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The March of Dimes trustees elected Deidra Merriwether and Will Smith as the charitable group’s newest board members.

Merriwether serves as SVP and COO of Kmart and Sears format at Sears Holdings and Smith is SVP of marketing for Brown Shoe Company. Merriwether and Smith join a group of more than 30 trustees as the organization prepares to celebrate its 75th anniversary next year. March of Dimes trustees, who serve as volunteers, represent the public in governing the organization and advancing its mission. They serve five-year terms.

Philadelphia -- Metro Commercial Real Estate said that David’s Bridal will open an 8,164-sq.-ft. store at Great Northeast Plaza, located in the northeastern part of Philadelphia.

The new store is slated to open by spring 2013.

It’s been awhile since Sears and the phrase "same store sales increase" were used in the same sentence, but that changed Thursday morning when the recently spun off hometown and outlet division product a 3.1% third quarter increase.

Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores said sales for its third quarter ended October 27, increased 3.3% to $557 million, driven almost entirely by the 3.1% comp increase and to a lesser extent by a net increase of nine stores that grew the total store count to 1,111 units. Profits increased 29% $8.8 million or 29 cents a share.

New York -- Shopper sentiment tracker NetBase said that, since Black Friday, it has been tracking the changes in shopper moods for 10 retailers with its Holiday Shopping Mood Meter.

The company found that Kohl’s was No. 1 more often than Amazon, Walmart was the only brand with a net negative sentiment, and Old Navy broke the Top 5 only once.

LOS ANGELES — Kim, Kourtney and Khloé Kardashian’s eyewear line available through Sears Optical is now available online as well as in stores.

The Kardashian Kollection Eyewear line was introduced at retail locations nationwide in July of this year and includes eyeglasses and sunglasses.

Each year, in December, Chain Store Age publishes a retail overview of the northeastern quadrant of the United States and, each year, there’s not a lot of bad news to report, even in recessionary times. This year is no exception; in fact, despite a superstorm that ravaged much of the region, the economic engine continues to chug along.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Mars will receive the 2012 NASCAR Marketing Achievement Award at the NASCAR NMPA Myers Brothers Awards held at Encore at Wynn Las Vegas Thursday, Nov. 29.

Retailers may as well start devising their 2013 Black Friday plans now based on the popularity of this year’s early openings on Thanksgiving.

The Thanksgiving evening openings by the likes of Walmart, Toys ‘R’ Us, Target, Sears and Kmart were denounced in some quarters as being anti-family, but a few vocal critics didn’t speak for the majority of shoppers who turned out in droves and spent with gusto.