More Wal-Marts join
test of 'scan and go'
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is introducing "scan and go" technology to more than a dozen additional stores, expanding a test that began at the Rogers supercenter at Pleasant Crossing.
The service allows shoppers to skip the checkout line by using either a smartphone app or hand-held scanners provided by the store to scan items as they shop. Customers then click a button to pay for the items and show a digital receipt to an employee as they leave the store.
In addition to the Rogers location, scan and go was being tested in Lake Nona, Fla., and Tomball, Texas, this year during the company's second attempt with the technology. The first took place a few years ago but didn't gain much traction with customers. The current test of the service includes stores in the Dallas and Nashville, Tenn., markets.
Wal-Mart introduced the service after success with a similar service at Sam's Club.
The company's warehouse club division began testing scan and go at two locations in the summer of 2015 and rolled it out to all of its U.S. locations last September.
-- Robbie Neiswanger
LR carwash chain
adds to Florida sites
A Little Rock-based carwash chain, Zips Car Wash, has acquired a carwash in Florida, increasing its footprint in the Jacksonville, Fla., area.
The purchase of the Tidal Wave Auto Spa in Orange Park, Fla., gives Zips Car Wash six locations in the Jacksonville area, according to a company release. The site is expected to be re-branded as a Zips Car Wash location in the coming months.
With the new Florida location, Zips now has 81 locations in nine states.
Zips operates drive-thru carwashes, commonly called conveyor or tunnel carwashes. The company has locations in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee.
-- John Magsam
State index up 0.81
though 10 stocks fall
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, dropped 0.81 to 333.76 Friday.
Ten stocks fell and eight gained ground.
Dillard's fell 6 percent a day after releasing disappointing quarterly earnings.
P.A.M. Transportation rose 4.3 percent in light trading.
Total volume for the index was 31.7 million shares. The average daily volume for the week was 30 million shares.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 08/12/2017