St. Petersburg, FL-based HSN Improvements, the catalog subsidiary of cable-TV shopping giant HSN, is acquiring the Alsto catalog and Web business from cataloger/retailer Dick Blick Holdings.

Blaming hurricanes and a later Labor Day, Hingham, MA-based apparel cataloger/retailer The Talbots (NYSE: TLB) reported sagging sales of full-priced merchandise, which resulted in lower net income.

Merrimack, NH-based Brookstone (Nasdaq: BKST), which mails the Brookstone, Hard-to-Find Tools, and Gardeners Eden catalog titles, posted a wider net loss for the third quarter, although its direct marketing segment posted double-digit sales gains.

Framingham, MA-based office supplies cataloger/retailer Staples (Nasdaq: SPLS), which includes the Quill and Medical Arts Press catalog divisions, grew its third-quarter sales 12%.

For brick-and-mortar retailers, Black Friday–the busiest shopping day of the holiday season–has traditionally been the day after Thanksgiving. For online merchants, though, Black Friday this year is likely to be Dec. 17

Two weeks after announcing that it would cut up to 800 call center positions during the next year, Office Depot announced additional layoffs.

Philadelphia-based Broder Bros., a wholesaler of imprintable sportswear, more than doubled its third-quarter revenue, thanks to two significant acquisitions. Net sales for the three months ended Sept. 25 were $231.3 million