Target

Apple will be opening new store-within-a-store locations in select Target locations later this year, enabling the company to expand its retail reach into smaller metro areas. The company plans to begin operating Apple-branded areas within 25 larger Target stores in locations which can't support a standalone Apple Store.

Target's plan to open up to 135 stores in Canada is rapidly taking shape as the retailer released the locations of its first 24 stores in the country. As previously announced, Target purchased the leasehold interests of 189 sites currently operated by Zellers.

A young man is making great strides in the modeling world despite what many might see as an impediment — Down syndrome. His name is Ryan and he appears in the new Target circular, just months after an appearance in the Nordstrom catalog.

A homeless dog in Wisconsin named L.L.Bean has found a new home in Maine, thanks to the company he's named after. The Dunn County Humane Society in Wisconsin received a call from an employee at L.L.Bean's Freeport headquarters after a local TV station ran a story featuring an 80-pound Coonhound named L.L.Bean that had been in the shelter for more than a year.

While some have their shopping completed and presents wrapped under the tree, the holiday shopping season isn't over yet. There are a few critical shopping days remaining that savvy online retailers can take advantage of by following these tips:

While the twinkling lights and tinsel make 2011 seem like a typical year for holiday shopping, the truth is it's not. The biggest difference this year is with consumers themselves, specifically where and how they spend their money and how retailers are competing for those dollars.

Direct mail is an integral part of any holiday marketing campaign. As a channel, print delivers a uniquely engaging and tangible experience. It's a quietly insistent communication that integrates well into any campaign and even affords some holiday fun. What follows are four direct mail concepts retailers can leverage to drive relevant offers, increase store traffic and build customer loyalty during the holidays:

For a decade, Target outsourced its website operations to Amazon.com. The retail giant began preparing two years ago to take control of the site when the deal with Amazon expired this August. Three weeks after the switch, the site crashed. It went down again a month later. Then again, and again.

San Francisco -- The 15 cities with the most shopping activity on Black Friday 2011 were Manhattan, N.Y.; San Francisco; Los Angeles; Brooklyn, N.Y.; San Jose, Calif.; Seattle; Chicago; San Diego; Houston; Atlanta; Dallas; Saint Louis; Portland, Ore.; Austin, Texas; and Minneapolis, according to mint.com, an online personal finance site. The 10 national merchants with the most shopping activity on Black Friday, mint.com reported, were Apple, Best Buy, Nordstrom, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Target, Wal-Mart, Gap, Old Navy and Amazon. After comparing user spend from Black Friday 2011 to last year’s spend, Mint.com found that: Atlanta, New York and Houston

Target will donate $5 million to local schools nationwide as part of the company's commitment to give $1 billion for education by the end of 2015. Target has teamed up with "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and its viewers to select 50 schools in need to receive a $100,000 grant.