FINANCE

It's shaping up as a happy holiday for the nation's retailers — so much so that one retail research/consulting firm has raised its already strong seasonal sales forecast.

It's closing time for a luxury lifestyle brand that specializes in resort wear, accessories, home goods, and furniture.

One week after announcing that it planned to close underperforming stores, the other shoe has dropped at Charming Charlie.

Sears Holdings Corp. reduced its third quarter loss by $190 million helped by lower operating costs from its reduced store portfolio, but it saw no improvement on the revenue side as same-store sales plunged 15.3%.

Supervalu continues to expand its growing wholesale business.

Walgreens is collaborating with NewYork-Presbyterian on a program that will bring telemedicine via self-service kiosks to the drug store chain's stores.

The pending $69 billion acquisition of Aetna by CVS could yield valuable lessons for others in the healthcare and drugstore sectors as they seek to forge stronger ties to consumers.