The Shannon Ridge winery has appointed wine industry professional Chris Baker as its division sales manager for the Southeast region. Baker will be managing sales in various states. Prior to joining Shannon Ridge, Baker was a sales manager for Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. He has also worked for Empire Distributors of North Carolina as a general manager. Shannon Ridge was named one of the hottest new wine brands in 2006 by Wine Business Monthly. Baker has spent more than 27 years in the food and beverage industry, working in the areas of distributor wholesale management and wine judging.
Slimmer Sony PSP expected to boost sales
Sony will launch a slimmer model of its PlayStation Portable (PSP) handheld game player this September. The new PSP from Sony will be 33% lighter and 19% slimmer. This is the company's latest attempt to increase demand for its game hardware in order to compete with Nintendo. Earlier, sales of the company's current PSP, which plays movies, music, and games, plummeted due to Nintendo's DS system. Nintendo sold 23.6 million DS units in the year that ended March 2007, overtaking PSP shipments, which totaled 8.4 million. The slimmer PSP will be priced at about $170.
TJX reports increase in sales
June saw same-store sales for TJX Companies, Inc., exceed expectations with an increase of 9%. Total sales were $1.7 billion, up from $1.5 billion in 2006. Same-store sales at stores open at least a year increased more than 5%, compared with sales in June 2006. The Massachusetts-based company operates 273 HomeGoods, 832 T.J. Maxx, 765 Marshalls, 128 A.J. Wright, and 34 Bob's Stores locations in the United States, Canada, and Europe.
