Wal-Mart

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Wal-Mart CEO receives $18.7M pay package

The CEO of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. received a pay package in 2010 worth $18.7 million, a 4 percent dip from the year before, according to an Associated Press calculation, as the world’s largest retailer struggled to reverse a decline in a key revenue figure. Get the full story »

Wal-Mart planning small store in River North

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is in talks to open a Walmart Express convenience store in River North, according to real estate sources.

The world’s largest retailer is eyeing a location at 225 W. Chicago Ave. at the corner of Franklin Avenue, which formerly housed Pearl, the discount art supply store. Get the full story »

Wal-Mart shrinks electronics space, adds items

Wal-Mart is cutting the size of its electronics department as popular gadgets shrink and making room to add back dropped items like fishing poles, fabric and full-figure fashions. Get the full story »

Sears among companies helping military families

The White House is partnering with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Sears Holdings Corp. and Siemens AG to help struggling military families find jobs as part of an initiative partially overseen by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal.

Each company will offer different services for military spouses and veterans as part of an initiative–called Joining Forces–formally launched Tuesday by President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden. Get the full story »

Wal-Mart closes on land for Chatham supercenter

A vacant lot on the 50-acre Chatham Market, a shopping center at 83rd Street near the Dan Ryan Expressway, where Wal-Mart wants to build its second city store. (Michael Tercha/Chicago Tribune)

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. closed on the sale of a piece of land on Chicago’s South Side where it plans to build a long-anticipated 155,000-square-foot supercenter.

The world’s largest retailer paid about $10 million for the 13.5 acre parcel at the Chatham Market shopping center at the corner of 83rd Street and South Holland Road, according to a person close to the deal. The store is slated to open next year. Get the full story »

Amid slump, Wal-Mart returning to basics

Wal-Mart plans to bring back some of the products it has dropped. (Reuters)

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will launch a promotional campaign next month called “It’s Back,” to tell core customers the discounter is restoring merchandise it removed from store shelves in a flubbed renovation effort.

Starting in May, Wal-Mart shoppers in the U.S. will see signs in stores heralding the return of fishing tackle, bolts of fabric and other “heritage” merchandise that Wal-Mart reduced or cut out altogether as it attempted to spruce up its stores to appeal to more well-heeled shoppers. Get the full story »

Court backs Wal-Mart in anti-gay employee firing

From The Chicago Sun-Times | A federal appeals court has ruled that retail giant Wal-Mart was within its rights to fire a Joliet store employee who told a lesbian co-worker that she would go to hell because God does not accept gays, and that the dismissal was not religious discrimination.

Wal-Mart gets sympathetic bias case hearing

Activists rally in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, March 29, 2011. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Wal-Mart got a sympathetic hearing from several Supreme Court justices Tuesday as the retailer sought to prevent female employees from bringing the largest class-action sex-discrimination lawsuit in history.

The justices sharply questioned whether more than a million female employees can join together against Wal-Mart Stores Inc, accused of paying women less and giving them fewer promotions. Get the full story »

Chicago sociologist central to Wal-Mart suit

From the New York Times | When the Supreme Court considers on Tuesday whether hundreds of thousands of women can band together in an employment discrimination suit against Wal-Mart, the argument may hinge on the validity of the hotly disputed conclusions of a Chicago sociologist.

Plaintiffs in the class-action suit, who claim that Wal-Mart owes billions of dollars to as many as 1.5 million women who they say were unfairly treated on pay and promotions, enlisted the support of William T. Bielby, an academic specializing in “social framework analysis.” Get the full story>>

Wal-Mart sex-bias suit hits High Court next week

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will urge the U.S. Supreme Court next week to reject the largest class-action sex-discrimination lawsuit in history, brought by female employees who seek billion of dollars.

The top U.S. court hears arguments March 29 in a suit against the world’s largest retailer for allegedly giving women less pay and fewer promotions at 3,400 U.S. stores since late 1998. Get the full story »

Ill. to connect online retailers with new partners

Amazon dropped its Illinois business affiliates last week. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

The Illinois commerce department will try to find new partners for businesses that previously sold products through Internet retailers like Amazon.com and Overstock.com. Amazon and Overstock plan to drop Illinois-based affiliates this spring to allow them to avoid collecting sales taxes under a new law that applies to Internet businesses that team up with Illinois partners. Get the full story »

Wal-Mart set to announce 2 more S. Side stores

Wal-Mart will open two more stores on the South Side next year, city officials and the giant retailer announced today.

A store with a grocery and pharmacy will open at the corner of 76th Street and Ashland Avenue in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood, said Ald. Latasha Thomas, 17th, said in a news release.

Target typically undercuts Wal-Mart on prices

Shoppers at a Target on Elston Ave. in December. (Phil Velasquez/Chicago Tribune)

Wal-Mart’s slogan may be “Save Money. Live Better,” but rival Target is challenging it by offering even lower prices on everyday products.

Two recent price comparisons of grocery and household goods revealed that Target’s prices are lower than at No. 1 retailer Wal-Mart.

Craig Johnson, president of retail consulting firm Customer Growth Partners, compared 35 brand-name items sold at Wal-Mart and Target stores in New York, Indiana and North Carolina. They consisted of 22 common grocery goods such as milk, cereal and rice; 10 general merchandise products such as clothing and home furnishings; and three health and beauty items. Get the full story »

Walmart market coming to Presidential Towers

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to open a Neighborhood Market store at the Presidential Towers apartment complex in the West Loop in what would be the discount chain’s first small grocery store in Chicago.

The world’s largest retailer intends to spend $1 million to build out 26,491 square feet on one level at the residential tower at 555 W. Madison St., according to a building permit filed on behalf of Walmart.

The Bentonville, Ark.-based discount chain has been making a push to expand into urban centers of the north to jump start sales growth. On Tuesday, the retail giant reported that sales at U.S. stores open at least one year, a key metric of retail health, fell for the second year in a row. Get the full story »

Wal-Mart shares drop after sales miss forecasts

Wal-Mart Stores failed to meet its promise of reigniting sales at its U.S. stores, a disappointment for a new leadership team charged with turning things around in the face of pressure from even cheaper discounters.

The retailer’s shares closed down 3.1 percent, despite the company’s reporting earnings that beat analysts’ expectations. U.S. sales are also still being hurt by a poorly executed decision, since reversed, to pare down the number of items Wal-Mart offers. Get the full story »