WALGREEN CHICAGO FLAGSHIP TO SELL SUSHI, FINE WINE: CHICAGO (AP) — Gov. Pat Quinn and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel are welcoming a new flagship Walgreens to the city.
The pair spoke Monday at a private reception and ribbon cutting at the new store on State Street.
Quinn commented that the Walgreens he remembers from his childhood "did not have a sushi bar." Emanuel praised Walgreens for helping the city reduce so-called "food deserts" by selling fresh fruit and vegetables in neighborhood stores.
Deerfield-based Walgreen Co. is catering to upmarket customers to increase sales beyond the pharmacy. The nation's largest drugstore chain anticipates losing prescription drug sales after a split with St. Louis-based Express Scripts Inc. pharmacy network..
The new Walgreen store also revamps its pharmacy with an "Ask Your Pharmacist" desk, consultation rooms and a space to host community health events.
APPLE CEO TIM COOK COULD TOP PAY LIST IN 2011: LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tim Cook could well end up being the highest paid CEO in America in 2011, after Apple Inc. granted him a million restricted stock units last August for taking the reins shortly before cofounder Steve Jobs died.
An Associated Press review of a securities filing shows Cook's pay package was valued at $378 million. The vast majority came in a grant of a million restricted stock units worth $376 million at the time. Half of the stock units will vest in August 2016, the other half in August 2021.
His salary and performance bonus, about $900,000 each, made up the rest.
In comparison, Jobs took $1 annual salary for years and owned about 5.5 million shares, worth about $2.3 billion today.
Cook's restricted shares are now worth $422 million.
FREE SIMPLE TAX PREP AVAILABLE AT WAL-MART STORES: NEW YORK (AP) — The free preparation of the simple tax forms will be made available at more than 3,000 Wal-Mart Stores nationwide started Monday.
The nation's largest retailer has contracted with the top two tax prep companies, H&R Block Inc. and Jackson-Hewitt Tax Service Inc., to set up kiosks inside its stores where customers can have their tax returns completed by trained preparers.
As it is doing in its own retail locations nationwide, H&R Block will offer free preparation of 1040EZ forms at Wal-Mart through Feb. 29. Block will have kiosks in about 250 Wal-Mart stores.