• how to

    Get Your Expired Bloomingdale's Gift Card Balance Restored

    Pam had a Bloomingdale's gift card that went unused for a couple of years, and when she tried to spend it last weekend, she was told it had expired. Pam found a way to get the balance restored fairly quickly, though. If you've got a card from before February 2008, try Pam's advice below. More »

    9:26 AM on Wed Oct 1 2008
    By Chris Walters
    4,150 views, 30 comments

    Most discussed Carso: Balances on gift cards expire because of state regulations surrounding what companies can and cannot do with money received to more »

  • sweatshops

    Sweatshop In Queens Produced Clothes For Macy's, the Gap, Banana Republic, Urban Apparel, and Victoria's Secret

    New York state labor officials are bringing one of their largest cases ever against Jin Shun, a clothing factory in Queens, New York that employed Chinese immigrants. Inspectors say the company

    • cheated its workers out of more than $5 million in pay;
    • instructed workers to lie to state inspectors;
    • required 6 and 7-day workweeks, sometimes for up to 120 days at a time;
    • didn't pay overtime or minimum wage;
    • kept two sets of timecards to fake-out inspectors.
    Macy's says they're "very concerned" about the case and are investigating it, the Gap says they're cooperating with authorities, and Victoria's Secret says they have a "zero tolerance policy" for factories that are unwilling to work with them to achieve compliance—all of which makes us wonder whether any of these companies ever investigated the factory personally. (It's not like it was in some remote part of China.) More »

    10:48 AM on Thu Jul 24 2008
    By Chris Walters
    7,542 views, 83 comments

    Latest by Channing: @Dabigkid: In fact, these sweatshops actually empower women. Instead of being chained to home, only to be wed to some more »

  • customer neglect

    Lazy Employees Lose Kohl's An Easy $300 Sale

    When husbands, boyfriends, and sons go shopping for womanly gifts, it's like shooting fish in a barrel for store clerks—these guys usually want to get in and out of the store as quickly as possible, and either they'll decide in a snap what to buy or they'll happily take your advice on what makes for the best gift. Either way, it's easy money with little hassle. Somehow, though, Kohl's jewelry counter clerks missed this bit of retail advice—here's how they lost a $300 sale from a guy who was ready to buy and bolt earlier this week. More »

    1:07 PM on Sun May 11 2008
    By Chris Walters
    22,731 views, 114 comments

    Latest by kalim4c: What time does Kohls close? There is nothing more aggrivating than a customer who comes in at the last minute, more »

  • rankings

    Latest ACSI Survey Is Out: You Really Like Dollar General

    The American Customer Satisfaction Index has released its latest scores of retail businesses, so we thought we'd take a look at the department store rankings by constructing a handy graph. When it comes to customer satisfaction, apparently Dollar General is doing something right—and Wal-Mart, as usual, is doing lots of things wrong. More »

    11:27 AM on Thu Feb 21 2008
    By Chris Walters
    6,762 views, 40 comments

    Latest by BlazerUnit: @sibertater: That's not true, the part about all DG items ending in an even dollar. They're still a discounter, but more »

  • retail

    Macy's Sales Down, Will Eliminate Former Marshall Field's Headquarters, Fire 2,550

    Macy's sales are down and the retailer says they will begin restructuring, according to the Chicago Tribune:
    Macy's Inc. plans to eliminate the former Marshall Field's headquarters in Minneapolis and cut more than 2,000 jobs as part of a move to consolidate regional offices and boost sales and cut costs.
    More »

    4:59 PM on Wed Feb 6 2008
    By Meg Marco
    3,228 views, 39 comments

    Latest by Greasy Thumb Guzik: @DjDynasty: Lack of sales tax revenue from shoppers on State St. has nothing to do with why the CTA is more »

  • retail

    Macy's Is Closing 9 Stores

    Well now you've done it, shoppers of America: your refusal to spend enough money at Macy's is forcing the department store chain to shutter nine "underperforming stores in Indiana, Ohio, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Utah and Texas," reports Reuters. Seriously, what does it take to get you to buy stuff from them? They gave out coupons! More »

    3:51 PM on Fri Dec 28 2007
    By Chris Walters
    8,310 views, 51 comments

    Latest by cantell: Ok, I have forgotten the O.P. but want to chime in here. I work for the Macy's that now occupies more »

  • retail

    Sears' Cost Cutting Not Going So Well

    The New York Times has an article that attempts to diagnose what's wrong with Sears, and it mainly focuses on their (ill-advised?) cost cutting strategy. More »

    2:10 PM on Fri Nov 30 2007
    By Meg Marco
    5,230 views, 37 comments

  • ponderables

    What's Wrong With Sears?

    Sears' earnings are down 99% and there's really no denying that something is going wrong with the retailer. Same store sales, the most important indicator of the health of a store, fell 4.2 percent in the third quarter. More »

    4:13 PM on Thu Nov 29 2007
    By Meg Marco
    7,625 views, 151 comments

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