Top Retailers

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Neither one of the co-recipients of this year’s Fantle Award would want you to call it the end of an era. They would both tell you that’s an overstatement.

(THE NEWS: NACDS honors Tom Ryan, Mary Sammons with lifetime achievement awards. For the full story, click here)

MINNEAPOLIS — The 13.1% increase in same-store sales Target reported for April was toward the low end of the company’s projection of an increase in the mid-teens, and begs the question whether Walmart’s mid-month launch of a new marketing campaign contributed to the weakness.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Caremark is “off to a good start” in 2011 as first-quarter results registered slightly above guidance for both the retail and PBM businesses, and the retail segment continues to gain share. But what president and CEO Larry Merlo wanted to clarify straight away during Thursday morning’s conference was the company’s commitment to its PBM division, and he outlined its plan to further improve PBM performance.

NEW YORK — Sales during the month of April edged up for wholesalers Costco and BJ's Wholesale Club, the companies reported Thursday.

Issaquah, Wash.-based Costco reported a 17% increase for the four weeks ended May 1 to $6.8 billion, compared with the year-ago period. For the period ended April 30, BJ's disclosed a sales increase of 12.2% to $871.7 million, compared with April 2010.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Sales for Walgreens during the month of April edged up 5.5%, thanks to a boost in both front-end and pharmacy sectors.

The drug store chain said that total front-end sales experienced a 9.4% boost, while comparable front-end sales benefited from the later Easter holiday with a 6.5% increase.

NEW YORK — Nail treatment company Nutra Nail has announced the launch of two new products — Instant Smudge Repair and Flex-Shield nail hardener.

Nutra Nail Instant Smudge Repair brushes away smudged, nicked, smeared or dented polish. Just brush over the manicure mishap and instantly restore polish to a smooth, shiny finish without removal or reapplication of polish, the company stated.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — On the final evening of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores Annual Meeting in Scottsdale, the association for the first time honored two individuals in the same year with the Sheldon W. Fantle Lifetime Achievement Award: Mary Sammons, chairman of Rite Aid, and Tom Ryan, chairman of CVS Caremark.

NEW YORK — Duane Reade is inviting comedic talents to supply humorous or witty captions for a Duane Reade cartoon as part of the retailer's Facebook "Caption Contest" that kicks off this week.

Each week for the next four weeks, the Manhattan-based retailer, which is owned by Walgreens, will run a caption-less cartoon in selected New York newspapers, where a uniquely New York scene or scenario is ripe for a clever caption. The subject matter in the various cartoons is designed to strike a chord with most city denizens.