Target, Inc.

Okay, stop snickering. Target this week revealed that the name of its new small format stores would be CityTarget. The company offered that nugget in connection with news that it would open a small-format store in downtown Chicago at the Sullivan Center development located in the heart of downtown at South State Street and Madison.

Walmart and Target are being blamed for driving shares of Canadian retailers to their lowest level in six years, according to a Bloomberg report this week. Bloomberg said the ratio between the S&P/Toronto Stock Exchange Retailing Index and its counterpart in the Standard & Poor’s 500 narrowed to 4% on Feb. 11, the smallest in six years. The retailing index has retreated 2.3% this year, while a separate index of companies that sell food and basic necessities has lost 1.1%, the biggest declines among 24 industries in the S&P/TSX. 

New York City -- Target Corp. has updated its corporate donation policy following a corporate review that occurred in the wake of the backlash surrounding the company’s $150,000 donation last summer to a group that ran ads supporting Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, according to the Minneapolis/St.Paul Buisness Journal. The donation resulted in much controversy for the chain due to Emmer’s anti same-sex marriage stand.

Minneapolis -- Another Target store is coming to downtown Chicago as the retailer disclosed it would open a small-format store under the new CityTarget banner in the Sullivan Center development at South State Street and Madison.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The American Customer Satisfaction Index has dropped just 0.1% from the previous quarter to 75.9 on the ACSI's 100-point scale, indicating that customers satisfaction remains strong, the ACSI reported.

MINNEAPOLIS-- This spring Target is celebrating the five-year anniversary of its GO International program with a collection that features 34 dresses from 17 past GO International designers. Ranging in price from $24.99 to $44.99, the GO International Designer Collective will be available March 13 through April 10 at most Target stores and Target.com.

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. said Tuesday it will open a small-format store in an historic Chicago building constructed in 1899 to house a department store. The national landmark, designed by famed architect Louis Sullivan, was home to the Carson Pirie Scott department store from 1904 to 2007. The retailer also announced that its small-format locations across the United States will be named CityTarget, including the store in Chicago.

Wells Fargo retail analyst Matt Nemer put several leading retailers to the test this week with an innovative approach to research. According to Barron’s, he went on a $5,000 shopping spree on the websites of some of the largest Internet-only and traditional retailers. He said Amazon.com offered the best shopping experience, and he rated the retailer at outperform. Walmart.com was said to have higher prices than Amazon’s, but had strong customer service and didn’t showed up as well in searches.

Five limited-edition General Mills brand products hit the cereal aisle at Target stores this week as part of limited duration promotion that features package designs from the 50’s, 60’s and 80’s.

Brands and the year of the featured packaged design include Cheerios 1956, Trix 1968, Honey Nut Cheerios 1984, Cinnamon Toast Crunch 1984 and Lucky Charms 1989. The package designs were chosen based on a national survey conducted by General Mills.

Target took it to some leading brands in its weekly ad on Sunday where it devoted a full page to a side-by-side price comparison between its Up&Up brand and leaders of their respective categories such as Clorox, Similac, Reynolds Wrap, Tums, Jergens and Nyquil. It was the second week in a row Target has promoted Up&Up in its weekly circular except last week, the brand was featured on the cover with a reminder that Up&Up offers “unbeatable prices on over 900 quality products every day.”

In the price comparison from this past week, featured brands included: