REI building fourth distribution center to support growth (chainstoreage.com)

First Quarter Highlights • Consolidated revenue of $161.5 billion, up 6.0%, or 5.8% (cc)1, including a benefit of ~1% from an additional selling day • Consolidated gross margin rate up 42bps due to improvements across segments, led by Walmart U.S. • Consolidated operating income up $0.6 billion, or 9.6%; adjusted operating income up 13.7%1 , due to higher gross margins and growth in membership income • Global eCommerce sales grew 21%, led by storefulfilled pickup & delivery and marketplace

Unit sales of print books in the week ended Mar. 12, 2018, inched ahead 1% over the comparable week in 2017, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. For the third consecutive week, the juvenile categories drove the sales gains. Unit sales in the juvenile nonfiction segment rose 8% over the week ended Mar. 11, 2017. Although children’s board books had a good week overall (unit sales were up 17%), two Chelsea Clinton titles helped lift sales in the category. She Persisted Around the World by Clinton and Alexandra Bolger sold more than 11,000 copies in its first week. The book is a follow-up to the pair’s She Persisted, which sold nearly 8,000 copies in the week, putting the titles in second and sixth place, respectively, on the category bestseller list. The release of the film A Wrinkle in Time pushed up two editions of the Madeleine L’Engle book into the first and sixth spots on the juvenile fiction bestseller list, helping raise unit sales in the segment 7%. Click Read More below for additional information.

Costco Wholesale Corporation reported net sales of $10.02 billion for the month of October, the four weeks ended October 29, 2017, an increase of 10.1 percent from $9.11 billion during the similar period last year. For the first eight weeks of fiscal year 2018 ended October 29, 2017, the Company reported net sales of $19.87 billion, an increase of 11.3 percent from $17.85 billion for the first eight weeks of fiscal 2017 ended October 23, 2016. *The U.S. comparable sales figure excluding the impacts from changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange for the eight week YTD period was initially reported incorrectly as 8.1%. Click Read More below for additional information.