Top Retailers

CINCINNATI — Kroger on Thursday reported total sales of $96.8 billion, up 7.1% as compared with the prior fiscal year. After adjusting for the extra week in fiscal 2012, total sales increased to $94.8 billion or 4.9% compared with the prior fiscal year. Excluding fuel, total sales increased 6% over the same period last year. Further adjusting for the extra week, total sales excluding fuel increased 4%.

ISSAQUAH, Wash. — Costco Wholesale Corp.'s sales increased 8% to $7.58 billion in February, the club retailer said Thursday.

For the 26-week period that ended Sunday, the chain reported sales of $51.35 billion, a 9% increase over February 2012. Comps for the company's U.S. stores increased 6% during the month and also during the past 26-week period.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — A nonprofit group that provides youth football, dance and cheerleading programs across the country has named MinuteClinic as its official sports physical provider, MinuteClinic said Thursday.

MinuteClinic, part of CVS Caremark, said sports physicals are offered seven days a week with no appointment necessary at more than 625 CVS/pharmacy stores across the country, and the collaboration, with Pop Warner Little Scholars, is designed to offer parents convenient and affordable options to obtain required sports physicals for their children.

NEW YORK — Fast Company magazine and Target are sponsoring a competition to develop a new mobile experience for Target, with a grand prize of $75,000.

The Co.Labs and Target Retail Accelerator is a competition to create either a mobile app or a mobile-enabled website design for the retailer, taking places at the Fast Co. Grill in Austin, Texas, blocks away from the SXSW conference. Entries will be accepted between this Friday and April 30, and seven finalists will be selected in May and awarded $10,000 to develop their prototypes.

WASHINGTON — Club retailer Costco Wholesale is throwing its support behind a bill introduced in Congress Tuesday to raise the federal minimum wage.

PITTSBURGH — Health and wellness products retailer GNC is sponsoring a 12-week effort to encourage consumers to transform eating and exercise habits for long-term weight management, the company said.

GNC Holdings, the retailer's parent company, announced the Total Lean Challenge and Sweepstakes, which offers a chance for consumers to win $25,000 in cash prizes, as well as serving as an introduction to the company's Lifestyle Diet approach to weight loss and a way to promote products like the Lean Shake and Total Lean Watertex.

AMSTERDAM — Rene Dahan will step down as Royal Ahold's board chairman in October, the Dutch supermarket operator said Wednesday.

Netherlands-based Ahold — which operates the Stop & Shop, Giant-Landover and Giant-Carlisle chains and the Peapod online grocery service in the United States through its Ahold USA subsidiary — said that Dahan would step down after serving on the company's board since 2004. The company plans to propose at its shareholder meeting the appointment of Jan Hommen as Dahan's successor.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — Washington-based healthcare accrediting organization URAC has given a subsidiary of CVS Caremark case management accreditation, valid through March 1, 2016, CVS said Wednesday.

CVS said Accordant Health Services met URAC's standards, which require companies to establish processes to assess, plan and implement case management interventions.