eCommerce

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.

At least one retail analyst saw Target’s Black Friday in July promotion last week as an exercise in creative marketing and evidence that even bigger things could be coming this fall when the retailer ends a relationship with Amazon and brings its online efforts in-house.

Citigroup retail analyst Deb Weinswig said the Black Friday promotion “should also help to reinforce Target as a destination for deals and value ahead of the up-coming back-to-school and holiday seasons.”

Shares of Target are mis-valued at current levels around $50 and could eventually double if the company delivers on plans achieve $100 billion in sales and earnings per share of $8 by 2016 or 2017.

That’s according to Bernstein Research analyst Colin McGranahan who noted in a recent research report that he spent time at Target’s Minneapolis headquarter where he met with chairman, president and CEO, Gregg Steinhafel, CFO Doug Scovanner and EVP merchandising Kathee Tesija.

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.

New York -- Borders Group inched closer to liquidation after a 5 p.m. Sunday deadline passed and no bidders emerged to keep the bankrupt chain in business. 

Late last week, investor Najafi Cos. decided to drop out of an effort to keep Borders' remaining 400 stores open.

Denton, Md. -- Walmart will break ground on a new supercenter in Denton, Maryland, the week of September 19. The 152,888-sq.-ft.  store will also feature a Subway.

Walmart currently operates 35 stores and 12 Sam's Clubs in the state of Maryland.

CARLISLE, Pa . — The U.S. subsidiary of Dutch supermarket operator Royal Ahold is hoping to attract local and diverse suppliers to its stores in the markets in which it operates.

New York — Five Below on Friday made its Michigan debut, opening five stores in the Detroit metro area. The chain specializes in “extreme value” merchandise for teens and pre-teens, with no item priced more than $5.

New York — U.K. fashion retailer Topshop in March will open its third U.S. location, a 20,000-sq.ft. Topshop/Topman flagship in Las Vegas’ Fashion Show Mall.  

 As previously reported,  the company’s second U.S. store is due to open this fall, in Chicago. 

New York — Francesca's Holdings Corp. will price its initial public offering of 10 million shares between $14 and $16 a share, the Houston Business Journal reported. 

The women’s specialty apparel retailer will trade on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, under the ticker symbol FRAN, the report said.

In March 2011, private equity firm CCMP Capital acquired a controlling interest in Francesca’s, which operates 160 stores.