Target to spend $1 billion on remodeling stores in 2010
Retailing Today
Target will focus on updating existing stores rather than opening new ones this year. The discounter will spend $1 billion renovating 340 stores while opening fewer than 10 new locations. The company said it plans to incorporate a variety of new merchandise initiatives in the remodeled stores, including expanded grocery offerings, enhanced layout, and an improved in-store experience in a variety of other merchandise areas including beauty, home, electronics and video games.More

Shopping centers, retailers rally to Haiti's aid
International Council of Shopping Centers
Shopping centers and retailers around the world are playing host to fund-raising efforts on behalf of earthquake victims in Haiti. Those helping range from the largest corporations to the smallest companies. Simon Property Group, one of the world's biggest retail development firms, is encouraging all of its centers to work with local social service agencies to help raise funds, reports Les Morris, a company spokesman.More

Stores within bigger stores seem to pump up sales
The Sacramento Bee
It seems almost counterproductive. A grocery store with shelves of coffee for sale offers a Peet's Coffee & Tea stand selling fresh-brewed java and coffee beans. A department store with yards of makeup counters installs a ministore selling handmade soap and natural cosmetics. Turns out, the more the merrier.More

Hollywood Video may close 1,000 stores
The Wall Street Journal
Hollywood Video chain owner Movie Gallery Inc. could close about 1,000 stores as it embarks on its second major restructuring in a little more than two years, people familiar with the matter said. The video-rental chain, based in Wilsonville, Ore., operates more than 2,700 locations across the U.S. It is struggling under some $600 million in debt and a continued decline in the store-based video-rental business.More

Now at Starbucks: A rebound
The New York Times
Young people wearing hoodies and chunky glasses are sipping microbrew beers and espressos, nibbling on cheese and baguettes made at a local bakery and listening to a guitarist strum and sing. The scene could be at any independent coffeehouse around the country. Instead, it is at a Starbucks-owned shop called 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea in Seattle. The new store grew out of a series of brainstorming sessions by a group of Starbucks employees after Howard D. Schultz, Starbucks' chief executive, told them to "break the rules and do things for yourself."More

Tiffany & Co. boosts dividend, resumes buybacks
ABC News
Jewelry retailer Tiffany & Co. said that it will raise its regular quarterly dividend by 3 cents to 20 cents and will start buying back some of its stock again in the wake of reporting better-than-expected holiday sales. Tiffany had suspended stock repurchases in the 2008 third quarter in order to preserve cash. A buyback program that expires in January 2011 currently authorizes the repurchase of up to $402 million worth of stock.More

The recession has changed how customers shop, possibly forever
Entrepreneur Magazine
While age, gender, income and other critical factors continue to shape the way consumers respond to marketing, the lens through which they view marketing offers has changed. And this major, long-term alteration in consumers' spending habits should be reflected in your marketing plans and programs throughout the year and possibly even beyond. A study by Decitica identifies four distinct consumer segments: steadfast frugalists, involuntary penny-pinchers, pragmatic spenders and apathetic materialists.More

Report: Restaurants to rebound amid economic recovery in 2010
The Wall Street Journal
The restaurant industry is expected to report slightly higher sales in 2010, benefiting from the gradual economic recovery, according to the National Restaurant Association's forecast. The association said it expects industry sales to reach $580 billion this year, a 2.5 percent increase in current dollars over 2009 sales. When adjusted for inflation, however, sales are expected to be essentially flat. Restaurants have been bruised over the past two years, as a drop in demand led to deep discounts to drive consumer traffic. Fast-food purveyors and casual-dining chains have recently looked for ways to wean consumers off discounts, similar to a trend seen in the retail segment.More

Mall owners are giving food courts and common areas a facelift
Retail Traffic Magazine
Designers of today's food courts and other common areas at regional malls draw inspiration from other spheres such as spas, hotels and lively cityscapes—and notably not the food courts of yesteryear. That's because owners, developers and architects see former food-court norms as textbook examples of design turnoffs for modern consumers. What passed muster in old-school food courts—uniform lighting, sterile surfaces, standardized tables and chairs—provokes disdain from designers today.More