Wal-Mart CEO says stores not necessity
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillon told a crowd at a media and tech conference in California on Wednesday that the global retail giant is prepared to give customers what they want, how they want it, even if that means fewer of them will shop in stores.
"If they [customers] don't want stores, we don't have to have stores. Having said that, I think we will have stores in the future, but it will change," he said during an interview at Re/code's Code Conference. It was a rare public appearance for McMillon since he took over Feb. 1 as president and CEO.
E-commerce, and the blurring of e-commerce with conventional retail methods, likely will lead to smaller stores, with customers increasingly using stores as a pickup location. Wal-Mart already is testing the concept in Denver and is erecting a pickup depot for groceries in Bentonville.
In-store use of Wal-Mart's mobile app has contributed to sales, McMillon said. About two-thirds of the U.S. population lives within 5 miles of a Wal-Mart store or distribution center, and hundreds more stores are planned to open this year.
-- Cyd King
Energy firm to talk project in Mulberry
Officials with Clean Line Energy Partners LLC will be in Mulberry today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Mulberry Senior Center, 406 U.S. 64 West, to discuss Clean Line's proposed electric transmission line project, according to a news release.
The $2 billion project would deliver electricity from Oklahoma to Arkansas, Tennessee and other markets in the South, according to the news release.
The Arkansas Public Service Commission has declined to give Clean Line public utility status. The company is working to obtain environmental permits for the project and plans to start construction in 2016 with operations starting by 2018.
Clean Line said it plans to build a power station -- a $100 million investment -- in central Arkansas. The company has not disclosed the station's location.
-- Jessica Seaman
Arkansas Index falls 2.25 to end 343.65
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest-public companies based in the state, dropped 2.25 to 343.65 Wednesday.
"U.S. stocks ended lower on Wednesday, pausing after a four-day rally that sent the S&P 500 to record levels," said John Blackwell, senior vice president and managing director of equity trading at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock. "The Arkansas Index moved lower as 12 stocks declined and five advanced."
America's Car-Mart toppled by 7.1 percent on more than eight times its average volume.
Windstream shares rose 3.2 percent.
Total volume of the index was 20.6 million shares.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 05/29/2014