Walmart

BENTONVILLE, Ark. - Wal-Mart Stores is making it easier for customers to use its private-label credit cards, thanks to a new program in which Wal-Mart and Sam's Club will accept each other's cards.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. today reported record sales and earnings for the quarter ended October 31, 2001. Net income for the quarter was $1.481 billion, up from $1.369 billion for the similar prior year quarter. Total sales were $52.738 billion, an increase of 15.5 percent over the similar prior year quarter.

LONDON - Carrefour, the French hypermarket chain, will sign an agreement today with the Chinese State Economic and Trade Commission that will allow it to resume supermarket openings, which have been suspended for six months, the BBC reported.

SEATTLE - Mark S. Hansen, 47, chairman and CEO of Fleming Companies Inc., was elected today to the board of directors of Amazon.com.

BEIJING - A Wal-Mart executive said today the company hopes to open its first store in Beijing late next year or early in 2003, The Associated Press reported.

NEW YORK - Online retailing is expected to fare only about as well or as poorly as the retail economy as a whole during the Christmas season, The New York Times reported today. That stands in contrast to a steady growth since 1998, when online sales kept surging despite less favorable economic trends or even normal seasonal patterns.

LITTLE ROCK - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Thursday it was mistaken when it said it would have exclusive rights to sell Polaroid 35 mm film at its stores, The Associated Press reported.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has purchased the rights to exclusively sell 35mm Polaroid film, The Associated Press reported on Tuesday.