Content about Discount stores

NEW YORK — Sears and Kmart stores announced that they are supporting emergency relief efforts in a dozen states to help residents recover from Hurricane Irene’s damaging winds and floodwaters.

Sears and Kmart stores will offer discounts on recovery items in stores throughout Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Key discounts include:

Kmart:

MINNEAPOLIS — Target is adding fresh, handmade food to its small-format store in Chicago, the mass merchandiser said.

Target announced that Pret A Manger would open a location inside the State Street CityTarget when the store opens next July. The London-based café chain sells sandwiches, soups, salads, coffee and other items, and operates stores in several U.S. and U.K. cities and Hong Kong.

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario — Walmart Canada has agreed to assume leasehold interests from Target Canada in up to 39 sites that currently are operated by Zellers.

Specific locations will be identified later this fall. Terms of this transaction were not disclosed.

The sites are among up to 220 possible sites whose leasehold interests Target is acquiring as part of a real-estate transaction announced in January. In May, Target selected its initial group of 105 sites, the vast majority of which will become Target stores.

NEW YORK — Target’s board has finalized the decision to locate the company’s Canadian headquarters in Mississauga, Ontario, said president, chairman and CEO Gregg Steinhafel at a shareholders meeting in Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Kmart parent company Sears Holdings has named William Phelan as acting CFO, replacing Michael Collins, currently SVP and CFO, who resigned last week to pursue another opportunity, the company reported in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Collins will remain with the company until June 10 in order to ensure a smooth transition, Sears noted in the filing.

MINNEAPOLIS — The 13.1% increase in same-store sales Target reported for April was toward the low end of the company’s projection of an increase in the mid-teens, and begs the question whether Walmart’s mid-month launch of a new marketing campaign contributed to the weakness.

Target is branching out.


Buoyed by surging profits and customer satisfaction scores, the Minneapolis-based giant is reaching into Canada, preparing a new small-store format for urban areas and going after a bigger share of the nation’s grocery dollar. Target also is spending billions on store renovations, aggressively leveraging a new loyalty card program and growing its commitment to health at its pharmacies and in-store clinics.


MINNEAPOLIS — February same-store sales at Target advanced 1.8%, thanks to the addition of fresh food and consumables that are part of an aggressive remodeling program causing more people to shop its stores.

The company said more than half of its February same-store sales gain were driven by an increase in transactions combined with a small increase in the average transaction size. The 1.8% gain comes on top of a 2.4% increase in February 2010.

MINNEAPOLIS — After announcing that its chief marketing officer would serve as the executive committee sponsor of Target’s entrance into the Canadian market, the retailer named a leader for its Target Canada operations.

As president of Target Canada, Tony Fisher will be responsible for building the retailer's team, establishing the headquarters and leading the day-to-day operations. Target said it expects to open 100 to 150 Target stores throughout Canada in 2013 and 2014. Prior to this position, Tony Fisher was promoted to VP merchandise operations.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target announced that its chief marketing officer, Michael Francis, will serve as the executive committee sponsor of Target’s entrance into the Canadian market. In this role, Francis will oversee the extension of Target’s brand as part of the corporation’s first-ever expansion of its stores beyond the United States, the company reported.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — A 2.3% same-store sales gain at Kmart was not enough to offset a 6% decline at Sears, resulting in an overall 1.7% decline for the combined companies' domestic operations during the five-week December reporting period ended Jan. 1.

NOVATO, Calif. — Sears has partnered with Sonic Solutions to bring an online movie download service to Sears and Kmart customers. The new Alphaline Entertainment service, available at Alphaline.roxionow.com, enables the retailers’ customers to download new movies the same day they are released on DVD/Blu-ray.

Sonic is working with Sears on a multiphase rollout that includes making the service available from a broad range of connected devices and ensuring compatibility with studio-supported digital programs.