Top Retailers

CHICAGO — Being safe can make one sorry. Because it’s the unconventional that captures a consumer’s attention, and that’s just as true for designers of display units as it is for anything else. Indeed, it’s often the displays that deviate most from the norm that have the greatest impact and the greatest potential to get a shopper to stop, shop and buy.

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario — Target is offering a limited-time assortment of wigs in collaboration with designer Chris March — as well as costumes for kids and pets, and accessories for adults — as part of its Halloween offering this year, the mass-merchandise retailer said.

"Halloween is such a fun time of year for kids and kids at heart," Target Canada SVP merchandising John Morioka said. "We want our Canadian guests to know that Target is the wallet-friendly destination for Halloween this year."

GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn. — Dollar General, in partnership with Unilever, concluded the seventh annual "Reading Puts You on the Track to Victory" reading program last week by presenting grants totaling $72,500 to more than two dozen Charlotte-area elementary schools. The grants were presented to school leaders during pre-race ceremonies at the Dollar General 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Oct. 11. 

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS/pharmacy is offering its senior patients a new way to compare Medicare Part D prescription drug plans during the annual enrollment period from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7, the pharmacy retailer has announced.
 

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Kmart will kick off the holiday shopping season by launching a new lease-to-own program in time for Black Friday, the massmerchandise retailer said Tuesday.

Kmart said it would launch the program through Whynot Leasing and make it available nationwide starting on Nov. 22. Sears, also part of parent company Sears Holdings, also is launching the program, making it available for more than 95 million items via Sears Marketplace, including electronics, home goods, jewelry and tools, as well as major brands and boutique items.

ZAANDAM, Netherlands — Dutch supermarket operator Royal Ahold has bought back more than a quarter of the shares it intends to as part of a share-repurchase program announced earlier this year.

The company said Monday that it had bought back 2.23 million for $38.8 million. The purchases are part of the $678 million buyback program announced in February and increased by $2.03 billion in June.

The total amount repurchased so far is 42.8 million shares, for a total price of $711.9 million.

LANCASTER, S.C. — Family Dollar last week opened its 8,000th store here, the company announced.

"Lancaster is  proud to have been selected as the site of Family Dollar's 8,000th store," stated Joe Shaw, Lancaster's mayor. "We look forward to partnering with Family Dollar to meet the retail needs of our citizens."

"We have over 200 stores in South Carolina, so it certainly is a great fit for us to open this landmark store in the state," commented Howard Levine, Family Dollar chairman and CEO. 

DEERFIELD, Ill. — With this year’s Medicare Annual Election Period overlapping with the unrelated open enrollment for the new federal and state insurance marketplaces, there’s a growing need to help Medicare beneficiaries understand their healthcare coverage options when Medicare open enrollment begins on Oct. 15, Walgreens noted Monday.