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When it comes to holiday shopping this year, good things will come to those who wait ... as long as they don't wait too long. That's because the days with the fewest shoppers and deepest discounts will occur after the Thanksgiving holiday and its famous "Black Friday."

Framingham, Mass. -- TJX Cos. reported Tuesday that profit for the quarter ended Oct. 29 rose 15% to $406.5 million, from $372.3 million a year earlier. Sales increased 5% to $5.79 billion from $5.53 billion, but missed analysts’ expected $5.84 billion. Same-store sales rose 3%. During the quarter, the retailer increased its store count by a net of 52 stores and increased square footage by 1% over the same period last year.

According to Forbes Insights, affluent consumers are planning to spend close to $1,850 during the 2011 holiday season, which is an increase of 2 percent over 2010 and 5 percent over 2009, with $1,100 earmarked for gifts for family, friends and other loved ones.

Urban Outfitters' third-quarter profit fell 31 percent amid a decline in same-store sales and as merchandise markdowns continued to weigh on margins. For the quarter ended Oct. 31, Urban Outfitters posted earnings of $50.7 million, down from $73.1 million in the year-ago period.

Spain-based fashion brand Zara recently opened a new store in Johannesburg, according to www.wwd.com. Located inside the Sandton City shopping mall, the new store measures 29,000-sq.-ft., and offers full collections for men, women and children. The South Africa store marks the company's 80th country where it has units. SAVE | EMAIL | PRINT | MOST POPULAR | RSS DDI's RetailDesignDiva blog is dedicated to retail design issues, opinions and frustrations of the day.Read the Diva's recent rantings. DDI's Retail Design Newswire Sign up to receive the latest retail store news, store design trends and store openings, daily. New

Grocer H-E-B has opened its Toyland mall-based stores for the second year in a row. The seasonal toy and entertainment concept, which sells no groceries, is called H-E-B Toyland and is currently open at Rolling Oaks Mall in San Antonio, Texas.

Donating unwanted products to organizations that help people in times of need is undoubtedly a win-win for retailers. But as many companies have found, getting the right products to the right people isn’t always easy.

Best Buy's attempt to cross the Atlantic and deliver US-style retailing to British consumers has failed miserably, with the retailer planning to close all of its big box stores in the UK. It may have suffered from bad timing, but its retreat shows that even the most successful retail formats can fail if they do not adapt to changes in their target markets. US electronics retailer Best Buy has signaled its brand's retreat from the UK, just 18 months after it opened its first big box store. By the time it closes all of its stores at the end

New York City -- Wal-Mart Stores has acquired Australian tech start-up Grabble for an undisclosed amount. Founded in January 2010, Grabble provides retailers a point-of-service app for purchases. The discount giant will make the company part of its recently established Walmart Labs.

According to the Shop.org eHoliday Study, 43 percent of retailers cited product videos as a top investment in their holiday marketing budget. This investment in retail product videos not only signifies more retailers are accepting that consumers are influenced by product videos, but that they now expect to see video as part of the online shopping experience.