Mass Merchant

New York – Saks Fifth Avenue is reportedly planning to both increase the amount of high-end luxury goods it sells and also increase the number of Saks Off 5th outlet stores it operates. According to the Wall Street Journal, Richard Baker, CEO of Canadian department store chain (and new Saks owner) Hudson’s Bay Company wants to overhaul Saks stores by selling more items such as $48,000 Louis Vuitton crocodile handbags.

Anna’s Linens has elevated company president Scott Gladstone to CEO. The home furnishings and home décor retailer was founded by Alan Gladstone, and now has more than 300 stores throughout 19 states.

“Scott has spent the last eight years at Anna’s bringing innovation and business improvements to many different areas of the company. I am proud of what we have done together and have absolute confidence that he is the person who can lead us in writing the next chapter of Anna’s history,” said Alan Gladstone.

The opportunity to win a $100 gift card and appear in a television commercial is being used by Meijer to entice parents to upload photos of their kids to the retailer’s Facebook page.

As part of a contest called “Star with Sandy,” Meijer is giving customers until February 6 to submit photos of their kids or themselves when they were young riding a mechanical horse named “Sandy” that can be found at each of Meijer’s 204 stores in five Midwestern states.

Minneapolis – Target reportedly said a data breach at an unidentified vendor led to hackers obtaining phony credentials that allowed them to gain access to Target’s systems and steal the information for 40 million credit and debit cards, as well as the personal data of about 70 million consumers. According to the Associated Press, Target did not offer any specific details on who the vendor was or how hackers obtained the credentials.

Amazon.com may have achieved record fourth-quarter sales of $25.6 billion, but its top line was well below what analysts expected and so were profits.

The company’s sales increased 20% to $25.6 billion during the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, compared to $21.3 billion the prior year. Analysts had forecast sales of slightly more than $26 billion. Meanwhile, Amazon said it earned profits of $239 million, or 51 cents a share, well ahead of prior year figures of $97 million and 21 cents a share, but substantially below the 74 cents analysts were expecting.

Minneapolis - Target plans to open a new store in the city of Kahului on the island of Maui in Hawaii, in March 2015. The store will be located as part of the Pu‘unēnē Shopping Center.

This will be the first Target store in Maui.

Samuel Adams is ready to share Rebel IPA with drinkers across the nation. The IPA offers consumers citrus aromas along with piney, resinous notes that come from West Coast hops.

Rebel IPA was one of the first beers to be developed in the Samuel Adams nanobrewery, a small batch, 10-gallon brewery system that operates within the confines of the Samuel Adams Boston Brewery.

Indianapolis – Hhgregg reported net income of $5 million during the third quarter of fiscal 2014, a 71% drop from $17.4 million in the same period the previous fiscal year. Net sales declined about 12%, from $799.6 million to $707 million.

Same-store sales decreased about 11%. Hhgregg cited the drop in same-store sales and shrinking gross margins for its steep decline in net income. Dennis May, president and CEO of Hhgregg, blamed poor electronics/computing sales and heavy promotions for the retailer’s overall disappointing performance.