Department Store

Between announcing its first international acquisition and disclosing details of its U.S. expansion program, the Target board found time to squeeze in authorization of a quarterly dividend payment. The company’s dividend is currently 25 cents a share and is payable on March 10 to shareholders of record on Feb. 16. The first quarter dividend will be the company’s 174th consecutive dividend paid since October 1967 when the company became publicly held.

Chicago -- Urban Retail Properties LLC said Tuesday it has appointed Samuel J. Greenblatt as principal, finance/capital markets. Greenblatt’s primary role will be to raise capital and foster financial relationship opportunities for the company.

Prior to his role with Urban, Greenblatt was executive VP and director of originations of RAIT Financial Trust, a NYSE traded mortgage real estate investment trust.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Target announced that Tony Fisher has been named president of Target Canada.  In this position, Fisher will be responsible for building the team, establishing the headquarters and leading the day-to-day operations of the corporation's recently announced expansion into Canada, the company reported.

Talk about favorable media coverage. CNBC aired a one-hour special last week called “Target: Inside the Bullseye,” that served as more of a glowing endorsement of the company than the probing documentary implied by the title.

Columbia, S.C. -- Edens & Avant said Tuesday it has promoted Jami Passer to managing director. Prior to joining Edens & Avant in 2006, Passer was a partner and consultant with P3 Partners, a South Florida real estate advisory firm as well as being a managing director in the Real Estate Capital Markets Group of Andersen Corporate Finance LLC.

An announcement last week that Target plans to open 21 stores in the coming fiscal year was interesting on a number of levels.

For starters, the disclosure was rather uncharacteristic for a company that in years past would publicly release its stores openings a week or two in advance of the actual openings. In this case, the company shared its full list of openings for the entire year two weeks before its new fiscal year even begins.

Chicago -- A survey released Tuesday by the e-tailing group said that nine merchants out of the 100 benchmarked excelled at online customer service.

According to the group’s 13th Annual Mystery Shopping Study, conducted during fourth quarter 2010, Lands’ End made the list for a third consecutive year. Coach and Saks Fifth Avenue are two-year repeat achievers.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. -- Sears, along with Bruno Schiavi's Jupi International, have teamed up with Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian to launch the Kardashian Kollection in 400 Sears stores nationwide in August. In a first for the sisters, the new brand will be included in exclusive shopping destinations created inside Sears department stores, the company reported.