News

MINNEAPOLIS — Target is opening 21 stores across 12 states, the retailer announced Tuesday.

Among the openings include five stores in California, a third store in Hawaii and a SuperTarget in Minnesota.

“Target takes great pride in designing stores that meet the needs of our guests and the communities we serve,” said John Griffith, Target EVP. “With the addition of an expanded fresh food assortment, our new stores will offer guests everything they need in one convenient location.”

Ask retail operations executives what their priorities are, and the answer comes down to the two T’s: Talent and Technology.

At the National Retail Federation’s Annual Convention & Expo, experts discussed how they are positioning their companies to for the economic comeback and the efficiencies learned from the downturn.

ENFIELD, Conn. — Lego is bringing a new kind of ninja to game enthusiasts.

Ninjago, the newest Lego family member, combines the best of Lego construction play, action-based competitive play and virtual gaming. Ninjago tells the story of four young ninjas who train under the watchful eye of Sensei Wu to master an ancient martial art — Spinjitzu — the art of spinning into a human tornado, to save the world from the evil Lord Garmadon and his skeleton army.

Fort Mill, S.C. — According to the latest “Mobile POS Survey” commissioned by Honeywell and conducted by Harris Interactive online in December, consumers are accepting of a mobile checkout offering at retail -- 50% of those who have tried mobile checkouts believed it saves time and 43% like the convenience of paperless receipts delivered via e-mail.

Chicago -- Year-over-year retail sales rose a solid 4% for the 2010 holiday shopping season (November/December), according to ShopperTrak’s National Retail Sales Estimate.

Conversely, total U.S. foot traffic fell slightly below expectations as consumers continued the pattern retailers saw throughout 2010 of fewer mall and individual store visits with a larger spend. ShopperTrak’s revised holiday forecast called for a 1.8% traffic increase.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — Marking its eighth consecutive year of dividend increases, CVS Caremark on Tuesday said its board of directors approved a near 43% increase of its quarterly dividend to 12.5 cents per share of common stock.

The dividend is payable Feb. 2 to holders of record on Jan. 21.

At its Analyst Day in October of last year, the company announced that it set a targeted dividend payout ratio of approximately 25% to 30% by 2015, which implied a compounded dividend growth rate of nearly 25% per year.

New York City -- Affinity Solutions, a provider of partner-funded rewards programs, announced that it has signed an extension with Anna’s Linens as a client in its bank rewards program, which connects national and local retailers to a network of over 400 banks. Anna’s Linens will also continue its use of the Affinity Dashboard, a proprietary analytic tool that offers retailers access to in-depth consumer spend data.

Despite December’s sales weakness, Target chairman, president and CEO Gregg Steinhafel confirmed the company’s fourth-quarter same-store sales forecast in the range of 2% to 4% and said January comps would be in the low- to mid-single digits.