Top Retailers

MATTHEWS, N.C. — A 25% increase in the health and beauty care product assortments at Family Dollar contributed to overall inventory growth during the company’s third quarter, the retailer announced Wednesday morning with the release of its financial results.

In addition to the major expansion of the health and beauty category at 5,000 of the company’s 6,900 stores, Family Dollar said it also expanded assortments of food by 20%, which, combined with the health and beauty care initiative, resulted in an overall increase in inventory levels of 15%.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT — In June 1997, the cover of Wired magazine showed Apple’s logo with a crown of thorns and the foreboding word “Pray.” Amid the nascent tech boom, the company’s stock hit a low of about $12 per share that summer. The future, it seemed, was IBM-compatible.

(THE NEWS: Rite Aid shows off innovation with Wellness store. For the full story, click here.)

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens is making online shopping more convenient for its customers with its new Web pickup service.

NEW YORK — Prices for the top 10 most prescribed branded diabetes drugs have risen faster at Walmart and Kmart than at other retailers, according to a published report.

Citing a recent study by researchers at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, Reuters reported that Walmart raised prices for branded diabetes drugs by 32% between 2008 and 2010, compared with 21% for the industry as a whole — including independent and chain retail pharmacies and mail-order companies. Kmart raised prices by 35%.

LA JOLLA, Calif. — Natural food company Bear Naked is giving consumers a boost with a new breakfast cereal.

Bear Naked Nut Cluster Crunch is a blend of hearty flakes and energy-dense, crunchy clusters made with toasted nuts, whole-grain oats and puffed wheat. The company said that the cereal, which is available in honey almond and maple nut varieties, was designed to give busy, active people the natural energy they need to make the most of their morning.

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario — Walmart Canada has agreed to assume leasehold interests from Target Canada in up to 39 sites that currently are operated by Zellers.

Specific locations will be identified later this fall. Terms of this transaction were not disclosed.

The sites are among up to 220 possible sites whose leasehold interests Target is acquiring as part of a real-estate transaction announced in January. In May, Target selected its initial group of 105 sites, the vast majority of which will become Target stores.

BOSTON — There’s a tremendous upside for retailers and suppliers, but that upside will come from doing things differently than in years past, as well as grappling with fragmentation. Those were a few of the key messages Bryan Gildenberg, chief knowledge officer of Kantar Retail, had for attendees of Monday morning’s business session at NACDS Marketplace in Boston.

BOSTON — More and more success at retail is contingent upon delivering what the consumer wants, when she wants it, where she wants it and at the price she wants it.

According to a panel of consumer manufacturers and retail executives from Navarro Discount Pharmacies and Rite Aid, she wants fresh, health and wellness all neatly packaged with a value-priced bow. And she wants it in the drug channel.