Chief Executive Officer Lee Scott told investors Wednesday that Wal-Mart Stores is focused on improving flagging sales at its existing U.S. stores, even as it cuts plans for new store openings in an increasingly saturated market. ...more

October 25, 2007

The mega-retailer's plans include more stores, many of them smaller supercenters or neighborhood markets, and older-store rehabs. ...more

October 24, 2007

Wal-Mart Stores became famous for low-price general merchandise. Future stores, however, will better resemble a neighborhood grocer. ...more

October 24, 2007

Retail sales in October may rise more slowly than previously forecast as stores continue offering discounts before the holiday shopping period to attract shoppers facing higher costs. ...more

October 24, 2007

The calculus of living paycheck to paycheck in America is getting harder. ...more

October 20, 2007

39,000 Number of sampling events in Sam's Club, weekly 68.5 Percentage of customers who buy item after sampling 200 Percentage rise in impulse buys at the most successful Sweetbay Supermarket sampling events $16 Average hourly wage samplers can make with some companies $2 billion Annual retailer and manufacturer investment for in-store sampling 11,200 People employed as samplers by Sam's Club Sources: Sweetbay Supermarket, Wal-Mart Stores, Mass Connections, Supermarket News, Promotion Marketing Association ...more

October 20, 2007

Critics say ConAgra Foods Inc.'s delay in recalling pot pies linked to a nationwide salmonella outbreak increased the chance that more people would become sick, opened up the company to greater liability, and exposed a key weakness in the nation's food safety system: voluntary recalls. ...more

October 15, 2007

Several of the nation's largest retailers cut their earnings forecasts Thursday after lingering summer weather and an uncertain economy kept consumers from shopping last month and left the big merchants with disappointing sales. ...more

October 12, 2007

Wal-Mart Stores, the world's largest retailer, was sued by wheeled-footwear maker Heelys for making knockoff skates that Heelys claims violate a patent. ...more

October 11, 2007

Publix Super Markets' future growth includes its restaurant and organic grocery ventures, company President Ed Crenshaw said Friday. ...more

October 6, 2007