Mass Merchant

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. will invest $5 million in a multi-year campaign to educate consumers about cybersecurity and the dangers of phishing scams.

Snellville, Ga. — Sprouts Farmers Market has signed a lease to occupy 26,000 sq. ft. in The Shoppes at Webb Gin in Snellville, Ga., an affluent suburb of Atlanta. This will be among the first Sprouts locations east of the Mississippi. Construction has begun on the store, which is slated to open this summer.

Minneapolis -- Best Buy Co. announced the appointment of Thomas L. "Tommy" Millner to its board of directors. Millner is the president and CEO of Cabela`s Inc.

Despite severe winter weather travails during the holiday shopping season, the National Retail Federation reported that December retail sales didn’t take the hit that many feared.

In fact, taking advantage of heavy promotions and last-minute deals, shoppers were able to move the December retail sales needle up 0.4% month-to-month, excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants, and up 4.6% year-over-year.



New York -- Overall retail sales rose 0.2% last month, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast a 0.1% increase.  Excluding autos however, December retail sales were up a solid 0.7%.

Auto sales fell 1.8%, dragging down broader figures, a reflection of  bad weather and calendar quirks than the start of a new trend. Retail spending figures for prior months were revised down to a 0.5% increase in October and a 0.4% rise in November.

Oakbrook Terrace, Ill. — Mid-America Real Estate Corp. has brokered the sale of two centers on behalf of Retail Properties of America.
 
First, Phillips Edison & Company purchased the 134,229-sq.-ft. Duck Creek Plaza in Bettendorf, Iowa, for $19.7 million. Schnucks and Marshalls anchor Duck Creek Plaza, and Home Depot serves as a shadow anchor. Mid-America Real Estate Corp. in cooperation with Mid-America Real Estate — Iowa LLC brokered the transaction exclusively on behalf of RPAI.

RadioShack is enlisting specialty retail industry veteran John W. Feray to help the company execute its turnaround strategy and has appointed him EVP and CFO effective Feb. 6.

Feray joins RadioShack from Dollar General, where he has been SVP of finance and strategy since 2008 under both private equity ownership and as a public company. With responsibility for financial planning and analysis, long-term strategic planning, real estate market planning and operational improvement activities, he has been credited as a key contributor to Dollar General's growth.

New York -- RadioShack is enlisting specialty retail industry veteran John W. Feray to help the company execute its turnaround strategy and has appointed him executive VP and CFO, effective Feb. 6.