Retail Briefs

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 7/25/2005 12:00:00 AM

Wal-Mart Opening Experimental Store

Wal-Mart is opening a new supercenter in McKinney, Texas that will also serve as an experimental store.

According to the company, the McKinney store will experiment with materials, technology, and processes, which include: reducing the amounts of energy and natural resources required to operate and maintain the store; reducing the amount of raw materials needed to construct the facility; and substituting, when appropriate, the amount of renewable materials used to construct and maintain the facility.

“We want to make the best use of renewable and alternate sources like wind and solar energy to generate electricity to supplement the power needs of the store,” said Don Moseley, Wal-Mart's experimental projects manager.

This isn't Wal-Mart's first run at an environmentally friendly format. In the earlier '90s, Wal-Mart tested “Environmental Supercenters” in Kansas, Oklahoma and California — the latter of which featured “fueling” stations for electric cars.

Bon-Ton Closes Credit Card Sale

The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. has completed the sale of its proprietary credit card business to HSBC Retail Services.

HSBC has acquired Bon-Ton's portfolio of existing private label credit card accounts and the outstanding balances associated with those accounts. Bon-Ton received $316 million in gross proceeds, representing cash for the account balances outstanding plus a 5 percent premium.

No changes are planned to Bon-Ton's credit card loyalty reward programs.

ShopKo Shutters Three Stores

ShopKo Stores, Inc. has sold three of its Colorado stores — located in Ft. Collins, Longmont and Loveland — to the Regency Realty Group, Inc.

ShopKo executives stated that the sale of the properties was not related to the company's impending merger with a private equity firm, but rather was due to “economic considerations.”

The three stores employed a total of 320 workers, who will be offered positions at other units “where possible,” according to the company.

Income Up at Tuesday Morning

Tuesday Morning Corporation increased net income for the second quarter 5.2 percent to $10.5 million, or 25 cents per diluted share, compared with $10 million or 24 cents last year. However, comparable-store sales decreased 4.7 percent.

Net sales for the quarter increased 3.8 percent to $218.8 million from $210.7 million last year.

Said Kathleen Mason, president and CEO, “Traffic in the current quarter was equivalent to last year's strong second quarter.”