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Supermarket operator Supervalu Inc. said on Thursday it will buy back up to $70 million of its common shares through June 30, 2011.
The operator of Albertsons, Jewel-Osco and Shaw’s stores also declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.0875 a share.
The dividend will be paid on Sept. 15 to stockholders of record on Sept. 1.
Chicago resident Matt Garlock celebrates after purchasing an iPhone 4 today at the Apple Store on Michigan Avenue. (Chris Walker/Chicago Tribune)
Several thousand people in a half-mile-long line waited outside the Apple store on North Michigan Avenue this morning to buy the new iPhone.
Some had waited patiently all night long. Others impatiently all night long. But all felt compelled to be among the first with an iPhone 4.
From CNN | As iPhone 4 buyers prepared to unbox their new smartphones on Thursday morning, some screamed with joy. Others trumpeted vuvuzelas. But shortly after testing out the world’s new “it” phone, some of those consumers turned to the internet to report problems with the new Apple product.
On Web forums and on blogs, some consumers posted videos and rants about the iPhone 4’s new antenna, which is built into a metal rim around the phone and, some claim, causes the phone to get unnecessarily bad reception.
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Jewel-Osco’s parent company engaged in “dirty tricks” to defeat the building of a Wal-mart store in Mundelein, alleges a lawsuit filed Wednesday in a U.S. District Court in Chicago.
Rubloff Development Group Inc. is suing Minneapolis-based SuperValu Inc., which does business as Jewel-Osco, and a Hingham, Mass.-based consulting firm called Saint Consulting Group, whose Web site describes it as specializing “in winning zoning and land-use battles.”
Rubloff is trying to protect its use of certain documents in court. It says it has in its possession materials “that reveal that defendants orchestrated ‘dirty tricks’ campaigns to defeat or otherwise delay the establishment of new Wal-mart stores at shopping centers” that the Rockford-based real estate developer and another firm were planning. Get the full story »
Retail sales in the Chicago area inched up slightly in the first quarter, marking the first year-over-year improvement since 2007, but also signaling that the region has a long way to go to recover from the economic downturn.
According to a report to be released today, the six-county metropolitan Chicago area generated $21.29 billion in sales for the first three months of 2010, up $43.5 million, or 0.20 percent, from the same period a year ago, according to the report from Melaniphy & Associates Inc. The city of Chicago had $4.76 billion in sales, an increase of $12.4 million, or 0.26 percent.
The report concludes that while consumers are loosening their grips on their wallets, retail sales fell so dramatically during the recession that the region has yet to make up the lost ground. Get the full story »
Discount shoppers could know soon if Chicago will get its second Walmart. The Chicago City Council’s zoning committee is scheduled to vote Thursday on whether a Walmart will be built on the far South Side.
Jewel and Dominick’s, two of the Chicago area’s biggest grocery chains, are in negotiations for new contracts for their Chicagoland stores with the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.
“While much progress has been made, we’re still working through wage and a few final language issues,” Local 881 says on its hotline about labor talks with Dominick’s. “We have several meetings scheduled in June and hope to resolve the negotiation issues soon.”
It didn’t return a phone call seeking comment.
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Snowbirds and others outside the Chicago area might find it easier to get their Fannie May fix in the future. 1-800-Flowers.com, which in 2006 bought the Chicago-based maker of Pixies, Trinidads and Meltaways, has begun what it says is the first franchising program ever for Fannie May.
“We’ve only just begun our outreach to potential franchisees,” Fannie May spokesman Joseph Pititto said.
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By Booth Moore | Madonna is hoping to go from fashion icon to fashion mogul with her latest endeavor. The pop star and her 13-year-old daughter, Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon, are partnering on a junior fashion line called Material Girl, which will be sold exclusively at Macy’s for back-to-school season, and although the clothes won’t land in stores until Aug. 3, sketches were released this week.
From the Financial Times | Bucking its anti-union stance, Walmart said it has signed an agreement with the Chicago & Cook County Building Trades Council which requires it to use union workers on future construction projects.
Shoppers on North Michigan Avenue, June 22, 2010. (Abel Uribe/Chicago Tribune)
The Magnificent Mile is emerging from the recession like most of America: Less bling and more bargains.
North Michigan Avenue is on the mend, thanks to the arrival of off-price stores and discount chains that are moving into large swaths of space, some of it empty for years.
The pending arrival of off-price stores Nordstrom Rack and TJX’s HomeGoods, combined with the 2009 openings of fast-fashion clothing store Zara and electronics giant Best Buy, helped lift the boulevard to its best performance since 2003, according to an annual retail vacancy survey from real estate firm CB Richard Ellis Inc. provided exclusively to the Tribune.
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Mayor Richard Daley Tuesday applauded Wal-Mart’s offer to pay workers at Chicago stores at least $8.75 an hour, saying the retailer is showing it is willing to go beyond what it pays elsewhere in order to bring much-needed jobs and healthy food options into the city.
The pro-Wal-Mart stance by Daley comes ahead of Thursday’s key City Council Zoning Committee vote on whether to allow the giant retailer to open a second store within city limits following years of stalled expansion efforts. The $8.75 an hour figure is 50 cents more than minimum wage but 50 cents less than labor unions are seeking.
J.C. Penney Co. (JCP) plans to grow its online sales by at least $1 billion in the next few years as the retailer restructures itself into a digital marketplace.
While the company isn’t giving up its roots as an operator of brick-and-mortar stores, J.C. Penney’s undertaking involves traditional online efforts, tie-ins with mobile devices, social-networking websites and structuring the more traditional stores as virtual shops. Get the full story »
From Clout Street | Wal-Mart Stores Inc. says it will pay 50 cents more an hour than minimum wage if Chicago will allow it to build several stores in the city. Unions called the offer “disappointing” just three days before the City Council is to vote on a South Side store.
U.S. retail sales are on track to rise 2.5 percent this year despite lingering unemployment and concerns about the global economy, the head of the nation’s premiere retail trade group said Monday. Get the full story »
