Target, Inc.

Healthy snack manufacturers and retailers have started wooing the back-to-school market with new products, packaging, promotions, and displays.

WASHINGTON -- Wal-Mart opposition group WakeUpWalMart.com is asking Minneapolis-based discount chain Target Corp. to reconsider its proposed changes on employee health care.

MINNEAPOLIS -- First-quarter profits at Target Corp. here rose 12 percent on increased revenue from its stores and credit program. The fast-growing discounter posted earnings of $554 million, or 63 cents per share, in the first quarter of 2006 vs. earnings of $494 million, or 55 cents a share, in the same period last year.

INDIANOPOLIS -- Nearly six months after revealing it was exploring strategic alternatives that included a sale, the exploring seems to be officially over for Marsh Supermarkets, Inc. here. The regional retailer said yesterday signed an agreement for an $11.125 per share cash takeover by an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners Inc.

NEW YORK --­ The American shoppers' mindset has dramatically shifted since 2001 toward more anxiety and less spending, reflecting a new "Never Normal" environment they now live in, according to the latest "How America Shops" 2006 study from retail marketing consultancy WSL Strategic Retail, based here.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Mass merchandiser Target Corp. here plans to unveil its latest version of SuperTarget in the Atlanta suburb of Acworth, Ga. in July, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reports. The 174,000-square-foot store will dedicate twice as much space for grocery and HBC, and will feature larger windows to let in more natural light.

WILTON, Conn. -- As discount and drug stores add more space for food and supermarkets add more nonfood sections, retailers have moved to the muddled middle and shoppers no longer distinguish retailers along channel lines, according to a new study from Cannondale Associates here, "Redefining the Retail Landscape." The study, produced in conjunction with panel provider Lightspeed Research, finds that shoppers choose where to shop based on a retailer's ability to deliver what they're looking for, whether it's the lowest prices, bulk sizes, or unique products.

Wal-Mart's experimental supercenter in Aurora is the retailer's biggest, newest step becoming an environmental steward.