more efficient and effective ways of doing business had better look again. Though much has changed at the world's largest retailer since the days when Sam Walton ran it with such energy, efficiency, and ...
New strength and the will to use it. (Commentary).(CVS Corp.)(Rite Aid Corp.)(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... Last month CVS Corp. and Rite Aid Corp., two of America's largest and most successful drug chains, each announced that they would no longer fill prescriptions for several major health care plans, calling those plans' reimbursement levels unacceptably low. CVS will sever its relationships ...
Fred Meyer's got a lot going for it. (Commentary).(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... For 75-year-old Fred Meyer Inc. these are the halcyon days. Everything the Portland, Ore.-based supermarket/general merchandise retailer--actually, the company can more precisely be defined as a unique one-stop-shopping concept chain--tries these days appears to be working. As a ...
Mergers logical and impractical. (Commentary).(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... The U.S. supermarket industry has embarked on a wave of consolidation that will, when it ends, reshape the industry to resemble both the chain drug and discount store communities by concentrating sales in the hands of a few large companies. Once upon a time discount store ...
A thoroughly remarkable record. (Commentary).(David Glass of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.)(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... The time has come to document and marvel over the thoroughly remarkable record that Wal-Mart chief executive officer David Glass has posted in the six years since the death of Sam Walton. Indeed, it is arguably a record unsurpassed in the annals of business, and it surely is without equal ...
Discount retailers gain sway. (Commentary).(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... The revolution begun 36 years ago, when the first Kmart, Target and Wal-Mart stores simultaneously opened their doors, has ended. Though few of the founders are here to enjoy the triumph, the revolutionaries have won. America's discount stores have become America's retailers. ...
The retailer/supplier equation. (Commentary).(Brief Article)
Jun 17, 2002 ... Things are particularly touchy these days in the always touchy relationship between mass market retailers and their suppliers. This is especially true in the chain drug segment. At the recent NACDS Annual Meeting in Palm Beach, Fla., relations between the two sides, tenuous at best of ...