Another Home Depot executive joins J.C. Penney by Maria Halkias at Dallas Morning News. "Until August, (Joe) McFarland had been with Home Depot, where (Marvin) Ellison also worked before joining Penney in 2014. Most recently, McFarland was the president of the Northern and Western Divisions for Home Depot. He left the home improvement chain and started a non-profit real estate company with his wife in Atlanta to provide affordable housing for families." Read more   Target Names Michelle Wlazlo Senior Vice President of Apparel and Accessories via A Bullseye View. "(Michelle) Wlazlo brings more than 25 years of diverse retail [...]

  Washington Post: Holiday shopping season was not as merry as the retail industry expected by Sarah Halzack. "The National Retail Federation said sales were up 3 percent to $626.14 billion this holiday season, sharply lower than the 3.7 percent sales increase the trade group had forecast. That figure excludes sales at gas stations and restaurants...“Make no mistake about it, this was a tough holiday season for the industry,” said Matthew Shay, the NRF’s president, in a press release." Read more   ...Online holiday sales increase more than predicted by Tracy Maple at Internet Retailer. "The 9% increase beat the NRF’s [...]

  Wal-Mart closed over 10 percent of Brazil stores in restructuring by Nathan Layne & Brad Haynes at Reuters. "The people familiar with Wal-Mart's Brazil operations told Reuters that Wal-Mart had shuttered roughly 60 stores in the past few weeks. The people, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a significant number of the closures were of smaller-format stores." Read more   ...Walmex gets new CEO from Wal-Mart Brazil at Reuters. (Guilherme) Loureiro was previously CEO of Wal-Mart in Brazil...He will take over from Enrique Ostale as CEO for Mexico and Central America." Read more   Facebook post about Indy Target [...]

  Holiday sales fell at Best Buy, shaped by slower demand for smartphones by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. "Best Buy's holiday sales fell 1.4 percent compared to a year earlier..."There was not a newness factor in the iPhone," Joly told reporters on a conference call this morning. "The iPhone 6s was merely an incremental change from the iPhone 6." Read more  Read the company release   Ontario Superior Court rejects Target Canada’s recovery plan by Marina Strauss at Globe & Mail. "Now, Target Canada, which filed for court protection from its creditors almost exactly a year ago – on [...]

  Checking out Target's healthier checkout lanes by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. "Katie Boylan, a Target spokeswoman, said last week that consumers have been “responding well” to the new options. The beef jerky and natural fruit snacks have been selling particularly well, she said....“The frame of mind is really not about new products,” said Boylan. “Check lanes are places where they gravitate toward brands they know well.” Read more   Three Injured in Shelving Collapse at Party City by Charles Keegan at WPTV. "He says the first shelf to fall hit him on his back, but broke apart, so [...]

  GameStop Holiday Comp Sales +4.4% "...growing 4.9% in the U.S. and 3.2% internationally....Sales of new hardware increased 4.5%, as consumers were motivated by manufacturer promotions for Sony'sPlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One." Read the release   Walgreens to sell 56 Chicago-area clinics to Advocate by Lisa Beilfus via MarketWatch. "Privately held Advocate, the largest health system in Illinois, operates about 250 care sites and 12 hospitals. " Read more   Kroger sues big tuna brands by Steve Watkins at Cincinnati Business Courier. "The suit in a federal court alleges that Tri-Union Seafoods, a unit of Thai Union Group that [...]

  Activist investor Starboard urges Macy's to strike real-estate deals via Reuters. "The letter suggested two separate joint ventures, one for Macy's landmark properties like Herald Square (NY) and a second for its hundreds of mall locations...By Starboard's estimate, the Herald Square store alone was worth $4 billion, while properties in San Francisco and Chicago were worth more than $1 billion." Read more   Target Leaders Reflect on This Year’s Consumer Electronics Show at A Bullseye View. "Brian Cornell: "As I walked the CES floor, I was really impressed by what I saw from Samsung. They are driving incredible innovation across [...]

  Holiday e-commerce increases 13% to $69 billion by Tracy Maple at Internet Retailer. "The numbers fell a bit short of comScore’s prediction of $70 billion sales and 14% growth. Sales from personal computers only grew 6%, less than the 9% growth comScore anticipated, but mobile growth of 60% over the holiday season partly made up for the shortfall." Read more   Bed, Bath & Beyond Q3 Comp -0.4% "Net sales were approximately $2.952 billion, an increase of approximately 0.3% from net sales of approximately $2.943 billion reported in the third quarter of fiscal 2014." Read more   Target's Collaboration [...]