Retail briefs

After months of negotiations and close calls with other suitors, Federated Department Stores Inc. announced that it has reached a definitive agreement with FAC Acquisitions Llc for the purchase of certain Fingerhut assets. Former Fingerhut chief executive Thomas Petters and Theodore Deikel, owner of a wholesale business in Eden Prairie, MN, are principals of FAC Acquisitions, which has already indicated a desire to rehire many former Fingerhut employees. Assets included in the agreement include the distribution center and other facilities in St. Cloud, MN; the subsidiary's Minnetonka, MN, corporate headquarters; the data center in Plymouth, MN; the distribution center in Piney Flats, TN; and the Fingerhut name, website and existing inventory, as well as other miscellaneous property and equipment. According to Federated, the final closing could take place within the next few weeks.

Target Corp. has selected Topeka, KS, as the site for a new regional distribution center, part of a strategy to improve supply chain operations by doubling its number of DCs by 2005. The 1.3 million-square-foot facility will initially employ approximately 650 when it opens in summer 2004, with plans to expand over the subsequent five years. It will service 85 to 90 stores.

Soho housewares retailer to close Ad Hoc Softwares, the Soho retailer of funky housewares, is going out of business after 26 years. Two years ago, the store moved from the prominent corner of West Broadway and Spring in New York to a gallery location on Wooster Street. It said that business was impacted by the less visible location and last year's slowed economy, among other factors, and so it will be out of its location by June 25.

Mervyn's recently launched its new in-store boutique, the Cartoon Network Shop, through an agreement with Warner Bros. Consumer Products and Cartoon Network. The boutique will be in all 264 Mervyn's stores until July 28, and will feature Scooby-Doo merchandise, including children's apparel, bedding, toys and accessories, as well as products for the Powerpuff Girls and other Cartoon Network characters.