Discount Store

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. reported Wednesday a profit of $961 million for the fourth quarter, down from $981 million in the year-ago period. The profit slip reflected expenses related to its Canadian market entry along with a spending slowdown during the holiday sales period. It was Target's weakest holiday season performance since 2008. But its adjusted results beat analysts' estimates and it forecast first-quarter earnings above Wall Street's view.

Chesapeake, Va. -- Dollar Tree Inc. reported Wednesday a bigger-than-expected profit of $228.6 million for the quarter ended on Feb. 2, up from $187.9 million in the year-ago period.

Sales climbed 15.4% to $2.25 billion, boosted by an extra week in the quarter. Wall Street expected $2.23 billion in sales. Same-store sales increased 2.4%.

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — The TJX companies reported that sales for the 14-week fourth quarter ended Feb. 2 were $7.7 billion, a 15% increase over the prior year. Consolidated comparable-store sales for the quarter on a 13-week basis increased 4% over the prior year’s 7% increase.

Net income for the 14-week fourth quarter was $605 million and diluted earnings per share were 82 cents, a 32% increase over last year’s 62 cents.

Chicago -- Englewood Construction announced Wednesday that its retail group has begun work on four new projects, including three in the Chicago market and one in Columbus, Ohio.
 

Framingham, Mass. -- The TJX Cos. reported Wednesday a profit of $604.8 million for the quarter ended Feb. 2, compared with $475.3 million in the year-ago period. Despite the strong showing, TJX forecast a slowed growth pace for the new fiscal year and issued a profit forecast below analysts’ expectations. And joining many other retailers, the company announced that beginning with the fiscal 2014 second quarter, it will no longer report monthly sales.

New York -- Five women in Wisconsin have filed suit against Wal-Mart Stores, claiming the retailer denied them and other female employees equal pay and equal opportunities, the Journal Sentinel reported. The suit, which also seeks class-action status, claims Wal-Mart discriminated against female employees in the chain's Region 14, which includes stores in Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Customer satisfaction with retailers is on the rise, according to a report released by the American Customer Satisfaction Index. In fact, it’s at an all time high, up 0.7% to 76.6 in 2012 on ACSI’s 100-point scale. And once again, Publix is on top, outperforming all other retailers (physical and pure online players) with a score of 86.

Ann Arbor, Mich. -- Customer satisfaction with e-commerce websites in on the rise, with Amazon topping all measured sites, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index's (ACSI) annual E-Commerce Report, produced in partnership with customer experience analytics firm ForeSee.