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More than 5,200 7-Eleven stores in the United States were hit by a Y2K-type bug — a year late. All the chain’s cash registers read the new year as 1901 instead of 2001, temporarily wiping out the ability to process credit-card transactions. … Sephora said it is abandoning its stores in Germany. Nearly two years of stiff competition from high-end drugstores kept the concept from catching on. It will continue to focus on opening U.S. properties instead. … Wal-Mart Stores plans to open its first store in Japan as early as next year, according to the Nihon Keizai newspaper. Wal-Mart would not confirm the report. Carrefour and Costco have both opened stores in Japan this year. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart is putting $675 million into its U.K. subsidiary Asda to open 13 stores with 600,000 square feet of retail space in 2001. … California Gov. Gray Davis has proposed a sales tax holiday for California tentatively scheduled for the last weekend in August. Under his plan consumers would be exempt from taxes during a three-day weekend on purchases up to $200 on clothes and footwear and $1,000 on computer equipment. … French Luxury goods retailer Louis Vuitton Mo‘t Hennessy and South African diamond miner De Beers are joining forces to create a new company operating stores selling diamond jewelry in the world’s "most fashionable cities." … The Original All-Star Cafe may not have been a hit, but another sports-related theme restaurant concept will take a stab at winning over customers. A Minnesota-based home seller, Ralph Burnet, is working with the National Basketball Association to bring 12 NBA City restaurants to the United States in the next five years. The prototype store opened in Orlando, Fla., with the second location slated to debut in Manhattan within eight months. … AOL Time Warner is searching for a buyer for its 130-store Warner Bros. Studio Store chain. If no buyer is found, the company is considering closing the stores instead. … According to The Dallas Morning News, Gap is negotiating with the Dallas Galleria to build a 100,000-square-foot concept store that would contain Old Navy, Banana Republic and Gap under one roof. … In Manhattan’s Union Square, longtime tenant Seaman’s, a home furnishings chain, is out and trendy Italian apparel retailer Diesel is in. As part of its liquidation, Bradlees is vacating Union Square with Target rumored as a possible replacement. If realized, it would be Target’s first Manhattan store.

— Dave Bodamer