The rich went shopping in May, with luxury retailers Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus reporting big gains. And while other stores had solid gains for the month, there were a few letdowns, with Target coming in below expectations. Kantar Retail, the Columbus, Ohio-based consulting firm, says its index of same-store sales rose 5.7% in May, after a combined March-April gain of 5.4%. (Results of the two months were combined because of a late Easter.) And it's certainly an improvement from May, 2010, when sales rose just 2.7%. And the International Council of Shopping Center, which tracks a slightly …

Vivian Schiller, who stepped down as chief executive of NPR in March, has joined NBC News as chief digital officer. Reporting to NBC News President Steve Capus, Schiller will lead digital strategy for both NBC News and MSNBC. Schiller left NPR following the controversy that arose after a secretly-recorded video revealed one of the news organization's top executives calling Republicans "anti-intellectual" and tea party members "racists." Prior to taking the helm at NPR, Schiller was senior VP and general manager of NYTimes.com, overseeing day-to-day operations of the Times site. Prior to that, she was general manager of the Discovery …

Macy's says its same-store sales rose a healthy 7.5% in May, higher than expected. As a result, the company, which is releasing its results a day ahead of the rest of the retail pack, is also bumping up its quarterly and annual forecasts. Total sales reached $1.79 billion, an 8.5% increase for the month, with strong results in every region, as well as in its Bloomingdale's unit. Online sales (macys.com and bloomingdales.com combined) jumped 37.7% in May and 38.2% year-to-date. The Cincinnati-based chain says year-to-date same store sales are up 5.9%, and that it expects a gain of …

Freshpet (Seacaucus, N.J.), the nation's only maker/marketer of fresh, refrigerated dog and cat foods, is launching an ambitious network and cable network television campaign. The brand's first agency-created TV campaign -- from New York-based Darling Agency -- includes one 30-second and two 15-second spots for its dog food. The ads will air on women's lifestyle and animal-oriented programming on ABC, CBS and NBC and on 20-plus cable networks. Taglined "They know," the spots show dogs' instinctive understanding of what's happening with their masters, then point out that they also instinctively know what's good for them when it comes to food: fresh, healthy food that …

Chuck E. Cheese has launched an online version of the Skeeball game popular in its restaurants. Hosted in an area off of its main site (chuckecheese.com/chuck-e-games), the game lets kids and parents play to win up to 40 freee tickets for "cool prizes" on their next visit to one of the restaurants by virtually rolling nine balls up a ramp. After rolling all the balls, the player can print out a certificate reedemable in-store for the tickets. The chain is also encouraging families to email videos or photos of themselves playing Skeeball (to memories@cecentertainment.com), which "may" turn up on Chuck …