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Home Depot reports positive year-end results

ATLANTA — The Home Depot reported sales of $16.0 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011, a 5.9% increase from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010. Same-store sales for the fourth quarter were up 5.7%. Net earnings for the fourth quarter climbed to $774 million. For the fourth quarter, diluted earnings per share increased 38.9% from the prior year.

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Target outsources Canadian store planning to India

BANGALORE, India — Target's investment in Canada will not include a planning and store design department. That business has been outsourced to India. According to The Times of India, Target has hired a team of 2,500 store planners, merchandising designers, and architects... full story at indiatimes.com

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Walmart's sales up 5.9%

for the year

BENTONVILLE, AR — Wal-Mart Stores reported net sales for the fourth quarter of 2012 of $122.3 billion, an increase of 5.8% from $115.6 billion a year earlier. Consolidated net sales for the year were $443.9 billion, an increase of 5.9%... full story in the next blazing edition of HARDLINES! Not getting your own weekly copy of HARDLINES? Click here for a FREE TRIAL subscription!

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Canadian inflation rises by 2.5%

OTTAWA — Consumer prices rose 2.5% in the 12 months to January, led by increases for food and energy, report Stats Canada. The January rise followed a 2.3% increase in December.

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Lowe's head office staff get buyout offers

MOORESVILLE, NC — A "voluntary separation program" has been initiated at Lowe's head office here, doublespeak for buyout packages as the company faces slower store expansion and a still-slow economy in State-side... full story at charlotteobserver.com

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Target Canada will add Starbucks

TORONTO — Starbucks will be added to most of the new Targets that are opening next year in Canada... full story at cnbc.com

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Home Hardware dealer helps save Hockey Museum

WINDSOR, NS — When Home Hardware dealer Jeff Redden heard the community's Long Pond Hockey Heritage Museum would close due to underfunding, he got together with another Home Hardware figure, garden expert Mark Cullen, to start a hockey to raise funds... full story at digitaljournal.com.

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U.S. economy shrinking big companies like Home Depot

NEW YORK — With sales down 9.3% from 2006-2010, Home Depot is part of a club of giant companies that have seen their sales get hammered during the current U.S. downturn... full story at digitaljournal.com.

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Feds cut short deadline for home ecoENERGY program

OTTAWA — Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver caught some homeowners by surprise last week when he announced the closing on Jan. 29 of the ecoENERGY Retrofit – Homes program. The sudden closing of the program comes two months before its official end date... full story in this week's blazing edition of HARDLINES! Not getting your own weekly copy of HARDLINES? Click here for a FREE TRIAL subscription!

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Lowe's gets site in Peterborough

PETERBOROUGH, ON — Lowe's Canada will erect a store in this town in Southern Ontario over the next two years. According to the Peterborough Examiner, City Council has approved the sale to a numbered company of a nine-acre parcel of land, at the south end of the city near Highway 7 and Highway 115.

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Woodland TIM-BR MART awarded by Home Builders' Association

GRAND PRAIRIE, AB — The Grand Prairie Canadian Home Builders' Association has awarded Woodland TIM-BR MART the Outstanding Supplier Award in the Construction Materials category. Woodland was recognized at the association's Awards of Excellence Gala held Jan. 21.

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