Target

The Occupy Wall Street movement is setting its sights on Black Friday, with the goal of "hitting the 1 percent where it hurts — right in the wallet," according to its website StopBlackFriday.com.

In case you haven’t noticed the changes taking place in retail stores across the country, I'm here to report that orange is out and red and green are in. That’s right, the holiday season has officially begun. From tinsel to snowflakes, stores are already decked out in their holiday finest hoping to entice shoppers to open their wallets and spread some cheer.

Minneapolis -- Target Corp.’s profit increased a better-than-expected 3.7% in the third quarter to $555 million, up from $535 a year earlier. The retailer’s performance was helped by solid spending and improvement in its credit card business. Revenue rose 5.4% to $16.05 billion. Same-store sales were up 4.3% in the quarter. “We're very pleased with our third-quarter financial results," said Gregg Steinhafel, Target's chairman, president and CEO in a statement. "We're confident that we have the right strategy and team in place to drive continued strong performance this holiday season and well into the future." Target said that its

Wal-Mart has lower online prices on a selection of toys this month than Target’s website and Amazon, according to a Bloomberg Industries analysis. Prices for a group of about 80 toys are 1.8 percent higher at Target and 0.7 percent more expensive at Amazon.

Getting a jump on other retailers, Toys"R"Us is throwing open its doors at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving night. The toy retailer said it would issue its Thanksgiving weekend circular on Nov. 24, offering more than 100 deals on 28 pages in newspapers across the country.

NEW YORK — American Express has announced the launch of the American Express for Target card, a reloadable prepaid card with no monthly or maintenance fees, available exclusively at more than 1,000 U.S. Target stores. “We’re excited to partner with Target to provide consumers with a safe and secure everyday payment tool. This prepaid reloadable card is loaded with benefits synonymous with American Express such as roadside assistance, purchase protection, and global assist,” said Stefan Happ, SVP and general manager of American Express’ global payment options. “In addition, it delivers premium value to consumers, with no fees for monthly

Minneapolis -- Target announced it will open a CityTarget store in the Westwood Market Place, Westwood, Calif., in July 2012. The 98,000- sq.-ft. store will occupy a space that formerly housed Home Depot Expo. The Westwood location is the second CityTarget store confirmed in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Target previously announced that it would open a small-format, urban store at Figueroa and 7th in downtown Los Angeles in October 2012. In addition to the two Los Angeles area CityTarget stores, Target will open small-format stores in Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco in 2012.

The lines between Thanksgiving and Black Friday are blurring this year and some aren't happy about it. More than 15,000 people have signed a petition at Change.org asking Target not to open at midnight on Thanksgiving as planned and to open at 5 a.m. on Friday instead to allow workers to spend more time with their families.

Target's website has crashed six times since the company launched the revamped site. As it strives to improve the online experience ahead of the holidays, Target and other merchants that have made similar moves face challenges hiring top talent from a relatively small pool of highly skilled engineers, says Forrester Research's Sucharita Mulpuru.