Wal Mart

A Washington County Circuit Court judge upheld yesterday a decision that stops retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. from opening a controversial second supercenter in Hagerstown. Judge W. Kennedy Boone affirmed the Hagerstown Planning Commission's decision in December rejecting a site plan for a supercenter - a combination discount store and supermarket - of more than 200,000 square feet on 31 acres on Edgewood Drive near U.S. 40 in eastern Hagerstown. In an oral opinion, Boone agreed with the planning commission's contention that a supercenter on property adjacent to historic Funkstown would generate traffic that would overwhelm local two-lane roads and would exceed the commercial zoning of the site.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. raised its August sales forecast yesterday to a gain of up to 6 percent as customers drawn by back-to-school shopping snap up clothing, electronics and groceries. The world's largest retailer had projected an increase of up to 5 percent over sales in August 2002 at U.S. stores open at least a year. That would have been the biggest monthly gain since June 2002, when sales climbed 7.9 percent. Wal-Mart gave the revised forecast on a recorded message.

The citizens group "Us Against the Wal" was formed in May as soon as news leaked that Wal-Mart was interested in putting a store in Mount Airy.The group's first meeting last night drew about 70 people, who oppose what would be the retail giant's third outlet in Carroll County."

City officials recognized Wal-Mart yesterday for the company's support of a "Housewarming for the Homeless" drive to assist families who used to live under the Jones Falls Expressway. The Baltimore-Washington stores donated more than $28,000 worth of materials to the campaign, filling a tractor-trailer with such items as refrigerators, mattresses, sheets, blankets, pillows, shower curtains, lamps, bulbs, pots and pans, plates, cups, utensils, toiletries and cleaning supplies, according to city officials.

A state judge in Minnesota has ruled that Wal-Mart Stores, the discount department store chain, violated state laws on rest breaks and other wage matters more than 2 million times and as a result could face more than $2 billion in fines. The judge has threatened to impose a $1,000 penalty for each violation. The judge also ruled Monday that Wal-Mart owed $6.5 million to 56,000 current and former employees because of contractual violations, including a failure to give workers promised rest breaks at least 1.5 million times.

WASHINGTON -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., under growing pressure in many states to improve health care benefits, said yesterday that it will expand coverage for its employees and build more than 50 in-store health clinics. At the same time, the nation's No. 1 private employer said in a news release that government and business must "work together to solve this challenge" of rising health care costs. The company said that on Sunday, at the annual winter meeting here of the National Governors Association, chief executive H. Lee Scott Jr. will call on state lawmakers to work with companies.

Amid a groundswell of community opposition, Wal-Mart announced yesterday that it has backed out of a plan to build a 121,000-square-foot Supercenter in Crofton. After meetings with County Executive John R. Leopold and property owner William Berkshire, a spokesman for the retail giant noted that despite making several concessions, "it has become clear to us that there are various views about a project of this size and scope at this specific site and its relationship to the County's long-term development profile."

A Senate hearing on a bill that would tax large employers that don't meet a threshold for health-benefits spending brought out a full array of business and labor groups, along with two likely Democratic rivals for governor who were united in favor of it. But the spotlight was on Wal-Mart Stores Inc., as representatives of the mammoth retailer defended the company against what the chain's director of benefits called "many myths." Lisa Woods, the director, said the retailer offers a variety of health plans to its workers and that its benefits package is better than those of many of its retailing competitors.

A courtroom challenge to a Maryland law requiring Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to increase spending for employee health care should be tossed out because the legislation gives the retail giant several alternatives, including setting up first-aid stations or creating health savings accounts for workers, lawyers for the state said yesterday. In February, a retail trade group filed suit on behalf of the discounter to strike down the so- called Wal-Mart law passed earlier this year by the General Assembly, saying federal rules don't allow states to specify companies' benefits.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. ended one of its toughest years in more than a decade yesterday with a better-than-expected profit for the holiday quarter and a fairly upbeat forecast for this year. Even so, it finished the year with only a slight gain at stores open at least a year, 2.1 percent. That key measure of retail performance was the company's slowest since it began recording same-store sales increases in 1980. Investors, however, were buoyed by the news. "I would not be surprised if they're at a low point," said Victor Hawley, portfolio manager at Reed, Conner & Birdwell of Los Angeles, which holds about 850,000 shares in Wal-Mart worth about $42 million.