Rutter's

Henderson, Nev. -- A Monday report by Reuters said that online shoe retailer Zappos was hacked over the weekend, affecting 24 million customers in its database.

The retailer, which is owned by Amazon.com, said that customers' names, email addresses, billing and shipping addresses, phone numbers and the last four digits of credit cards numbers and scrambled passwords were stolen. But it said the hackers had not been able to access servers that held customers critical credit card and other payment data.

Was it a good holiday season or a bad one? Depends who you ask and how results are interpreted as evidenced by conflicting perspectives on U.S. Commerce Department statistics released Thursday morning.

It was widely reported that December sales were a disappointment by media outlets, which cited Commerce Department statistics released Thursday morning showing a rise of 0.1% versus the 0.3% that was widely reported as the expectation of economists.

New York City -- PayPal, which allows consumers to pay for goods online, is running a trial of in-store payments with Home Depot, Reuters reported. PayPay is a division of eBay Inc.

A pilot program for PayPal's new POS, technologies is being run in five Home Depot stores and involves a "small number" of PayPal employees, according to the report.
 

New York City -- Wall Street analysts expect retailers to report a healthy end to the holiday season, fueled by discounts, improved consumer sentiment and such tactics as extended hours and layaways, Reuters reported.

Twenty-two major chains, from Macy's Inc. to Costco Wholesale Corp, are likely to post an aggregate 4.3% increase in December same-store sales according to Thomson Reuters.

New York City -- A Friday report by Reuters said that restaurant veteran Tilman Fertitta has added to his restaurant holdings by reaching a $117 million deal for Morton's Restaurant Group Inc., which operates high-end steakhouses nationwide.

Fertitta, who expanded his stake from in Morton’s from the 5% he already held, has outlined plans to modernize the struggling chain.

This latest deal marks Fertitta’s second acquisition in two months, as in November he acquired seafood chain McCormick & Schmick's.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Reuters news service has reported that the shareholders of Sears Holding Corp. will end up with 80% of the common stock in Orchard Supply Hardware stores, following an attempt to spin off the California hardware chain into a separate unit.

Mumbai, India -- A Monday report by Reuters said that the world’s third-largest retailer Tesco Plc has delayed its plans to set up wholesale stores in India, as it faces mountains of political red tape and controversy in the country.

Reuters, citing a report in the Business Standard newspaper, said that the supermarket giant will instead focus on setting up warehouses and back-end infrastructure. 

Chicago -- Illinois House leaders have agreed to pass tax breaks in order to keep Sears Holdings Corp. from abandoning its Hoffman Estates, Ill., headquarters in search of a new out-of-state home, according to Reuters.

The deal is also designed to keep Ill.-based securities and commodities trading company CME Group in-state as well.

The House had previously shot down the tax package. 

Bentonville, Ark. -- A Friday report by Reuters said that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. disclosed an agreement Thursday to sell more than 70 million shares by a firm controlled by members of the founding Walton family.

Walton Enterprises LLC, controlled by S. Robson Walton, Alice L. Walton, Jim C. Walton and the John T. Walton Estate Trust, registered for sale 70,615,608 shares of company stock. That represents about 2% of Wal-Mart's outstanding shares.

New York City -- The discount and wholesale club sector was hit and miss in November, as Costco shone with a 9% rise in same-store sales for the month, but Target missed Wall Street expectations with a weak gain.