Mass Merchant

By Donna L. Wilson and Kirk D. Jensen

Illustrating the adage that no good deed goes unpunished, retailers offering financially-strapped or credit-challenged consumers the option of layaway are facing criticism and threats of litigation and regulatory scrutiny. 

Washington, D.C. -- The NRF Foundation, the research and education arm of the National Retail Federation, has announced the top 10 retailers for excellent customer service selected by shoppers in the seventh annual NRF Foundation/American Express Customers’ Choice survey.

The survey, which asked 9,374 shoppers which retailer provides the best customer service, was conducted by BIGresearch.

According to shoppers, the ten finalists for customer service, in alphabetical order, are:

New York City -- Mattress Firm Holding Corp. raised about $105.6 million after pricing its initial public offering at the top of its expected range.

The retailer priced the IPO of 5.6 million shares at $19 each. It had expected shares to sell initially for $17 to $19 each.

Mattress Firm said it will use most of the offering's net proceeds — about $95 million after expenses — to repay $84.4 million in debt and pay fees to its biggest shareholder, Boston private equity firm J.W. Childs.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. That seems to be the message implied in Walmart’s guidance for fourth-quarter same-store sales in a range of flat to up 2%. The company’s comps expectations follow a third-quarter increase of 1.3% that ended a two-year string of negative results, but appear rather muted against the backdrop of talk about the company’s gathering momentum, the effectiveness of strategies and solid positioning for the holidays.

Every year, in December, Chain Store Age examines the northeastern region — New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island — and, in 2011, there appears to be some positive momentum.

Retail real estate executives will tell you that we’re not completely out of the woods yet, but the industry is certainly inching in the right direction.

Walmart continues to gain online momentum, judging from the most recent monthly report from measurement firm comScore Media Metrix.

Walmart consistently ranks in the firm’s Top 50 U.S. Web properties report, and that was the case again in October when Walmart.com was ranked 23rd with 45.2 million unique visitors. By comparison, Target.com, which experienced some difficulties with a major relaunch several months ago, was the only other traditional retailer on the list and ranked 46th with 27 million unique visitors.

Washington, D.C. -- Holiday shoppers are expected to spend $155.43 on average for gift cards this season, and total gift-card spending is projected to reach $27.8 billion, according to a survey released Friday by the National Retail Federation.

New York City -- Target Corp. will sell off Zellers’ prescription customer files to other companies and start its own business from scratch once it launches Target in Canada, according to reports in The Globe and Mail.

While Zellers pharmacies are money-makers, keeping them open while Target closes the stores for remodeling would be costly and complicated, according to the report.

The potential suitors for the files are likely to include Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. and Katz Group Canada Ltd., the report said.