Mass Merchant

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. and WAYNE, N.J. — While most consumers have barely started making Halloween plans, the retail industry is looking ahead to the holiday season and predicting what they think will be the most popular toys this year.

Toys“R”Us and Kmart both announced their top toy lists for the holiday season detailed below:

Toys"R"Us

1. Air Hogs Hyper Actives from Spin Master

2. Air Swimmers eXtreme from Animal Planet

Los Altos, Calif. -- A survey released Tuesday by ThreatMetrix and The Ponemon Institute found that the majority of consumers have real concerns about online fraud.

According to the study “Mobile Payments & Online Shopping Survey of U.S. Consumers,”  one-third of consumers intend to purchase more online than in-store this holiday shopping season, and three in four have either some or serious concerns about online fraud.

In past columns, I’ve spent time discussing how supermarkets and big-box retailers are successfully rolling out smaller stores. What hasn’t been talked about much is how that trend is starting to spread across the industry, in particular, with specialty retailers. It’s not just the big boys getting smaller any more, it’s almost everyone.

Westlake Village, Calif. -- In a survey released Tuesday by J.D. Power and Associates, which polled customers about their expectations of their pharmacists, Good Neighbor Pharmacy, Health Mart, Kaiser Permanente Pharmacy, Publix and Target rank highest in pharmacy customer satisfaction in their respective segments.

Flushing, N.Y. -- Five Guys Burgers and Fries said Monday is has opened a new location at Sky View Center, located in Flushing, N.Y.

The upscale fast-food chain has opened a 2,000-sq.-ft. location on level B of the 800,000-sq.-ft. regional mall, and is one of 200 new franchises opening in 2011 for the chain.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target announced that this fall it is investing more than $50 million in education. The donation will fund programs such as Target School Library Makeovers, Take Charge of Education and a series of education grants and awards that will provide the resources needed to help students and teachers excel, the company reported.

The beautiful people were out in force Saturday night in Southern California to party and support the fundraising efforts of the Motion Picture and Television Fund. The organization hosts an annual “Evening Before” event that precedes the Emmy Awards, which were held Sunday night and is modeled after the “Night Before” fundraiser, which precedes the Academy Awards.

Exclusive arrangements with celebrities can be a good thing, as long as the right celebrity is involved. Target appeared to pick a winner last year when it tied up with Food Network celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis to launch an exclusive line. Now, Consumer Reports has confirmed that at least one of the key items in the line tastes really good.

Legendary crooner Tony Bennett must live by the proverb if you love what you do you’ll never work a day in your life. He just observed his 85th birthday, has an exclusive deluxe edition of his album “Duets II” hitting Target stores today and is scheduled to perform throughout the United States during the remainder of the year. The new album is the second time Bennett has offered an exclusive mix of songs at Target with the first being the 2006 release of “Duets An American Classic.”

Keurig brewed up a powerful incentive at Target this week with an ad on the cover of its weekly circular touting a $30 gift card for those who purchase the B60 Special Edition single-serve brewer from Keurig for $149.99. The offer appeared quite alluring at first because $30 would help soften the blow of purchasing a coffee maker that is fairly expensive.