Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Ark. information on retail stores by Ray Sahelian, M.D.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, posted its first profit decline in a decade in August 2006 as second-quarter earnings fell 26 percent due to the cost of selling its Germany operation. But results were still in line with expectations and the company reiterated its guidance for the year. The company's stock fell 42 cents to $44.68 in pre-market trading. For the quarter ended July 31, the company posted net income of $2.08 billion, or 50 cents per share, down from $2.81 billion, or 67 cents per share, a year ago. That includes a hefty $863 million charge related to the sale of its German stores to rival Metro AG.

     Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is fighting battles on multiple fronts after posting its first quarterly profit decline in 10 years, and analysts question whether the world's largest retailer can regain the feverish growth rates of its past. Wal-Mart's woes range from high energy prices, which hit its lower-income customer base and its own costs, to setbacks in its international strategy, to public relations stumbles like the sudden resignation of civil rights icon Andrew Young as its public ambassador.
 

Wal-Mart now has growth hormone free milk
Wal-Mart Stores Inc said in March 2008 that its private-label Great Value milk is now being sourced only from cows that have not been treated with artificial growth hormones, such as recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST).

Wal-Mart mislabels organic food
January 2007 - A policy research group is accusing Wal-Mart of "organic fraud," the latest controversy to arise as Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer pushes into the organic food industry. The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based advocacy group which promotes sustainable farming, claims Wal-Mart is defrauding its customers by mislabeling non-organic products as organic. The Cornucopia Institute said it conducted checks of Wal-Mart stores in five states and discovered labeling violations in virtually all of the "dozens of stores" it visited. Wal-Mart, which uses green signs to identify organic selections at its stores, said any shelf labeling mistakes are isolated events and that it often mixes organic and conventional products on its shelves to make it easer for customers to find organic options.

Andrew Young Quits Wal-Mart Stores

Civil rights leader Andrew Young, who was hired to help Wal-Mart Stores Inc. improve its public image, said in August 2006 he was resigning from his position as head of an outside support group amid criticism for remarks seen as racially offensive. The Quote: Asked by the Los Angeles Sentinel if he has concerns about Wal-Mart closing down mom-and-pop stores, Young was quoted as replying: "Well, I think they should... I think they've ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it's Arabs; very few black people own these stores."

Wal-Mart in Iowa

August 2006 - Wal-Mart Stores is hitting back at some leading Democratic presidential hopefuls who have joined with the company's critics recently. Wal-Mart is sending out what it terms a "voter education guide" to its 18,000 Iowa employees, criticizing politicians who have recently joined with the union-backed group "Wake Up Wal-Mart" for a series of rallies. Iowa holds the nation's first presidential caucus, and potential candidates are already visiting the state. "We believe it's wrong for these political candidates to attack Wal-Mart and the transformation under way at our company," the letter said. "We would never suggest to you how to vote, but we have an obligation to tell you when politicians are saying something about your company that isn't true." Wal-Mart's critics charge that Wal-Mart fails to provide health care for more than half its workers, pays what it calls "poverty" wages, and helps to shift U.S. jobs overseas by selling low-priced imports.

Wal-Mart in UK
A sterols fortified cheese has been launched by Wal-Mart in the UK.

Wal-Mart Stores in Germany
Wal-Mart Stores, admitting defeat in Germany’s giant, cutthroat retail market, said in July 2006 that it would sell its 85 stores here to a German retailer, the Metro Group, and incur a loss of $1 billion. The decision to sell out came two months after Wal-Mart sold its stores in South Korea, and amounts to a rare retreat by the world’s largest retailer from its breakneck global expansion. Wal-Mart never got traction in the German market that is characterized by unrelenting price competition, well-established discounters, and the cultural resistance of German shoppers to hypermarkets, which sell fresh vegetables a few aisles away from lawn mowers. Wal-Mart made a similar calculation in South Korea, selling 16 stores to a local retailer, Shinsegae. As in Germany, Wal-Mart did not appeal sufficiently to local Korean tastes, and struggled to compete with aggressive discounters. Wal-Mart continues to thrive in many countries outside the United States, with particularly robust results in Mexico, Canada, Brazil, and Britain.

Wal-Mart Stores Vice Chairman sentenced

Tom Coughlin, the former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. vice chairman who admitted to stealing thousands of dollars from the company, was sentenced on Friday to 27 months of home confinement. Coughlin, who joined Wal-Mart (Charts) in 1978 and worked closely with legendary founder Sam Walton, had faced up to 28 years in prison and $1.35 million in fines after he pleaded guilty in January to wire fraud and tax evasion. "There is no excuse for my conduct," Coughlin said at the hearing in U.S. District Court in Fort Smith, Arkansas. "I feel compelled to apologize to my extended Wal-Mart family."Coughlin said he would spend the rest of his life trying to undo the damage he had caused. His doctor, Joel Carver, had testified earlier on Friday that the 57-year-old was too "fragile" for prison, suffering from diabetes, cardiac disease, sleep apnea, arterial blockage, and other ailments. Coughlin was treated for arterial blockage in 2003.

Wal-Mart offers generic drugs
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. — under increasing attacks for what its critics call inadequate health care coverage for its 1.3 million workers — is selling generic prescription medications to its employees and customers at reduced prices. The world's biggest retailer will sell generic versions of about 300 widely prescribed drugs for as low as $4 for a standard prescription. Wal-Mart 's recent moves to improve its health care plan include relaxing eligibility requirements for its part-time employees who want health insurance, and extending coverage for the first time to the children of those employees. Part-time employees, who had to work for Wal-Mart for two years to qualify, now have to work at the company for one year. In 2006, Wal-Mart also expanded a trial run of in-store clinics, aimed at providing lower cost non-emergency health care to the public.

See also Walgreens stores. See Rite Aid stores.