Mass Merchant

The Network of Executive Women held its 10th annual leadership summit earlier this week in Orlando, and Walmart’s International CFO Cathy Smith was listed as a featured speaker. Nothing unusual about that, but what made Smith’s appearance unique is that rather than read a canned speech written by someone else, she engaged in a candid conversation with Jan Hill, founder of Hill Enterprises.

New York City -- Walmart plans to launch a dedicated page on Walmart.com that will feature an assortment of products created by women in nearly two dozen countries, including women who work in cooperatives and own small businesses. Scheduled to be available in spring 2012, products will include jewelry from Guatemala, Thailand and Ethiopia; coffee from Central and South America; and dresses from Kenya.

NEW YORK — RadioShack, which already offers the Amazon Kindle, has expanded its e-reader offerings with the addition of the Nook from Barnes & Noble. The company announced Wednesday that it will offer Barnes & Noble's Nook e-reading devices and related accessories to more than 3,000 RadioShack stores nationwide and online at radioshack.com, beginning Oct. 3. 

Chicago -- Retail sales will rise 3% percent during November and December compared to the year-ago period, but foot traffic will decrease 2.2%, according to ShopperTrak.

ShopperTrak's holiday sales increase prediction follows 19 consecutive months of year-over-year U.S. retail sales growth. The expected increase is moderate compared with the 2010 holiday season's 4.1% sales increase over 2009.

Short Hills, N.J. -- The Mall at Short Hills, in Short Hills, N.J., is now home to new retailers Omega and Pandora, which opened recently in the regional shopping center. Omega opened a flagship store near Nordstrom on the upper level, and jeweler Pandora opened on the lower level near Macy’s.

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

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.

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.