Retail

Bloomberg All of a sudden, big box stores are beating out their bargain bin brethren. Walmart Inc. and Target Corp. are reporting comparable sales at higher rates than the dollar stores, according to Quo Vadis Capital’s John Zolidis. Part of the pain? The dollar outlets have no strong e-commerce presence, which now “looks like a liability.” Target’s quarterly results reflected …

Bloomberg Sometimes good just isn’t good enough. Zara owner Inditex SA fell the most in six months after Morgan Stanley analysts cut their recommendation to underweight from equalweight and reduced their price target for the stock to the lowest among analysts tracked by Bloomberg. Inditex dragged European retailers lower, making the sector the worst performer in the broader regional index. …

Bloomberg Coca-Cola Co. will buy New England cult-favourite soda brand Moxie from one of its independent bottlers as it looks to house more of its up-and-coming beverage brands under one roof. The soda giant, which recently completed the refranchising of its bottling operations in North America, has inked a deal to purchase Moxie from Coca-Cola of Northern New England for …

Bloomberg Walmart Inc.’s betting the kind of shopper who doesn’t want to visit a physical store to purchase a TV probably doesn’t want to mount it, either. So the world’s largest retailer is expanding its partnership with on-demand home-services company Handy to sell installation and assembly packages right on its website, Handy said. Starting from Wednesday and rolling out across …

Bloomberg Tiffany & Co. sees an expanded sales floor and more VIP space replacing administrative offices at the company’s 10-floor “precious property” on New York’s Fifth Avenue. Chief Executive Officer Alessandro Bogliolo shared more details on the store’s renovation in an interview. With a sizable percentage of sales coming from the property, the company sees the project as key to …

Bloomberg When Amazon.com Inc. bought Whole Foods last year, investors panicked and dumped shares in Kroger, Sprouts Farmers Market and even Walmart. The fear was that the e-commerce leviathan would disrupt yet another industry. Since then, the concerns have subsided as investors and analysts came to recognise that it will be years before Amazon becomes a major player in the …

Bloomberg The sale of Toys ‘R’ Us’s last and most valuable remaining asset, its Asia operations, has become caught up in a battle between two groups of hedge funds over the future use of the brand by stores in that region. One group of funds, including Cerberus Capital Management and Cyrus Capital Partners, owns notes issued by the Asian stores …

Bloomberg Sears Holdings Corp. continues to clean house, announcing plans to shutter an additional 46 unprofitable stores in November. The struggling chain informed workers at the impacted stores this week, and liquidation sales will begin as early as August 30. The move is “part of our ongoing efforts to streamline Sears Holdings’ operations, strengthen our capital position and focus on …

Bloomberg The private equity owners of Toys ‘R’ Us may be taking unprecedented steps towards supporting the company’s former workers, but the lenders that financed its bankruptcy — and ultimate liquidation — are making no such promises. Angelo Gordon & Co. LP and Solus Alternative Asset Management don’t plan to contribute any more cash to benefit Toys ‘R’ Us employees …

Bloomberg Walmart Inc. bounced back from a lackluster start to the year with the strongest sales gain in more than a decade fueled by its grocery business, brightening the outlook for the overall retail sector. The stock jumped as much as 11 percent, the most intraday since October 2008. Comparable sales at US Walmart stores rose 4.5 percent in the …