Mass Merchant

Memphis, Tenn. -- Fred's on Tuesday said third-quarter net income dropped 27% amid rising costs and declining same-store sales, as sales in its established stores dropped and its costs rose.

The company reported Tuesday that it earned $6.6 million in the three months through Oct. 27, compared with $9 million a year earlier.

Revenue rose 1% to $450.6 million. Same-store sales were down 2.5%.

General expenses rose 4% to $118.1 million, fueled in party by higher labor costs and new store opening costs.  

Best Buy on Tuesday continued its string of negative same store stores sales, posting a 4% decline at U.S. stores, and recorded a worse than expected profit.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Universal gift registry MonkeyWish.com has added Target and Walmart to its growing list of retail affiliate partnerships, which now tops 100. The gift registry also has partnerships with Best Buy, Lord & Taylor, Nordstrom, Kohl's and Amazon.

The gift registry allows users to create free personalized wish lists and provides users access to products from retailers with which it is partnered.

Chicago -- Englewood Construction has announced that the firm’s Retail Group recently completed work on the nation’s first Spanx store, and also completed the first American Girl store in the Florida market.

At Tyson’s Corner Center in McLean, Va., just outside of Washington D.C., Spanx opened its first retail location in the U.S.

BRADFORD, U.K. — Walmart took home an award for its private-label pet food package design at the Store Brand Decisions third annual Retailer Innovation Awards. The package label for Pure Balance was created by Parker Williams, Sun Branding Solutions’ creative design agency.

New York -- Importers and manufacturers who sell to America's major retailers continue to be optimistic regarding a strong fourth quarter and holiday shopping season, according to Capital Business Credit, a non-bank lender that services the retail sector.

WILMINGTON, Del. — The retail industry is awash with forecasts and projections during the holidays, but a near real-time indicator from Chase reveals how shoppers are actually behaving.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart is changing the date that its fourth-quarter dividend will be paid. The company said that the quarterly dividend of 39.75 cents per share will now be paid on Dec. 27 instead of on Jan. 2, 2013. The dividend will still be paid to shareholders of record on Dec. 7.

According to a report by the Associated Press, Wal-Mart may be taking the action to avoid a higher tax rate on the dividend if there's no agreement on the fiscal cliff.