Costco Wholesale Corp.

Raleigh, N.C. -- Apple, Costco and The Container Store top the “2012 100 Best Retailers To Work For” list compiled by The Retail Life online retail community, which was developed by Headway Workforce Solutions. DSW and American Eagle outfitters round out the top five.

The list, derived from The Retail Life members, was based on a variety of criteria, such as: competitive salaries, employee reviews, company pride, organizational values and culture, socialization opportunities, and career advancement opportunities.

January same-store sales grew 4% at Costco’s U.S. locations excluding fuel sales.

New York -- Although there were some surprising gains among retailers in January, for the most part results were expectedly mixed, as consumers took a hit on their take-home pay from higher payroll taxes but cooler weather gave a boost to others.

New York -- There were few missteps among the discounters in January, as most posted strong results, many surpassing Wall Street expectations.

Target reported a same-store sales rise of 3.1%, topping Wall Street expectations. Total sales surged 29.6% to $5.97 billion in January.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart and Mother Nature Network are inviting people to use Twitter to express their green ideas for the chance to win a $100 Walmart gift card.

Bentonville, Ark. — Walmart and Mother Nature Network are inviting people to use Twitter to express their green ideas for the chance to win a $100 Walmart gift card.

New York  -- For the third consecutive year,  Subway came out on top on BrandIndex’s annual ranking of the most buzzed about U.S. brands. The BrandIndex Buzz Rankings compares “Buzz” scores for nearly 1,100 brands across 41 categories  to reveal the brands with the most positive Buzz in 2012.  

Subway had a Buzz score of 40.3. Online giant  Amazon came in at number two for the second year in a row, with a score of  36.8  Lowe’s was fifth, with a score of 32.7.

Vista, Calif. -- Consumer electronics recycler E-World Online said Wednesday that it has teamed with Costco Wholesale Corp. on the launch of a national program to make managing merchandise returns more sustainable.

E-World Online’s Retail Return Program will track returned merchandise and find markets for reusable or recyclable products. Costco has implemented, trained and deployed E-World Online’s RRP program in all of its U.S. warehouses, making it the largest such retail return program, according to E-World Online.