Walmart

Walmart celebrated the grand opening of its 1,000th Walmart MoneyCenter in Chalmette, La., this week as it gears up to add another 500 locations this year.

Walmart won top honors as the most valuable retail brand, followed by Target (No. 2), Best Buy (No. 3), The Home Depot (No. 4) and Walgreens (No. 5), according to a ranking of the top 50 retail brands by Dayton, Ohio-based branding consultancy Interbrand Design Forum.

The world’s largest retailer is calling on its suppliers to help it eliminate 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the global supply chain by the end of 2015 via a three-pronged program targeting selection, action and assessment.

Walmart Canada will open 35 to 40 supercentrers in 2010, including new stores, relocations of existing stores, store expansions and store remodels, representing a combined investment of almost half a billion dollars in Canadian communities.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has named Eduardo Solórzano its new regional president and CEO, concurrent with the opening of its new headquarters office in Miami for the company’s Latin America regional operations.

While the world’s largest retailer posted a profit in the fourth quarter that beat Wall Street’s expectations, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.’s same-store sales declined 1.6 percent vs. a 2.4 percent increase the prior year, during the all-important year-end holiday period ended Jan. 31, 2010.

Americans’ Satisfaction with the goods and services they buy stayed strong in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).

Despite the gloom of the recession that enveloped the nation last year, with its impact still being felt, U.S. consumers haven’t given up on chocolate, even as they cut back on other frills and took steps to curtail spending in virtually every way possible.