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Google has inked a distribution deal with the biggest wireless carriers in the U.S. to get its Google Wallet payments app pre-installed on their phones. At the same time, Google is buying technology from Softcard, the mobile payments app backed by the same carriers. The deal will see Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and AT&T pre-install Google Wallet on their Android phones in the U.S. later this year. The move also involves Google buying some intellectual property from Softcard, formerly known as ISIS. 

A video threatening terrorist action at U.S. and other Western malls sent retailers’ emergency preparedness plans into action after it surfaced over the weekend. But the threat — which caused the Department of Homeland Security to warn American shoppers to stay vigilant, despite the fact that there's no known credible threat — isn't expected to dent traffic at shopping centers, which generated $2.5 trillion in sales last year.

A few years ago, Kip Tindell found himself at a crossroads. Tindell is CEO of The Container Store, the retail company he co-founded in Dallas in 1978. He's worked with his wife, Sharon, the entire time, and many other executives have been there for decades, too. Tindell's ambitions grew over time. He realized The Container Store, which had been operating in big metropolitan areas, could expand into smaller cities. He also wanted to offer more employees stock in the company. But he was conflicted. "There are only a few things you can do to finance that," he says.

Target on Monday lowered the threshold for free shipping on online orders to $25, making it among the most competitive among major retailers. Its previous free-shipping minimum was $50, which placed it in the higher end of the spectrum. Amazon.com offers free shipping on orders above $35, and offers free two-day delivery for customers who buy a subscription to its Amazon Prime service. Wal-Mart offers free shipping on orders of $50 or more. Many retailers, including Target, temporally suspend those minimums for the holiday shopping season.

Wal-Mart workers will soon be able to use sick days as soon as they get sick. Right now, full-time employees in the U.S. don't get paid leave until the second day they're ill. To be paid on the first day out, workers must tap into their personal days. The company is doing away with the one-day wait starting next year as part of a host of measures to help its 500,000 employees, including a wage increase for entry-level workers.

Bankrupt electronics retailer RadioShack received court approval on Friday for its plan to try to sell the leases to more than 1,100 stores that it will close by the end of February. RadioShack first proposed closing many of the locations early last year as it struggled to turn around its money-losing operations, but lenders demanded the stores remain open. After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this month, RadioShack moved quickly to abandon the stores to avoid paying March rent.

Negotiators reached a tentative contract covering West Coast dockworkers on Friday evening, likely ending a protracted labor dispute that snarled international trade at seaports handling about $1 trillion worth of cargo annually. The breakthrough came after nine months of negotiations that turned contentious in the fall, when dockworkers and their employers began blaming each other for problems getting imports to consumers and exports overseas.

After nearly five years of legal battles, a federal court has ruled that American Express's merchant agreements violate antitrust laws and has resulted in higher costs for consumers. The lawsuit, filed by the Justice Dept. and attorneys general for more than a dozen states, alleged that so-called "anti-steering" or nondiscrimination provisions of the AmEx merchant agreement prevent merchants in the U.S. from pointing their customers to use other cards — like those on the Visa, MasterCard and Discover networks — that charge lower fees to merchants for each transaction.

American designer Kenneth Cole appointed a new CEO yesterday. The company's founder, who kicked off New York Fashion Week with a performance by his longtime friend and rock musician Jon Bon Jovi and ended it with an encore, said Marc Schneider will assume the role of CEO on Feb. 23. The new CEO will report to Cole. Schneider comes to New York-based Kenneth Cole Productions Inc. and has three decades of brand building, merchandising and retail experience.

Frederick's of Hollywood, a purveyor of racy women's lingerie for almost seven decades, is reportedly shedding one-third of its 93 stores. The Los Angeles-based retailer has hired liquidator Great American Group to help wind down operations for at least 31 of its stores, which will close in the coming months, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. Bill Soncini, Frederick's chief operating officer, told WSJ that the number of store closings could increase slightly. The company will shutter its flagship store in Hollywood in April.