Target, Inc.

Target’s first stores in Canada are not scheduled to open until 2013, but this week the company can get a glimpse of what it’s up against when Walmart Canada president and CEO David Cheesewright is scheduled to speak at the Jefferies 2011 Global Consumer Conference.

The most recent Leading National Advertisers annual report from Advertising Age shows Target posted the biggest increased in ad spending in 2010 among conventional retailers. The total amount the company spent increased 12% to $1.508 billion compared with $1.246 billion the prior year. That put the company 18th on the Ad Age list of the nation’s 100 largest advertisers. Only two retailers spent more than Target.

It was the biggest story in the retail world last week when JCPenney announced it had hired Ron Johnson as its new CEO with the incoming executive vowing to transform the way America shops by reinventing the department store. Such statements normally elicit a yawn because they are so common, but Johnson is the former SVP retail at Apple and spent the past 11 years overseeing the development and growth of the company’s wildly successful and widely heralded retail operation.

Walmart Canada president and CEO David Cheesewright is scheduled to speak next week at the Jefferies 2011 Global Consumer Conference near Boston. Walmart doesn’t typically push country presidents on stage at investor conferences except at its own analysts’ meetings when it has hosted events overseas in such places as China earlier this year or prior years in Brazil and the United Kingdom. However there are some interesting things going on in Canada these days, and the Jefferies event is an opportunity for Walmart to showcase some of its management talent.

Tukwila, Wash. -- Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency Centers said it has leased retail space in Tukwila, Wash., at Southcenter Plaza to Jos. A. Bank.

Jos. A. Bank has leased 4,075 sq. ft., bringing the center to 97% leased, and is currently open for business.

The 170,000-sq.-ft. shopping center is anchored by a 112,000-sq.-ft. Target alongside national retailers such as Performance Bicycle, Super Cuts, Starbucks, Burger King and Quiznos.
 

Magnolia, Texas -- Jacksonville, Fla.- based Regency Centers said it has leased restaurant space in Magnolia, Texas, at Westwood Village to Five Guys Burgers and Fries.

Five Guys leased 3,127 sq. ft., bringing the center to 97% leased. The restaurant is now open for business.

Westwood Village is a 310,000-sq.-ft. community center anchored by Target, Ross Dress For Less, and T.J. Maxx.

Seattle -- Starbucks Corp. launched an application Wednesday that lets customers purchase goods with their Android smartphones. The company already has similar applications nationwide for BlackBerry and iPhone and iPod touch in January.

The application also allows customers to load their Starbucks loyalty card accounts, check card balances and find stores nearby, and it notifies customers of promotions and other discounts.

PLANO, Texas — Things just got a whole lot more interesting in the mid-tier department store space now that JCPenney has hired former Apple executive Ron Johnson to be its CEO. Johnson is a former Target merchandising executive who for the past 11 years oversaw the growth of Apple’s wildly successful and widely heralded retail operation.

Washington, D.C. -- The Retail Industry Leaders Association, the International Council of Shopping Centers and Paladino and Co., announced Tuesday a collaborative discussion among retailers and commercial shopping center developers to bridge the current landlord and tenant divide that exists around creating sustainable, energy-efficient retail stores in the United States.

Participants in the June 9 roundtable included Wal-Mart, Petco, Ann Taylor, Target, VF Corp., Best Buy, Westfield, Vornado and Kimco, among others.