- Wall Street Journal reports this morning that Dunkin' Donuts will open 10 shops inside Wal-Mart stores over the next three months, and hopes to open more than 100 stores inside Wal-Marts over the next few years.
The goal is to help Dunkin’ Donuts expand outside the northeast US, and to give customers yet another reason to shop at Wal-Mart.
The WSJ notes that Wal-Mart has similar agreements with other food retailers, including McDonald’s and Blimpie. For a time, it seemed like Wal-Mart was leaning towards opening its own foodservice operations, called the Radio Grill, but that impulse seems to have subsided.
There’s another food retailer in the Wal-Mart mix, as well: Krispy Kreme. The WSJ reports that Wal-Mart “already has an agreement with Krispy Kreme to test two of its outlets inside Wal-Mart stores, with a plan to open five more this quarter. Furthermore, Wal-Mart, which has about 3,000 U.S. stores, already sells boxed Krispy Kreme donuts in the main area of more than 500 of its stores.”
- In the UK, Wal-Mart’s Asda Group said that it will create 4.300 new jobs this year as it invests the equivalent of $705 million (US) in the company.
- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported first quarter earnings of $2.2 billion, compared with $1.8 billion a year earlier.
Sales in the first quarter jumped 14.2 percent to $64.76 billion.
U.S. same-store sales rose 6.4 percent, reflecting a 5.9 percent increase at Wal-Mart stores and an 8.8 percent rise at Sam's Club.
- Wal-Mart Stores has agreed to pay a $3.1 million fine to settle charges brought against it by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that the company violated the federal Clean Water Act at store construction sites across the country.
The company also promised that it would endeavor to reduce storm drain runoff at its construction sites.
"Runoff from construction sites is a primary contributor to the impairment of water quality in the nation," according to Thomas Skinner, acting assistant administrator of the EPA's office of enforcement and compliance.
