Walmart

Three major chains plan to save big with centralized perishables buying, but will their fresh departments start to look like clones?

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - A lawsuit filed by an Illinois woman alleging that a Wal-Mart pharmacist failed to warn her of the side effects that could be caused by a medication can proceed to trial, the Associated Press reports.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has won a court injunction to keep union organizers out of its U.S. stores, The Associated Press reports.

TOKYO - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has agreed to purchase a strategic stake in The Seiyu Ltd. (Seiyu), a leading $8 billion Japanese retail chain that focuses primarily on supermarkets and general merchandising stores.

NEW YORK - Best Buy, Pathmark, Stop N Shop, Ranch Market, Vallarta Supermarkets, The Limited and Family Dollar Stores are among several retailers that will be making presentations and speaking on panels at this year's Store-Specific Merchandising and Marketing Conference.

LONDON - British supermarket group Asda said today it will lobby the UK to allow more competition in the pharmacy industry, potentially saving consumers 420 million pounds ($600 million) a year, Reuters reports.

Maximize operational efficiency, consumer value, and employee satisfaction. That's all the Niemanns did in opening 22 successful new stores in the last three years. Simple, right?

MINNEAPOLIS - As the mass-merchandising industry begins to mature, the channel's focus on food as a vehicle for growth is resulting in supercenters that are beginning to look like conventional grocery stores, says U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray Senior Food Processing and Distribution Analyst George Dahlman.