Finance & Capital Management

The Home Depot Inc. has reached a tentative settlement of consumer claims regarding a 2014 data breach that may have exposed personal and financial information of more than 50 million consumers.

Home Depot agreed to pay $13 million to reimburse affected consumers for out-of-pocket expenses and spend at least $6.5 million to offer 18 months of identity protection services for holders of cards that may have been exposed. The retailer also agreed to improve its data security and to hire a chief information security officer.

Checkers Drive-In Restaurants is employing a high-tech solution to help it expand throughout the United States.

The fast-casual chain has partnered with Buxton to identify growth opportunities for Checkers & Rally's restaurants. The company, which operates and franchises both Checkers and Rally's restaurants, currently has more than 800 locations nationwide.

Sport Authority’s decision to file bankruptcy is contributing to one of its suppliers making a major downward revision to a 2016 profit forecast.

Performance Sports Group, a supplier of team sports equipment under the Bauer and Easton brands, slashed its profit forecast for the current fiscal year by 55 cents to a range of 12 cents to 14 cents from a range of 66 cents to 69 cents. Nine cents of the shortfall was attributed to anticipated losses from “a U.S. national sporting goods retailer that has filed under chapter 11.”

Publix Super Markets is entering the eastern portion of the North Carolina market.

Publix will be coming to Greenville Square, a 150,000-sq-ft center, formerly anchored by K Mart, which will be completely renovated with a new façade, parking lot, lighting package and landscaping. The 49,000-sq-ft Publix will open in 2017 along with several new national, regional, and local tenants.

Brodyco is the developer for the partnership of David Brody, Hyman Brody, and Robert Beller, who purchased Greenville Square in 2005.

Kansas City -- Taubman Centers and The Macerich Company announced a joint venture for Country Club Plaza location in Kansas City, Missouri from Highwoods Properties. The mixed-use retail and office property was purchased for $660 million cash, excluding transaction costs. Taubman and Macerich each own a 50% interest in the center.

Deals in “Mind” Games

Brain fitness might seem an unusual specialty for a retailer, but it’s proved a sweet spot for Marbles: The Brain Store.

Founded by Lindsay Gaskins and Scott Brown, the Chicago-based retailer sells games and other items designed to stimulate the brain. It made its debut in 2008, with a kiosk in a local mall. People were intrigued, but they wanted a more engaging shopping experience, said marketing director Hallie Steube.

Sam Dushey took the reins of his family-owned business, discount department-store chain Shoppers World, when he was just 27. The company was founded by his grandfather, an immigrant from Syria, in the 1930s, and then expanded upon by Dushey’s father, uncle and cousin.

A new retailer aims to blend physical retailing with e-commerce — and to do it with Latin flair. The concept, Star World, is the brainchild of veteran retailer Jerry Azarkman, formerly with (and co-founder of) Curacao, a Los Angeles-based department store targeting Hispanics.

Star World made its debut in October, opening a two-level 30,000-sq.-ft. store in Huntington Park, California.