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Suffern, N.Y. -- The Ascena Retail Group said Wednesday it will acquire Lane Bryant parent Charming Shoppes Inc. for about $890 million.

The move gives Ascena -- which owns Dressbarn, Maurices and Justice -- entry to the large-size women's clothing market.

Minneapolis -- Target said it will open its new smaller format concept, CityTarget, at the Beverly Connection in Los Angeles, in March 2013. The 99,000-sq.-ft. will be located on the second floor of the shopping complex, at the corner of La Cienega and Beverly Boulevard.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Sears Holdings Corp. revealed in a Monday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the previously announced spinoff of its Sears’s Outlet and Sears’s Hometown and Hardware stores will now combine the two chains into one separate company.

The move, part of Sears’ initiative to cut expense and regain profits, will result in the newly named Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc. and a public offering that is expected to raise $400 to $500 million for Sears.

Bentonville, Ark. -- The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has ordered Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to pay more than $4.8 million in back wages and damages to some 4,500 employees nationwide.

The assessment follows a departmental investigation of the retailer that uncovered violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act's overtime provisions.

Wal-Mart has been assessed another $463,815 in civil money penalties.

Norwalk, Conn. -- The CFOs of U.S. middle-market retailers are more optimistic about the current state of their own industry and the U.S. economy, although they are significantly more pessimistic about the global economy, according to the latest GE Capital U.S. Mid-Market Survey.

Fifty-one percent of retail CFOs say their industry will grow over the next 12 months — an increase of 25% over the previous wave of this survey, which was conducted in the third quarter of 2011.

New York -- Shoe manufacturer Wolverine Worldwide Inc. announced Tuesday that it has partnered with equity firms Blum Capital Partners and Golden Gate Capital to acquire Payless ShoeSource parent Collective Brands Inc. for about $1.3 billion.

Macon, Ga. -- Westwood Financial Corp., one of the nation’s largest owner-operators of shopping centers, has purchased Wesleyan Station, an 86,631-sq-.ft, retail center in Macon, Ga., for $8.9 million from a private seller.

New York -- Millennial shoppers (consumers ages 18-34) now represent the highest percentage of Americans who do not have enough money to cover their basic needs according to WSL/Strategic Retail, a leading authority on shopper behavior and retail trends. The finding, which noted that nearly 25% of this young adult market say they are not able to make ends meet – as compared with 17% of adults ages 35-54, and only 13% of those age 55 and over – was revealed as part of the company’s How America Shops MegaTrends report, Moving On 2012.