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Inside This Issue - News
Mike Bloom recalls that when he first met Family Dollar chairman and chief executive officer Howard Levine, he was impressed by the man but knew little about his company. One of the biggest stories in retailing for the past year has been the resurgence of Walmart’s flagship U.S. division. Competition within the membership warehouse club channel is intense, and the club format is not one that necessarily makes differentiation easy. When Jack Brown joined Stater Bros. Markets in 1981, the chain had 79 supermarkets, 3,300 employees and about $475 million in annual sales. Safeway Inc. chairman and chief executive officer Steve Burd says he will retire later this year. Viewed from any angle, the holiday selling season that ended two weeks ago was at best a disappointment, more realistically a disaster, for America’s mass retailing community. Supervalu Inc. is reportedly close to reaching a deal with Cerberus Capital Management LP under which the private equity firm would acquire some parts of the retailer as well as a stake in the rest. Target, the retailer that perfected both the art and the science of retail branding, is bringing it to a new level of creativity and excellence. This month Rite Aid Corp. is celebrating its 50th anniversary with special promotions, but the celebration was given additional meaning last month as the company reported its first quarterly profit in more than five years. Just six weeks after succeeding the retiring Ron Hodge as chief executive officer of Delhaize America, Roland Smith has shaken up the executive ranks of the supermarket operator. With the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigating his sale of $10 million worth of the company’s stock, Big Lots Inc. chairman and chief executive Steven Fishman has said he will retire.
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