Legislative, Regulatory & Legal

Irving, Texas -- Michaels Stores has learned that PIN pad tampering may have occurred in its Chicago-area stores and that customer credit- and debit-card information may have been compromised.

The company was contacted this week by banking and law enforcement authorities after some fraudulent debit-card transactions were reported over the weekend. Authorities believe the fraudulent transactions may be linked to legitimate transactions in Chicago-area Michaels stores.

For years, many retailers have at least informally been on the lookout for customers who abuse the return transaction process, and in some cases, declined to engage in further business with customers perceived to be engaging in abusive or even fraudulent return transactions. With the recession, and advanced technology, many retailers are either tightening their return transaction policies and/or their processes for identifying abusive return transaction patterns.

New York City -- The Maine House on Wednesday voted to effectively repeal the Informed Growth Act, a law that was enacted four years ago to protect Maine's downtown business districts from big-box stores, The Portland Press Herald reported.

The vote, while a preliminary one, followed an impassioned debate about the character of Maine's traditional downtowns and whether Wal-Mart and other large national chains have hurt local businesses or have helped them by attracting more people to communities, the report said.

ARLINGTON, Va. -- The Retail Industry Leaders Association announced that Christine Pollack has joined the association as VP government relations, focusing on healthcare policy and serving as one of RILA’s lead advocates on core retail industry priorities.

New York City -- Target Corp. was due in court in Canada on Monday in an attempt to win exclusive right to use its name in Canada, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Target is asking the court to impose a preliminary injunction against Canadian retailer Isaac Benitah and his company, Fairweather, which owns 15 stores across Canada called Target Apparel and has a logo similar to that of Target Corp, the report said.

New York City -- Borders on Friday reported a loss of $24.3 million for the month ended March 26, according to court papers, Bloomberg said.

The company’s most recent financial report filed before Friday showed a loss of $479.9 million for the year ended Jan. 29, on revenue of $1.67 billion.

The current report shows revenue of $165.2 million for the month ended March 26 and total assets of $942.2 million. Cash and equivalents are $80.9 million.

By Giles Sutton and Mark Wuller, [email protected], [email protected]

By Jim McNeill and Gary K. Brucker Jr., [email protected], [email protected]