Retail roundup: Girl Scout cookies, Target reading events, weekly retail sales, new Kiehl’s store

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-- Girl Scouts are turning cookie selling into a high-tech affair.

Starting this week, a handful of local Girl Scout troops in the San Diego area will begin accepting all major credit cards at select cookie booth locations rather than just accepting cash.

The troops will have iPhones equipped with the “mophie marketplace� credit card case, allowing them to accept payment on the spot with the swipe of a card. Payment will be processed through Intuit’s GoPayment application and customers will sign a receipt via the touch screen, which will then e-mail a record of the purchase to the customer.

Accepting mobile credit card payments is anticipated to increase total cookie sales, but the organization is also using the new sales tool as an opportunity to teach girls about credit.

-- Target stores will host a reading event for customers Saturday in celebration of the National Education Assn.’s Read Across America program.

Target’s “Who Reads? We Read!� events will be free at all its stores and include a Dr. Seuss-inspired reading nook, activity packets for children, readings by Target team members and giveaways.

The events will be held from 9 to 11 a.m.

-- In a turnaround from the previous week’s decline, retail sales rose sharply in the week ended Feb. 19. Retail sales increased 2.6% on a weekly basis, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers-Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Index. On a year-over-year basis, sales rose 3%.

-- Skincare retailer Kiehl’s will open its newest store at Westfield Santa Anita on Saturday with an all-day celebration starting at 10 a.m. The first 160 customers will receive a complimentary full-size product. There will also be prizes and complimentary refreshments.

-- Andrea Chang