All articles by Planet Retail – Page 77
-
News
Toys R Us to open FAO Schwarz boutiques
Toys R Us, which bought the FAO Schwarz brand in May, has announced it is opening FAO Schwarz boutiques in some of its stores and relaunching the iconic toy store’s website. This year, Toys R Us will open 585 boutiques branded with the FAO Schwarz name in its stores beginning ...
-
News
Louis Delhaize to exit Caribbean markets
Belgian grocery group Louis Delhaize is to exit its Caribbean markets. Subsidiary SISB is up for sale in Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, St Martin and St Barthelemy. Around the region, the group operates four Cora hypermarkets, 15 Match supermarkets, 57 Ecomax discount stores, one Leader Price discount store, a wholesale ...
-
News
National Retail Federation expressed concerns over financial difficulties
The National Retail Federation expressed concern that thousands of retailers in the US could face financial difficulties after lender CIT Group filed for bankruptcy protection.CIT lends to 2,000 companies that supply merchandise to more than 300,000 stores. Around 60% of the US apparel industry depends on CIT for financing.CIT chief ...
-
News
RadioShack reports a 3.1% decline in net sales
For the third quarter ending September 30, 2009, RadioShack reported a 3.1% decline in net sales to $990m (£606m).Comparable same-store sales for company-operated stores and kiosks declined 2.9%, driven primarily by sales declines in digital-to-analog converter boxes, laptop computers, batteries, wireless accessories, and GPS products.Operating income plummeted 18.3% to $69.4m ...
-
News
Sales at Pick ’n Pay jump 12.3% year on year
Sales at food and general merchandise retailer Pick ’n Pay jumped 12.3% year on year to R26.6bn (£2.2bn) for the first half to August 31, 2009.The company said its continuing operations have gained 0.4% of market share in the period, with significant gains in every fresh food category, adding that ...
-
News
X5 Retail Group's multi-format strategy helps it combat recession impact
X5 Retail Group said its multi-format strategy has allowed it to circumvent some of the harsher effects that the economic downturn has had on consumer spending in the country.X5 has posted relatively stable like-for-like sales growth since the onset of the economic crisis, outperforming its competition, chief executive Lev Khasis ...
-
NewsMicrosoft launches its first retail store in Arizona
Microsoft has launched its first retail store, at Scottsdale in Arizona.
-
News
Carrefour to expand in China
Despite ongoing speculation in the Chinese press that Carrefour is coming under shareholder pressure to exit China, it is to expand its presence in the Chengdu region with two new hypermarkets this year, and more in 2011.General manager of central and western China Arnaud Dupont said Chengdu had “huge market ...
-
News
Metro Group starts work on first cash & carry stores in Egypt
Metro Group has started work on the first of potentially 23 cash & carry stores in Egypt. The store, in Cairo, is scheduled to open early next year. Metro originally intended to enter the market in late 2009 but then postponed it to 2010. The plan involves having a network ...
-
News
Quelle to close
German mail order retailer Quelle, owned by embattled department store owner Arcandor, is to close after attempts to sell it failed.Up to 7,000 employees are set to lose their jobs. Arcandor, which also owns the Karstadt department store chain, filed for bankruptcy protection in June. The German government had granted ...
-
News
Spencer’s to focus on hypermarkets and private labels to improve profitability
Food and general merchandise retailer Spencer’s is to focus on hypermarkets and private labels in an attempt to improve profitability.The retailer, which is owned by Indian conglomerate RPG Group, will invest INR1bn (£12m) in rolling out 10 hypermarkets and 15 small-format stores this financial year. It also wants to double ...
-
News
Walmart to focus on international growth and store revamps
Walmart has outlined its growth plans for next year, intending to focus on international growth and store revamps in its domestic market.In the US, Walmart will continue to focus on store revamps. By next month Walmart US will have completed Project Impact remodels at more than 30% of its 3,538 ...
-
News
Casino’s consolidated net sales contracted by a reported 1.4%
Casino’s consolidated net sales contracted by a reported 1.4% in the third quarter of 2009, on the back of a 2.6% decline in the first half.Reported sales in France were down 5.3%, a performance in line with the first-half trend.Overseas, reported growth came to 6%, up from 2.4% in the ...
-
News
FAS plans to clear takeover of Paterson by X5 Retail Group.
Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) plans to clear the takeover of Russian retailer Paterson by X5 Retail Group.FAS director Igor Artemyev said the service would approve the transaction on the condition that X5 Retail sells Paterson’s stores in St Petersburg “within some reasonable time frame, maybe six months” in order ...
-
News
Lotte Shopping has agrees to acquire Times
Lotte Shopping has agreed to acquire Chinese hypermarket operator Times.A Lotte Group spokesman said: “We have in effect acquired Times, although some processes [to complete the deal] remain.”Lotte Shopping will purchase a 72.3% stake in the company from chairman Kenneth Fang. The South Korean retailer is believed to have outbid ...
-
News
Walmart enters into a price war with Amazon
Walmart has entered into a price war with Amazon and the nation’s book retailers, lowering prices on certain highly anticipated hardback titles to $9 (£5.49).The retailer listed prices for some upcoming hardcover releases, such as Dean Koontz’s Breathless and Stephen King’s Under the Dome at $10 (£6.10), which was answered ...
-
News
Retail sales in America fall in September
Retail sales in America fell by the largest amount so far this year in September – 1.5% – but the fall was not as bad as expected.The drop in sales was attributed to car sales plummeting following the end of the country’s scrappage scheme. Car sales dropped by 10.4%, but ...
-
News
Woolworths’ attempt to enter the DIY market under threat
The country’s largest retailer Woolworths’ attempt to enter the DIY market looks under threat after its takeover of hardware retailer Danks has been put in doubt.The competition regulator has raised concerns about Woolworths planned takeover. In a 13-page document, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said the purchase of Danks ...
-
News
Tengelmann close to selling its Plus discount operations in Austria, Romania and Bulgaria
Tengelmann is close to selling its remaining Plus discount operations in Austria, Romania and Bulgaria.The stores in Austria are likely to be sold to Spar (Austria), while the network in Romania is likely to be picked up by Delhaize Group, and the young operation in Bulgaria by Schwarz Group’s Lidl.Closure ...
-
News
Carrefour reports sales rise
Carrefour has reported that sales for its third quarter reached E23bn (£21bn), a rise of 0.5% excluding petrol and at constant exchange rates.In France, market share gains were driven by the strong performance of Carrefour Market – where like-for-likes increased 6% excluding petrol – and the success of Carrefour-branded products. ...