Spring brings little sprouts of recovery for the Valley’s housing market. Arizona was one of the first states to feel the housing market crash and now appears to be one of the first heading toward recovery.

The front page of Friday’s USA Today shows Arizona’s housing slump will begin to turn this year. New research from the University of Utah shows the glut of homes for sale here will sell off enough to bring back the demand for new home construction.

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Big Lots Inc. stores often operate in aged retail centers aimed at discount-minded shoppers, but its next venture will move it into a new neighborhood.

The Columbus-based closeout merchandise seller will open a 35,000-square-foot store near the Polaris Fashion Place mall, in a former Linens ‘n Things Inc. storefront vacated last year when the home goods retailer closed.

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A spokesperson for IKEA in China said the Swedish home furnishings multinational had, like B&Q, been impacted by the economic downturn.

Linda Xu, public relations manager for the company, admitted times were difficult for the home improvement market.

"We can also see the negative impact to IKEA's business from the global financial turbulence. We see the customer is more cautious about spending money. We, however, have more visitors to our stores but less spending on average," she said.

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Discount chain 99 Cents Only Stores said its fourth-quarter sales grew 13.3 percent as consumers looked for more bargains amid the lingering recession.

Chief Executive Eric Schiffer said the chain is seeing many new customers who are looking to save money on their everyday purchases, including "perishable food and other consumable items."

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PriceSmart Inc. said Wednesday that its profit rose 34 percent in the fiscal second quarter on improved sales.

The warehouse club operator earned $12.7 million, or 43 cents per share. That compares with $9.5 million, or 33 cents per share, a year ago.

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TORONTO, April 8 (Reuters) - Forzani Group (FGL.TO) plans to open more than 25 new stores this year as the country's biggest sporting goods retailer takes advantage of a weak economy and an increase in available property.

Calgary-based Forzani, whose banners include Sport Chek, Sports Experts and Coast Mountain Sports, said on Wednesday it had earmarked about C$30 million to C$35 million for capital expenditures in its 2010 fiscal year, mostly for the store openings.

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Bed Bath & Beyond's fourth-quarter profit fell more than 18 percent but still topped Wall Street estimates even as same-store sales dipped, the company reported Tuesday.

The news sent shares of the home decor chain into overdrive in after-hours trading.

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If there are silver linings to the recession, they're not immediately apparent. After all, the national unemployment rate is 8.1 percent, the highest since 1983, and economists predict it will reach 9 percent by 2010. Gross domestic product is forecast to shrink more this year than at any other time since the Great Depression. And across the country, stores are closing, municipal budgets are tightening, and banks are begging for bailouts.

But a handful of industries, companies, and products are doing well—relatively speaking. They run the gamut from Quarter Pounders to contraceptives, but they share a key component: Whether they help people pivot to new careers, cut costs at home, or simply escape from all the bad news, they're poised not only to weather the economic storm but to, in some way, benefit from it. "There always is a silver lining for people who choose to look past the doom and gloom and find one," says Robyn Feldberg, president of the National Résumé Writers' Association, which represents an industry that's bucking the overall trend. "In adversity, there is always potential for innovation."

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Discount retailer Dollar General Corp. said Tuesday its fourth-quarter profit rose 48 percent on a rise in sales and cost cuts.

Dollar General and its competitors, such as Family Dollar Stores, have benefited as consumers watch every dollar they spend and seek out cheaper goods.

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Woolworths Limited (WOW) said first quarter sales were up 9.6% to $12.82 billion.

The company also maintained its full year sales outlook. Chief executive officer Michael Luscombe said it was a good start to the financial year.

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The supermarket Wm Morrison said yesterday it would open small shops for the first time as the economic downturn gave it scope to speed up its expansion.

Marc Bolland, chief executive, said the group had identified more than 100 locations for new stores and had halted a £1bn share buyback to "preserve its firepower". The recession has weighed heavily on commercial property values and Morrisons said it wanted "maximum financial flexibility" to go shopping for stores.

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Hardware chain Clas Ohlson has reported a lower-than-expected drop in pre-tax profit for its third quarter, even as sales were up by a modest amount. For the quarter, pre-tax profit was down 8.7% to SEK240.2m (E21.3m), compared to SEK263m last year, beating analyst expectations of a profit of SEK227m. Sales meanwhile rose by 3% year-on-year to SEK1.54bn.

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