Walmart to run truck fleet at Ohio site, add drivers

Walmart plans to operate its truck fleet at its Washington Court House facility, eliminating a thirdparty carrier, and it will employ at least 125 drivers as part of the move.

The retailer has begun accepting job applications.

The third-party carrier Schneider has delivered goods for Walmart from the distribution center. Some Schneider drivers will be hired by Walmart, but others don’t meet Walmart’s minimum standards, a Walmart spokesman said. The company expects to hire more than 75 drivers in addition to those from Schneider.

Walmart announced last month that it is raising pay for its more than 8,000 drivers, who can earn an average of $87,500 in their first year of employment.

Blick Art Materials closing store in Short North

The Short North Arts District is losing an arts store. Blick Art Materials will close its store at 612 N. High St. on March 9.

On its Instagram account, the store — which opened at the location 17 years ago, when the chain operated as Utrecht — cited “the oftentimes challenging parking, the multi-year construction, the changes in development of the Short North.”

The post directs customers to the Blick store at 6486 Sawmill Road on the Northwest Side. “Nearly our entire staff will be relocating,” according to the post.

Although no details are given, the post says Blick will host several pop-up shops on the Ohio State University campus and at the 400 W. Rich St. art space in Franklinton “throughout the year.”

The High Street store has steeply marked down many items ahead of the closing.

Disney’s profit, revenue drop but beat expectations

The Walt Disney Co.’s first-quarter net income beat expectations, as higher revenue from its media networks and theme parks helped offset a weaker movie slate.

Disney is working on building its streaming offerings by buying 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets for $71.3 billion and launching its Disney Plus service later this year.

The entertainment company’s net income fell 37 percent to $2.79 billion, or $1.86 per share. The drop was due mainly to a hefty benefit from tax changes in the prior-year quarter. Excluding one-time items, net income totaled $1.84 per share. Analysts expected $1.54 per share, according to Factset.

Revenue slipped less than 1 percent to $15.3 billion from $15.35 billion last year. That beat analyst expectations of $15.16 billion.