Walmart

BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Responding to claims that it's backing off its ambitious plans to offer a wide range of organic foods, Wal-Mart said yesterday that it's still in the organics game, stocking organic items on a store-by-store basis based on what's appropriate for customers in specific markets.

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- A day after Lone Star Funds announced it's looking to sell Bi-Lo, the regional chain's president and c.e.o. reiterated his confidence in the strength of the business, and said the company will continue to pursue its current course, including capital expenditures in its markets.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. yesterday unveiled a "unique" three-level, 205,700-square-foot unit in its fourth so-called "jobs and opportunity zone" in Richmond, Calif. The store is inside a formerly vacant space at Richmond's Hilltop Mall.

DALLAS -- Southeastern chain Bi-Lo is back on the market several years after breaking away from former parent company Ahold. Bi-Lo's current owner, private equity firm Lone Star Funds, said yesterday it intends to seek a buyer for the 230-store chain, which has come up short in many markets to the country's leading supermarket operator, Wal-Mart.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) said yesterday that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission told it that Wal-Mart here would have to submit an NLPC-sponsored proposal that discloses its charitable donations to shareholders at its annual meeting in June, according to a published report.

CINCINNATI -- So is The Kroger Co. here the likely target of a leveraged buy-out by a private equity firm, or isn't it?

BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. said Friday it has created two new high-level positions at Wal-Mart Stores U.S. that will be filled by Bill Simon and Pat Curran, effective immediately. Simon has been named c.o.o., and Curran will become e.v.p. of people.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. said yesterday it's expanding a new program designed to help associates "incorporate the principles of sustainability into their daily lives."