Walmart

NEW YORK -- For the fourth year in a row, Wal-Mart topped Fortune magazine's Global 500, ahead of other top ten contenders BP, (Britain), Exxon Mobil (U.S.), Royal Dutch/Shell Group (Britain/Netherlands) and General Motors.

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- A mentally unstable man arrested earlier this week here for the possession of three pipe bombs told police he tampered with baby food products and returned them to local retailers, alarming area consumers and retailers in the area in what might turn out to have been a costly hoax.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Shoppers in hurricane-prone states know just how quickly things can take a turn for the worse. Thanks to the Wal-Mart Television Network, Wal-Mart shoppers in the Southeast will now know exactly what the weather is doing throughout their shopping trip, right up until the time they check out.

CHICAGO -- India heads the list as the best international investment opportunity for mass merchants and food retailers, according to management consulting firm A.T. Kearney's 2005 Global Retail Development Index (GRDI), a yearly study of retail investment attractiveness among 30 emerging markets.

TROY, Mich. -- Kmart, based here, said it will shutter three Super Kmart stores in the Memphis, Tenn. area, but industry observers say it could only be a matter of time before the discount chain, which completed a merger with Sears in March, does away with its ailing food-retailing business altogether.

LEEDS, United Kingdom -- Wal-Mart-owned ASDA, the second-largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom, says it will pare 1,400 jobs, 200 of them at the company's headquarters here and 1,200 at stores, as it attempts to lower costs and catch up to No. 1 U.K. grocer Tesco, according to published reports. ASDA executives revealed their plans at a press briefing in London yesterday.

Bill's Fresh Markets is a plucky family-owned company that's managed to find success on the Bentonville behemoth's home turf.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- It's a good thing for Wal-Mart that people have to eat. The latest figures from ACNielsen's Wal-Mart Channel Service for the 52-weeks ended May 14, show that growth in food and beverage sales more than offset an actual decline in sales of UPC-coded general merchandise at Wal-Mart supercenters and discount stores over the past year.