Home Depot reported a 3.3% gain in domestic same-store sales for the fiscal quarter that ended on 5/3, and noted that results in markets that had not been impacted by the weather were substantially better. Contrary to some other retailers that have seen declining traffic, Home Depot said customer transactions were up 2.2%, although the average transaction was up less than 1%……Staples’ quarterly profit fell by 43% after both same-store sales and customer traffic were each down 4%. As we reported, the company is in the process of closing 225 stores by the end of the year……Dick’s Sporting Goods same-store sales were up 2.3% overall, but were held back by weaknesses in the golf and hunting categories. At the Golf Galaxy chain owned by Dick’s, comps were down 10%……TJX, parent of T.J. Maxx, Marshall’s and Home Goods, had same-store sales up 1% for the quarter with total revenue up 4.9%. But as with other companies reporting on the full quarter, numbers were improving as the quarter ended ……Here’s some encouraging news from the retail furniture industry. Furniture Today is reporting that for the first time since before the recession, more than half the top 100 furniture retailers in the country either already have expanded this year, or are planning to expand by early in 2015. For some of them, expansion will consist of entering wholly new markets……Chain Store Age reports Office Depot and OfficeMax have started using single, combined inserts in Sunday papers. The exec VP of marketing says the move “will help to position us as a strong, singular company…(that) also reflects our approach at looking at each market holistically…to better understand, engage, and service our customers.” (He neglected to mention the money it saves doing it that way)……Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche (who ran Chrysler during the years it was owned by Daimler and even did some American commercials) says after considering building a Mercedes subcompact model, the company has decided not to move ahead with the idea. But he added that Smart could expand into that automotive segment……Some companies now credit online sales to a retail store close to the buyer, but RetailNext analysis of almost 59 million storefronts found sales at just bricks-and-mortar locations were down 8.8% in retailers’ fiscal first quarters, with store traffic down 8.2%. The total number of bricks-and-mortar transactions were down 9.2% and sales per store were down 0.8%. But Chain Store Age notes two encouraging pieces of data – there was a small increase in the average transaction (up 0.5%), and there was a 0.8% decrease in returns.