Retail

Shoppers Drug Mart posted an increase in fourth quarter sales driven by gains at the front end and strength in prescription count growth.

Sales for the quarter were Canadian $2.75 billion, an increase of 0.9% compared with the year-ago period. Same-store sales increased 1.2% during the quarter.

Minneapolis – The hackers responsible for the recent Target data breach reportedly gained initial access to the retailer’s network using credentials stolen from a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) vendor. According to the New York Times, the hackers, using the vendor’s access, were able to break into Target’s network and from there were able to compromise a server storing the personal data of 70 million customers, as well as in-store POS systems that allowed access to 40 million credit and debit card numbers.

Canton, Mass. – Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc., parent company of Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin Robbins, reported an impressive set of year-over-year financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2013. During the quarter, net income grew 23% to $42.1 million from $34.2 million, and revenue increased 13% from $161.7 million to $183.2 million.

U.S. same-store sales for the quarter increased 3.5% at Dunkin’ Donuts and 2.2% at Baskin Robbins.

Irvine, Calif. — Home automation product retailer Smarthome has deployed the 360pi 360price solution, providing the retailer with pricing intelligence for 3,000 SKUs in near real-time. Smarthome had built an in-house solution to compete with the SKUs carried by the large online pure-plays, but these SKUs only accounted for a fraction of its revenues.

More importantly, Smarthome needed a reliable solution to address its direct competitive set, those retailers focused expressly on the home automation market.

Fairway Group Holdings' Herbert Ruetsch plans to retire after 15 years with the company, including the last two years as its CEO. Ruetsch will remain a special adviser to the company and continue to provide input into certain merchandising and product initiatives.

Deerfield, Ill. -- Responding to the announcement by CVS Caremark that its plans to stop selling tobacco products in its stores, Walgreens stated that the category has been under review at its stores, too.

Walgreens has been evaluating its tobacco line for “some time,” and, according to spokesperson Michael Polzin, it “will continue to evaluate the choice of products our customers want, while also helping to educate them and providing smoking cessation products and alternatives that help reduce the demand for tobacco products.”

City of Commerce, Calif. – 99 Cents Only Stores is opening three new stores on Thursday, Feb. 13. The stores are located in Scottsdale, Ariz., Carson, Calif., and Humble, Texas.

The Scottsdale store is approximately 14,000 sq. ft., the Carson store is approximately 17,000 sq. ft. and the Humble store is approximately 12,000 sq. ft. All three will feature a perishable food department, including produce, dairy and frozen foods.