Mass Merchant

Mississauga, Canada – Target opens three new stores in Canada Aug. 1 and plans three more new Canadian stores later in the fall. The stores are located at Erin Mills Town Centre in Mississauga, Ontario; Park Place in Barrie, Ontario and Carrefour Candiac in Candiac, Quebec.

Madison, Wisconsin -- Hilldale, a 675,000-sq.-ft. center in Madison, Wisconsin, is preparing to launch a major redevelopment that will add 53,000 sq. ft. of new retail and restaurant space built in an outdoor streetscape. As part of the redevelopment, Kate Spade New York, Lucky Brand, Michael Kors and Sperry Top-Sider will join the existing roster of national and local retailers, restaurants and specialty boutiques. The center is owned and operated by WS Development, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

York, Pa. -- The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. announced the appointment of Kathryn Bufano to the position of president and CEO, effective Aug. 25. Bufano has served as the president and chief merchandising officer of Belk Inc. since 2010.

Bufano replaces outgoing president and CEO Brendan Hoffman, who announced his resignation.

Walmart kicked off its back-to-school promotional effort the way it does every seasonal selling initiative – with a big emphasis on low prices – but added a stronger digital component this year.

The retailer sought to bring a bit of Black Friday and Cyber Monday magic to its back-to-school efforts with a series of price cuts and limited duration offerings designed to generate sales and drive traffic to its stores and Web site.

Retail and consumer products veteran Brian Cornell was named chairman and CEO at Target to fill two of the three roles previously held by the company’s former top executive Gregg Steinhafel.

Cambridge, Mass. – Target is the grocery brand with the highest positive consumer sentiment rating. In a survey of the grocery habits of 763 consumers exclusively released to Chain Store Age, analytics technology provider Luminoso Technology found that 60% of consumers had positive sentiment about Target as a grocery retailer.

Charlotte, N.C. -- Following the resignation of president and chief merchandising officer Kathryn Bufano to take the CEO slot at Bon-Ton, Belk has promoted David Zant as its replacement, effective Aug. 11.

Zant, who will report to Tim Belk, chairman and CEO, has served as Belk’s executive VP and general merchandising manager of men’s, home and kids since 2008.