Mass Merchant

New York -- With retail books closed prior to Hurricane Sandy’s arrival in the Northeast, most retailers experienced same-store sales gains for the month of October, some with stronger showings than others.

The 17 retail chains tracked by Thomson Reuters are predicted to report 4.3% growth in October same-store sales, up slightly over the 4.1% advance reported in the year-ago period and a significant gain over September’s 0.8% rise.

Los Angeles -- Survey results released Thursday by PriceGrabber revealed that 16% of consumers will shop using a mobile device during the holiday season, compared with 13% last year. Nearly all respondents indicated that they will do some online shopping from a computer.

The number of consumers who plan to visit brick-and-mortar stores dropped by two percentage points to 46% compared with last year.

Livermore, Calif. -- Paragon Outlets Livermore Valley, the first new outlet center to open in California since 2001, will hold its grand opening weekend celebration Nov. 8 through Nov 11.

Developed by Paragon Outlet Partners, a commercial real estate development firm headquartered in Baltimore, the $150 million, 543,000-sq.-ft. outlet center will feature 130 leading designer and top brand name stores.

Short Hills, N.J. -- Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Taubman Centers said that five fashion and accessory boutiques will join its Mall at Short Hills property in Short Hills, N.J.

Emporio Armani, Giorgio Armani, Stuart Weitzman, Thomas Pink and Tourbillon are opening this fall in the luxury center, with four out of the five making their New Jersey debut.

A 2.4% same-store sales increase during October was toward the low end of Target’s expectations, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the company from achieving its guidance for the third quarter.

Target reported that its net retail sales for the four weeks ended Oct. 27 were nearly $5 billion, a 3% increase from $4.8 billion reported during October 2011. The 2.4% comp increase was on top of a prior year gain of 3.3%.

Oakbrook Terrace, Ill. -- Mid-America Asset Management Inc. said it has signed eight restaurant leases Greater Chicagoland shopping centers that the company represents. The leases total more than 42,000 sq. ft.

For Dempster Plaza in Niles, Ill., Mid-America leased 9,600 sq. ft. to Asia restaurant Niles Buffet, which will open in a former Old Country Buffet space in March 2013. The 180,000-sq.-ft. center is anchored by Home Depot, Portillo's and Jewel/Osco.

New York -- The TJX Cos. turned in the strongest performance among the discounters in October, reporting a 7% comp sales increase on Thursday.

According to TJX CEO Carol Meyrowitz, the above-plan performance has prompted the retailer to raise its outlook for the third quarter and full year. “We believe the momentum we are seeing in all of our businesses … bode well for the holiday selling season,” she said.

TJX sales for the period advanced 11% to $2.1 billion.

Seattle -- Nordstrom announced that it plans to relocate its Nordstrom Rack at Promenade at Howard Hughes Center in Los Angeles to Westfield Culver City in Culver City, Calif.