eCommerce

I’m not shedding any tears over the demise of Borders and neither is anyone else in the retail industry. It’s just business.

There are always a few sentimental customers who turn up with a choice quote or two in the formulaic media eulogies that appear whenever a retailer goes under, but those customers will just have to find somewhere else to sip coffee and read books for free.

NEW YORK — Rising food prices and shrinking package sizes is a top concern for consumers, according to Deloitte's "2011 Consumer Food and Product Insight Survey."

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Kmart announced that as part of its back-to-school campaign it would offer college students and their parents the ability to reserve purchases by making four payments throughout the summer and allowing students to pick up items at a Kmart store near their campus.

The promotion is part of the retailer's "Epic Year, Epic You!" campaign seeks to meet customers' evolving BTS needs.

NEW YORK — Aeropostale announced that it has launced a rewards program for its children's retail brand, P.S. from Aeropostale. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Levi's announced that its Denizen jeans brand is making its U.S. debut exclusively at Target stores and on Target.com. 

The brand first launched in Asia in 2010 and is available in China, India, Mexico, Pakistan, Singapore and South Korea, in addition to the United States.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Big Lots has acquired 89 Liquidation World stores in Canada and becomes the latest U.S. retailer to pursue growth opportunities north of the border.

The company said it invested $20 million in cash and assumed certain liabilities in order to purchase all outstanding shares, satisfy debt obligations, and acquire all assets and leasehold rights of Liquidation World, an operator of 89 stores offering closeout merchandise. Big Lots currently operates 1,405 stores in the United States.

Shares of Target may hit $100 six or seven years from now, but looking ahead to next year Morgan Stanley analyst Mark Wiltamuth believes the stock should be trading at $64. He recently initiated coverage of the company with a “buy” rating and, like some other analysts, believes investors may be seeing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to purchase shares at valuation levels depressed by uncertainty around the company’s entry into Canada.

Nine of the 21 new store openings Target has planned for this year are scheduled to open on July 24. Among the openings is a new unit in Hilo, Hawaii, the company’s fourth store in Hawaii, two units in San Luis Obispo and Oxnard, Calif. and two units in the Pennsylvania cities of Hanover and Pittsburgh. The Phoenix suburb of Chandler gets a new Target as do Moore, Okla., Kenner, La. And Swansea, Mass.

The openings planned for October are said to included units in San Clemente and Dublin, Ca., Gastonia and Morrisville, N.C., Blue Ash, Ohio and Warwick Township, Pa.