Consumer Affairs & Relations

New York City -- Coach reported Tuesday that net income for the fourth quarter rose 4% to $202.5 million, compared with $195.5 million in the year-ago period.

Revenue surged 9% to $1.03 billion, edging Wall Street estimates. Same-store sales rose 10.1% in North America.

Coach’s performance is in line with overall strength in the luxury category. During the recessionary onslaught, the company pushed sales of handbags priced under $300, but said its average retail price of handbags is now inching back up.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target announced that it has donated $15,000 in monetary support and product to assist with Minot, N.D. flooding relief efforts. The company said its donation will help four Minot schools, including Long Fellow, Perkett, Eric Ramstad and Lincoln. Each school will receive $3,000 to support classroom relocation efforts due to flood damage.                             .

Ann Arbor, Mich. -- The reviews are coming in, and Domino’s Pizza is streaming them atop a billboard in one of the country’s busiest intersections: Manhattan’s Times Square.

SALISBURY, N.C. — Delhaize America announced that it is expanding its Food Lion distribution center in Dunn, N.C.

The company said the distribution center, which opened in 1987 and services 264 Food Lion stores in the area, will increase storage space by 54,000 sq. ft. to accomodate more than 4,000 refrigerated and frozen foods.

WASHINGTON — Amazon and other online-only retailers have been dealt a major blow, as legislation introduced last week seeks to require such retailers to collect sales tax.

The Main Street Fairness Act would allow states that have adopted the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement to require out-of-state sellers to collect sales tax whether they have a physical presence in their state or not. The bill would cover all “remote sellers,” which include online retailers, catalog merchants and “1-800” offers on radio and television.

New York City -- The Kroger Co. has selected Oracle’s Agile Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) for Process to establish a platform for continually improving the customer experience. The supermarket operator will use the solution to integrate and streamline all aspects of product development, including managing specifications, suppliers, formulations, packaging and labeling, compliance, and quality.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Sears Holdings announced that Edgar Huber has joined the company as CEO and president of Lands' End.  Huber is responsible for driving growth and profit opportunities for Lands' End, as well as continuing to drive the culture that provides customers with the quality, value and service that the brand has long been known for.  He was most recently EVP global business development for Liz Claiborne Inc.

LAKELAND, Fla. — Investors will wish even harder that Publix would go public, now that the company has reported strong quarterly results and a jump in its private stock price.

Publix, which is not publicly-traded company, said that its stock price rose from $21.65 per share to $22.05 per share, effective Aug. 1. The stock is only available to current Publix associates and members of its board of directors.