Walmart

At its annual meeting last week, Pembroke, N.H.-based Associated Grocers of New England reported what it called “a record-breaking year.”

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. reportedly is prepared to build dozens of stores in Chicago if city officials back off from their demand that the retailer pay a “living wage” of at least $11.03 an hour.

Retailers from such companies as 7-Eleven, Kum & Go, Jewel-Osco and others will join Walmart’s director of multicultural marketing Carla Dodds on the agenda for this year’s Hispanic Retail 360 Summit.

Adding perishables to its general merchandise stores has been a boon for Target Corp., the Minneapolis-based retailer’s chief executive told shareholders last week.

Supervalu, Inc. has filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. that alleges one of the world’s largest retailer’s stores in the Twin Cities sells too many groceries, according to local press reports.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. president and CEO Mike Duke has outlined how the mega-retailer will build what it calls “the Next Generation Walmart,” which, among other things, will create 500,000 jobs worldwide over the next five years.

Retail same-store sales excluding Walmart increased 2.7 percent last month as sales growth inched up despite the effects of a sluggish stock market and changing shopper patterns, according to Columbus, Ohio-based Kantar Retail, a global retail insights and consulting business.

Half of the over 500 households surveyed nationally by Novato, Calif.-based Q & A Research said that their impressions of both Walmart and Target are more positive as a direct result of expanded grocery inventories in many of the retailers’ superstores.