Business briefs: Bealls named top retailer; Amazon Prime Now launches in Tampa

Bealls gets

retailer of

year honor

BRADENTON -- Bealls was recently named "2016 Retailer of the Year" in MR Magazine's annual retailer of the year issue. The menswear industry trade publication considered retailers and department stores from around the country for the prestigious annual award.

According to a Bealls press release, the magazine's editor in chief, Karen Alberg Grossman, said the magazine considered Bealls' 100-year history, the look of its stores and its pricing. It also factored in Bealls' status as a family-owned company and its appraisal by vendors and customers as "fair, honest and creative."

Matt Beall, Bealls' chief merchandising officer, said the award and a feature story published about the company in the magazine are "wonderful pieces of recognition."

Founded in 1915, Bealls Department Stores is a division of Bealls Inc., headquartered in Bradenton. The privately-held company is still owned by the founding family and operates more than 530 stores in 16 states as Bealls Department Stores, Bealls Outlet, Burke's Outlet and Bunulu.

Amazon Prime Now launches in Tampa

TAMPA BAY -- Amazon has announced that some Tampa Bay residents can now get deliveries shipped for free within two hours through the online retailer's Prime Now service.

The service is offered to Amazon Prime members and in select markets, not yet including Manatee or Sarasota counties. It is available in neighborhoods in South Tampa, Brandon, St. Petersburg, downtown Tampa, New Tampa, Ybor City, Plant City and Apollo Beach.

Orders can be shipped from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week and will arrive within two hours at no added cost; or in an hour for an extra $7.99. Tens of thousands of items are available, including some grocery and perishable items. Tampa is the second market in Florida to get the Prime Now service after Miami.

Amazon operates two 1-million-square-foot distribution warehouses in Ruskin and Lakeland.

Exxon profit smallest in years, Chevron posts loss

DALLAS -- The long slump in oil prices is taking a heavy toll on companies that find and produce crude.

Exxon Mobil posted its smallest quarterly profit in more than 16 years Friday, while Chevron lost $725 million, its worst showing since 2002. Chevron also raised the number of jobs it expects to cut this year from 7,000 to 8,000.

Drug for delusions in Parkinson's patients OK'd

WASHINGTON -- Federal health officials have approved an experimental drug to treat psychotic delusions and behaviors that often afflict patients with Parkinson's disease, the debilitating movement disorder.

The drug from Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. is the first drug for the condition, which affects approximately half of Parkinson's patients. An estimated 50,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson's each year, the second-most common neurodegenerative disease in the U.S.

-- Herald staff, wire reports

This story was originally published April 29, 2016 at 11:53 PM with the headline "Business briefs: Bealls named top retailer; Amazon Prime Now launches in Tampa ."