If you want to get your hands on a Super Nintendo Classic and party like it’s 1994, you might be able to lock yours down before Sept. 29. The palm-sized mini devices will be available for shoppers to scramble over online and in stores then, but Nintendo has also announced that there will be some available for preorders. No, no, for real this time. [More]
Retail Services
Historic Home Available For $10 — But You Have To Move It Elsewhere Yourself
By 8.2.17
Does the idea of owning a historic home for the bargain price of just $10 sound good to you? If so, you better get the heavy machinery ready because you’ll have to move it off the property. [More]
Determined To Get It Right, McDonald’s Testing Chicken Tenders Again
By 8.2.17
More than two years after McDonald’s brought back its Chicken Select tenders for a limited time, the Golden Arches is once again trying its hand at the chicken meal, this time with a crispy buttermilk version. [More]
5 Questions To Ask Before Using A Peer-To-Peer Mobile Payment App
By 8.2.17
It’s never been easier to split the bill with your friends — from “Venmo-ing” $20 for a birthday gift or Facebook messaging $12 for your share of last night’s pizza. But brand new peer-to-peer (P2P) payment systems backed by big players, including established banks, are hitting app stores this year. Apple plans to debut its own P2P app this fall, while the big banks are banding together for a product called Zelle. With so many competing services, how will you decide which system (if any) to use? [More]
GameStop Will Open On Thanksgiving This Year Because… Employees Want To?
By 8.1.17 — Updated: 8.2.17
For the last few years, GameStop, likely owner of your local AT&T store, has decided not to take part in the Thanksgiving Day retail frenzy in much of the rest of the mall. This year, though, there’s a new Nintendo console to sell, and employees asked the chain to open up on the holiday. Wait, what? [More]
Starbucks Isn’t Bad At Acquiring Businesses: It Just Doesn’t Want Them
By 8.1.17
Starbucks went on something of a buying binge five or six years ago, buying a healthy-lunch chain, an unhealthy-pastries chain, and a loose tea retailer. Since then, the coffee chain has shuttered all of these businesses, which it paid hundreds of millions of dollars for. Is Starbucks just really bad at picking companies to acquire? [More]
Hundreds Of Thousands Of Glittery Phone Cases Sold At Major Retailers Recalled After Burning People
By 8.1.17
Slapping a glittery, shiny case on your smartphone might give the device a bit more pizzazz — and possibly protection — but it could also burn you. At least that’s the case for 263,000 iPhone cases being recalled by MixBin Electronics. [More]
Amazon Reports Selling Stuff To Iranian Embassies, Person On Terrorism Watch List
By 8.1.17
Amazon — the “Everything Store” to most of the world — sells to just about anyone, anywhere. Problem is, it’s not supposed to do that. The company has revealed it’s under federal investigation for selling items to customers linked to the Iranian government (including its embassies), and also to someone on the terrorism watch list. [More]
Instead Of Busing College Students To Stores, Target Opens New Locations, Tests Pickup Options
By 7.31.17
As back to school season kicks into high gear, retailers across the country are competing to fill students’ backpacks with supplies and adorn their dorm rooms with TV, mini-refrigerators, and other college-esque paraphernalia. Target just happens to be one of those retailers, and the big box store is upping its back to school game by opening smaller format stores, offering new pickup options, and hosting pop-up shops on campuses. [More]
New Clues Revealed About iPhone 8 Display, Facial Recognition
By 7.31.17
For the better part of a year rumors have been swirling about the features and design of Apple’s yet-to-be launched iPhone 8. Speculation about the highly anticipated 10th Anniversary phone, which CEO Tim Cook blamed for the poor sales of the iPhone 7, may have reached peak levels this weekend after the tech giant accidentally pushed out firmware for its HomePod. [More]
Staples And Office Depot Circling Each Other Again With Merger In Their Eyes
By 7.31.17
From 2015 to 2016, retail-watchers carefully tracked the proposed merger of Staples and Office Depot, which itself had recently acquired OfficeMax. The Federal Trade Commission ultimately didn’t bless the deal, but the two chains have come back with a new idea: What if Office Depot were to acquire just the retail portion of Staples? [More]
Please Do Not Buy Counterfeit Solar Eclipse Glasses
By 7.28.17 — Updated: 7.30.17
There’s a total solar eclipse coming across much of the country on Aug. 21, which will be amazing to watch. However, use caution, and make sure not to risk your eyesight to see it. Not only should you wear special eclipse-viewing glasses when you look at the sun, but you should make sure that those glasses aren’t counterfeit. [More]
Starbucks Closing All Teavana Stores
By 7.28.17
It was almost five years ago that Starbucks paid $620 million to acquire mall tea chain Teavana, politely declining the $800 million tea tin upsell. While Teavana products are now for sale in every Starbucks cafe, including fruit-infused iced teas, the company announced this week that it will be closing the remaining Teavana retail stores over the coming year. [More]
Shelf-Checking Robots To Roam The Aisles At Schnucks Supermarkets
By 7.27.17
Sure, big-box hardware store Lowe’s has a customer service robot that still won’t keep you from hating your partner, but supermarket chain Schnucks, based in St. Louis, is about to put robots to work in a different job. In three stores, it will send a robot down the aisles three times a day to check shelves and find out which products need to be restocked. [More]
Period Underwear Company Thinx Has A New CEO Months After Sexual Harassment Claims
By 7.27.17
Period underwear company Thinx has a new “She-EO,” a title the company’s former leader bestowed upon herself: The startup named a new CEO today, months after the previous leader and co-founder left amid reports of sexual harassment and employee dissatisfaction. [More]
Amazon Reportedly Has A Secret Team Working On Virtual Doctor Visits, Other Medical Services
By 7.27.17
Two months after Amazon was rumored to be thinking of getting into the pharmacy business by offering customers the option of ordering their prescription drugs through the e-commerce giant’s supplier channel, the company is taking its desire to be doctor a step further, reported developing a team focused on virtual medicine. [More]
Congratulations To Jeff Bezos, The New Richest Person In The World
By 7.27.17
For the first time since 2013, the world has a new richest person. Thanks to a rise in the value of Amazon stock, the company’s founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, has taken the top spot on Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index from Microsoft founder Bill Gates. [More]
Walmart Cancels SNES Classic Preorders, Shrugs
By 7.26.17
If the popularity of the NES Classic was any indication, this year’s SNES Classic, a mini Super Nintendo with pre-loaded games, will be a hit product well into the holiday season. Yet customers who thought they had placed pre-orders at Walmart learned that the device they were expecting won’t be coming. Their preorders were canceled. [More]
