Retail Briefs

Even after its home category saw 4Q sales fall 11.7%, discounter Dollar General sees an opportunity. Rick Dreiling, who joined DG in January as ceo, said an "upgraded" home department with new categories and products that the 8,200-unit chain's shoppers find "aspirational" will "encourage customers to buy more" and increase gross margins. On full year sales of $9.50 billion, up 4.5%, Dollar General posted a net loss of $12.8 million, compared to net income of $137.9 million in the year prior.

Midwest regional discounter Pamida has promoted Paul Rothamel to president and ceo; he has served as interim ceo since last November. Rothamel is a 20-year retail veteran who joined Pamida in 1999 after stints with Target and Shopko. Prior to November, he was svp of operations at Pamida, a 207-store chain owned by Sun Capital Partners, a firm whose other retail properties include The Limited, Mervyns, Rowe Furniture and Shopko.

Specialty retailer Pier 1 Imports will sell its Fort Worth, Texas corporate headquarters for $104 million to a Chesapeake Energy affiliate. The building was completed in 2004. Pier 1 plans to occupy 250,000 square feet of the 460,000-square-foot facility under a seven-year lease; the transaction is to close by June 30. Pier 1 said the transaction will be accretive to earnings per share.

Off-price leader TJX Cos. reached an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to undergo biannual audits for 20 years, as part of a settlement from the credit card data breach in which millions of T.J. Maxx and Marshalls customers' files were stolen. The FTC imposed no financial penalties because it lacks the authority to do so; it has asked Congress for such authority since 2005.

Two other firms, both of which handle consumer financial databases, will undergo audits under the same agreement: Seisint and Reed Elsevier (disclosure: Reed Elsevier is the parent company both of Seisint, and of Reed Business Information, which publishes Home Textiles Today.)