Visit our Filed page for categories. To browse by specific topic, see our Inside page. For a list of companies covered on this site, visit our Companies page.
Most retail stocks were lower Thursday, with Sears Holdings Corp. shares down 7.6 percent to $62 after the department-store operator posted disappointing second-quarter results.
Sears reported a larger-than-expected second quarter loss early Thursday and that sales dropped by $93 million to $10.5 billion. Get the full story »
Discounter Target Corp posted uninspiring results while BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc missed Wall Street profit estimates and cut its full-year forecast, sending shares in both companies lower. Get the full story »
Walgreen Co.’s headquarters expects to outsource as many as 150 accounting jobs by mid-2011 to India’s Genpact, which recently acquired Walgreens’ 500-employee accounting office in Danville. Get the full story >>
Saks Inc. posted better-than-expected quarterly results Tuesday, helped by an uptick in luxury spending and selling fewer items at a discount. That sent its shares up more than 3 percent.
Saks said sales at stores open at least one year, or same-store sales, rose 4.6 percent, with its flagship department store on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue performing well. Get the full story »
Home Depot Inc. still sees room for profit growth this year as consumers take up long-delayed maintenance and repair projects for their homes.
The company posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit and raised its full-year earnings forecast Tuesday, helped by cost controls. While sales missed expectations in a weak economy, investors were relieved that the top home improvement chain still expects an increase for the rest of the year. Get the full story »
Starbucks Corp. has no plans to hike prices, though higher coffee costs are expected to weaken profit in the upcoming fiscal year, the company said Tuesday.
The world’s biggest cafe chain repeated its fiscal 2011 profit target of $1.36 to $1.41 a share, which includes an expected hit of 4 cents primarily from higher coffee prices. Starbucks’ 2011 fiscal year begins Oct. 5. Get the full story »
Retailer Sears Canada said on Tuesday its quarterly profit dropped as weaker consumer confidence weighed on sales.
For the second quarter ended July 31, net income fell to C$31.9 million, 29 Canadian cents a share. That compares with C$49.1 million, or 45 Canadian cents, for the same quarter a year earlier. Get the full story »
An American Apparel clothing store in Los Angeles. (Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times)
Casual clothing chain American Apparel, suffering a steep sales slump and manufacturing problems, warned Tuesday that it may also default on loans and may not be able to stay in business.
The Los Angeles-based clothing maker, which in Illinois has locations in Chicago, Evanston, Oak Brook and Schaumburg, said it may default on loan agreements with its lenders, cited ongoing weakness in its business.
If that happens, the company said it may not have sufficient liquidity to stay in business for the next 12 months. Get the full story »
Wal-Mart Stores Inc posted a higher quarterly profit, helped by cost cuts and growth in international markets as sales at U.S. stores open at least a year fell.
The world’s largest retailer said Tuesday profit was $3.60 billion, or 97 cents a share, in the second quarter ended July 31. Analysts on average forecast 96 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Sales at discount stores open for a year in the company’s key U.S. market fell 1.8 percent. Same-store sales in that unit had fallen in each of the past four quarters. Get the full story »
Lowe’s Cos. posted weaker-than-expected quarterly results but kept its forecast for same-store sales growth this year, assuring investors it will benefit once U.S. consumer demand picks up.
Lowe’s, the second-largest home improvement chain behind Home Depot, said it still expects sales at stores open at least a year to rise about 2 percent for the fiscal year, which some analysts viewed positively given soft consumer sentiment. Get the full story »
Starbucks Inc., hoping to leverage its recent decision to offer free Wi-Fi at its stores, is working with Yahoo Inc. to create a Web site customized by location.
In addition to The New York Times, USA Today, Yahoo and Zagat, Starbucks announced last week that publisher Rodale, Nickelodeon’s Nick Jr. Boost and online charity DonorsChoose.org also will contribute content providers for its Starbucks Digital Network. The Web site is expected to go live this fall.
Customers who access the Internet at Starbucks will encounter the site before they can surf the web.
PayPal reportedly is in talks with Google to add is payment service to Android phones. Users of phones such as Motorola’s Droid X and HTC’s Droid Incredible may be able to buy apps with PayPal by the end of this year.
J.C. Penney Co. forecast a full-year profit below Wall Street expectations and stoked concerns that it may need further discounts to clear merchandise built up last quarter, sending its shares lower.
Penney said its shoppers, who tend to have a lower household income and are more likely to turn to discount chains and dollar stores when budgets are tight, were vulnerable to weak economic conditions. Get the full story »
Crate and Barrel is stepping up its relationship with Finnish textile house Marimekko, 40 years after the two first formed a business relationship.
Marimekko said Friday that as part of plans to expand its U.S. market presence, the company will form a U.S. subsidiary to extend its reach in the United States and one of the first extensions will be to open a 1,775-square-foot Marimekko shop within Crate and Barrel’s store in New York’s Soho neighborhood in October. Additional U.S. shop-in-shops and e-commerce opportunities also are being explored. Get the full story »
Retail sales managed a modest increase in July after two consecutive declines, but the strength was concentrated in higher sales of autos and gasoline. Most other retailers saw their sales fall.
The Commerce Department says sales rose 0.4 percent last month while sales excluding autos were up 0.2 percent. Both figures were slightly below expectations.
