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MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis. — Kohl’s Department Stores announced that it has entered into a purchase agreement to build a new e-commerce distribution center located at I-35 and Centre Park Blvd. in DeSoto, Texas. Expected to open in summer 2012, upon completion the approximately 951,000 sq.-ft. building will fulfill Kohls.com purchases. Kohl’s will close on the agreement once the building process is complete.

RESTON, Va. — Following recent e-commerce trends released by comScore, online spending continues to grow at a consistent 15% rate. As reported earlier, holiday e-commerce spending rose 15% year-over-year to $26.8 billion for the first 42 days of the shopping season, through Dec. 12.

And on Sunday, comScore released its latest findings, that online sales surpassed $1 billion on four days during the work week of Dec.12 to 16, a 15% increase over the same period last year.

As retailers assess what worked and what didn’t in terms of Black Friday promotions and Thanksgiving weekend sales, overall there are a few things that stand out.

The strong customer traffic and sales trends retailers’ experienced Thanksgiving weekend extended into Cyber Monday when shoppers maintained their record pace of spending and propelled online sales to new heights.

HUDSON, Ohio — While many retailers are boasting about opening on Thanksgiving Day night to give shoppers an early start on the Black Friday weekend, Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores is going in a different direction and will stay closed for the holiday. 

WAYNE, N.J. — Toys"R"Us has become the latest retailer to join the trend of starting "Black Friday" on Thanksgiving night. The company announced that, for the first time, it will open its doors at 9 p.m. on Nov. 24. On Nov. 24, customers will also find the company's Thanksgiving-weekend circular, which is filled with more than $12,500 in savings, including doorbusters, Thursday through Saturday discounts and free gift-with-purchase offers, Toys"R'Us said.

NEW YORK  — U.S. households are expected to spend an average of $497 on gifts this holiday season, The Conference Board reported. Only 7% of consumers said they plan to spend more on holiday gifts this year, while approximately 49% plan on spending less than last year.

The survey of holiday gift spending intentions, based on a probability-design random sample, is conducted for The Conference Board by Nielsen. It was conducted in October. 

NEW YORK — With fewer retailers following in Walmart's footsteps in not disclosing monthly sales, it has become harder to gauge the overall health of the industry. Still, enough of them reported this monht to show that consumer spending slowed in October, sending a note of caution as retailers head into the holiday season. Eleven retailers missed expectations for same-store sales, while three chains beat estimates, according to a preliminary tally by Thomson Reuters.

The proverbial race to the bottom is nearing its conclusion as evidenced this week by Target’s decision to open Denver area stores on Thanksgiving Day. This development was overshadowed somewhat by the retailer’s decision to open stores at midnight on Black Friday, but it is no less significant simply because only one market is involved.

So much for the weak economy. A record number of people, 161 million to be precise, are expected to celebrate Halloween this year, according to the National Retail Federations annual survey.

NRF has been conducting the consumer intentions and actions survey for 10 years and the outlook for this year is the brightest ever with average spending per person expected to increase to $72.31 from $66.28 last year.

CHICAGO — In the wake of several surveys projecting how shoppers will spend this holiday season, the latest study from ShopperTrak expects national retail sales to increase 3% during November and December, while foot traffic will drop 2.2%.

ShopperTrak said its 3% holiday sales increase prediction follows 19 consecutive months of year-over-year U.S. retail sales growth, adding that the expected increase is moderate when compared with the 2010 holiday season's 4.1% sales increase over 2009.

Prices were cut on 1,500 items at Target.com last Friday as the retailer executed an online-only Black Friday in July promotion. It was the second consecutive year Target conducted the event which, despite the name, pales in comparison to the real Black Friday, which is an operational nightmare and features extreme discounts on prices retailers would rather not get in the habit of offering at other times of the year.