Target, Inc.

Target is out with a beast of a holiday toy catalog that weigha in at 52 glossy pages that employs a variety of incentives to promote sales in advance of Thanksgiving weekend. Nothing unusual about that or the fact that the publication features all sorts of cool products and high quality photography that is sure to have kids drooling if parents make the mistake of leaving the thing lying around.

Target said it plans to close stores in Broomfield, Colo., Raleigh, N.C., Orlando and Portland by the end of its fiscal year in late January.

New York City -- Target Corp. is in a class by itself when it comes to gift cards, offering a broad selection to suit all ages. In fact, the cards are so unusual that the retailer patents them, according to the Minneapolis/St. Paul Journal.

Click here to read the full story and see a slide show of some of Target’s most unusual gift cards.
 

Walmart EVP merchandising Duncan Mac Naughton spoke at two events this week in Northwest Arkansas, and he said essentially the same thing on both occasions. Two weeks earlier during a supplier summit event at the retailer’s home office, he said basically the same thing, according to those in attendance. And the comments at the supplier summit were essentially the same as those shared with members of the financial community during a mid-October analysts’ meeting or back in August.

New York City -- Costco Wholesale Corp. reported a 9% increase in same-store sales in October, helped by strong performances in the United States and abroad, just short of the 9.2% increase predicted by analysts.

Costco’s same-store U.S. sales rose 9% and were up 8% overseas. Taking out inflation in gas prices and a slightly negative impact from foreign currencies, the metric increased 6% in the United State and 9% internationally.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target reported October sales growth that fell short of analysts expectations, while uncertainty remains following the recent departure of the company's CFO.

Target reported that its net retail sales for the four weeks ended Oct. 29 were $4.8 billion, an increase of 4.3% from $4.6 billion for the four weeks ended Oct. 30, 2010. On this same basis, comparable-store sales increased 3.3% in October and 4.3% in the third quarter.

NEW YORK — Consumer spending slowed in October, sending a note of caution as retailers head into the holiday season. Eleven retailers missed expectations for same-store sales, while three chains beat estimates, according to a preliminary tally by Thomson Reuters. However, while the October results were not as promising as some retailers had hoped, sales for the most part rose and most chains reported results that were only slightly off from analysts’ estimates. Some analysts blamed Wall Street for underestimating how much caution is still out there.

New York City -- Consumer spending slowed in October, sending a note of caution as retailers head into the holiday season. Eleven retailers missed expectations for same-store sales, while three chains beat estimates, according to a preliminary tally by Thomson Reuters. However, while the October results were not as promising as some retailers had hoped, sales for the most part rose and most chains reported results that were only slightly off from analysts’ estimates. Some analysts blamed Wall Street for underestimating how much caution is still out there.