Wal-Mart shutting 5 stores to fix pipes
Wal-Mart is temporarily closing five stores, including one in Tulsa, because of plumbing problems.
Supercenters in Oklahoma, Florida, California and two in Texas will close for up to six months as the retailer works to fix persistent issues with plumbing. More than 2,000 employees will be affected by the closures, but the company said it is offering opportunities to transfer to other stores or receive pay for up to 60 days. Some employees will be eligible for severance, including one week of pay for every year of service.
"As part of an effort to ensure all of [the company's] stores are fully serving the needs of our customers, we regularly assess their condition," spokesman Lorenzo Lopez said. "Due to ongoing plumbing issues that will require extensive repairs, we are temporarily closing the five stores."
During the closures, Wal-Mart will examine the stores to decide whether additional upgrades are needed.
Wal-Mart employs more than 1.4 million people and operates about 4,500 stores in the United States.
-- Chris Bahn
Mitsubishi property said to be on market
The $100 million Mitsubishi Heavy Industries plant in Fort Smith is on the market, Ivy Owen, executive director of the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority, said Wednesday.
Owen, attending a groundbreaking for the new ArcBest headquarters at Chaffee Crossing, said Mitsubishi listed the 200,000-square-foot property earlier this year. The company hired broker CBRE of Dallas to help find a new owner.
Mitsubishi halted plans to open the plant in 2012 after a legal battle with General Electric over wind turbine technologies. Millions of dollars in state and local incentives were granted to the project, which was supposed to add more than 300 jobs in Fort Smith.
Owen said the plant is best suited for large-scale manufacturing such as automobiles, boats or aerospace parts.
-- Chris Bahn
Oil, earnings reports lift state index 0.81
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, rose 0.81 to 405.83 on Wednesday.
"U.S. stocks traded higher after better-than-expected earnings and as oil continued its rally after some bullish inventory data was released," said John Blackwell, senior vice president and managing director of equity trading at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock.
Bank of the Ozarks jumped 4.9 percent and hit a 52-week high on double its average volume.
USA Truck gained 2.6 percent on average volume.
Windstream lost 2.8 percent on almost double its normal volume.
Total volume of the index was 33.1 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 04/16/2015