Change is afoot at Providence-area shopping malls. Even as the Internet reshapes the retail industry around them, several of the region’s most prominent shopping hubs are experiencing the most significant new investment and store realignments in years. more

WOONSOCKET – CVS Caremark Corp., the largest provider of prescription drugs in the U.S., plans to buy back as much as $6 billion in shares, Bloomberg News reported last month. more

BOSTON –Walmart Inc. and Target Corp. have agreed to pay $232,000 to cities and towns across Massachusetts to settle claims that they allegedly overcharged public agencies for prescription drugs through the workers’ compensation insurance system. more

Cranston’s Robert Midwood, center, is presented with a $1,000 Sears Gift Card by National Grid representative Laurie Acone, left, and Sears representative Kelli Mahoney. Midwood was the owner of one of two 1939 General Electric refrigerators turned in during National Grid’s contest to identify the oldest refrigerators in the state. The competition was part of National Grid’s on-going program that pays customers $50 to turn in old, energy-inefficient refrigerators. more

Independent Bank, the parent of Rockland Trust, announced last week it has received the Highest Customer Satisfaction with Retail Banking in the North Central Region award from the J.D. Power and Associates 2012 Retail Banking Satisfaction Study. more

One-time nightclub owner and Coventry native Barry Blair has long been a man about town who ran his business with a focus on going above and beyond for any customer. more

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. – Staples Inc., the largest U.S. office-supplies chain, plans to shut 45 locations in Europe and accelerate the closing of 15 stores in the U.S. as part of a plan to save about $250 million a year, Bloomberg News reported. more

Rhode Island and Massachusetts drivers saw gasoline prices jump 6 cents this week after a nine-week decline, AAA Southern New England reported Monday. more

PROVIDENCE – Rep. William O’Brien, D-North Providence, has introduced legislation that aims to ease the auto-excise taxes on Rhode Island motor vehicle owners while generating more tax revenue for the state by instituting a sales and property tax on sailing vessels worth more than $100,000. more

When Alice Nichols presented a business plan for what would become a successful pet-accessory company to a consultant, she was shocked by the response. “This is good,” the consultant said. “Did your husband write it?” It was 1984 and much has changed, both for women in business and Nichols, pictured above with her new puppy, Minnie. Up Country, the startup she founded that year, now employs 30 in an East Providence studio. The firm started with six designs for dog leashes and collars and now has 120 for those and a host of other products sold worldwide. more