Retail briefs

Wal-Mart Germany opened its 96th location on June 11, in Bergkamen, and will relocate its Gross-Gerau store into a brand new facility, which will open August 27. The Bergkamen store has a sales floor space of 7,600 square meters (81,776 square feet), and the new Gross-Gerau store will be 7,000 square meters (75,320 square feet). It also announced that it will close one store in Ingolstadt later this year, due to the ongoing business performance of the store and its limited growth potential. It will also consolidate its two stores in Wilhelmshaven into one.

The Spiegel Group has hired former H&M ceo Fabian Mansson as president and ceo of its Eddie Bauer division. He will report to Martin Zaepfel, vice chairman, president and ceo of The Spiegel Group. Mansson served at H&M from 1991 to 2000 in a variety of positions, including group merchandising manager and division manager, before becoming ceo. Most recently he was executive vp with Spray Ventures, a Swedish venture capital company.

With the year off to a strong start and rebounding from earlier weakness, heartland discounter ShopKo Stores Inc. has pushed its earnings estimates sharply higher for the second quarter and all of this year. With margins gaining strength and interest costs declining, the retailer is now forecasting a second-quarter profit in the range of $0.19 to $0.21 per share, substantially above an earlier forecast of a $0.10 to $0.14 per-share profit. For the entire year, ShopKo is projecting a profit in the range of $1.35 to $1.45 per share.