Consistent with expectations disclosed in the company’s July 28, 2020 business update, net sales were $2.319 billion for the quarter ended Aug. 1, 2020, a decrease of 20 percent compared to sales of $2.902 billion for the quarter ended Aug. 3, 2019. Total Bath & Body Works second quarter sales in the United States and Canada were $1.197 billion, an increase of 13 percent compared to $1.061 billion last year. Total Victoria’s Secret second quarter sales in the United States and Canada were $977.5 million, a decrease of 39 percent compared to $1.606 billion last year. Reported loss per share for the second quarter ended Aug. 1, 2020, was $0.18 compared to earnings per share of $0.14 for the quarter ended Aug. 3, 2019. Second quarter operating income was $44.0 million compared to $174.6 million last year, and net loss was $49.6 million compared to net income of $37.6 million last year.

Costco Wholesale Corp. is pioneering energy energy independence at its distribution center in Port St. Lucie, Fla. The warehouse club giant, in partnership with Trinity Energy, has taken the center off the grid with the launch of an independent, on-site energy system. The solution, which combines solar power, battery storage and electric fleet charging into one integrated platform, is capable of generating enough power to ensure 24/7 energy reliability for all mission critical energy loads, including data centers and other technology that cannot tolerate outages.  The newly commissioned independent energy infrastructure is designed to establish a new model for how large facilities such as large hyper-scale data center operators and major logistics/warehouse operators can take greater control over their energy. Businesses can operate with reliable, self-directed power while still supporting the broader energy system.  The fully integrated solar and battery platform was installed significantly faster than installing a traditional energy backup system from local power providers, enabling Costco to accelerate its operational readiness, bypass lengthy grid interconnection queues and permitting delays, and benefit from substantial cost savings, according to Trinity.

James Patterson has achieved many milestones in his long and ultra-successful career as an author, and in early April he hit another: he became the first author to sell more than 100 million copies across all print formats since BookScan—now known as Circana BookScan—started recording unit sales of print books in 2004. Patterson easily topped the print sales accrued by Dr. Seuss, whose books have sold 83 million copies since 2004. Patterson’s top-selling print book as measured by BookScan is Honeymoon, which edged out 3rd Degree for the #1 spot. Like many of his bestsellers, those two are parts of series, and books in the Women’s Murder Club and Alex Cross series have fared particularly well. His top 10 bestselling titles sold just about 12 million copies, meaning that the rest of Patterson’s oeuvre racked up sales of 88 million copies in total.