Several years back, we started hearing complaints from Target shoppers that their local stores were eschewing large chunks of floor space that had been dedicated to things like home furnishings and housewares in order to make room for more groceries. Many expressed concern that their beloved quirky-but-affordable retailer was going to become a supermarket chain that also sold towels and sweatpants. The company’s new CEO is now trying to convince those worried customers that Target is not undergoing some radical shift. [More]
Retail Services
Amazon Launches Card Reader, Payment System To Compete With Square, PayPal
By 8.13.14
Amazon continued its push to appeal to small and medium businesses Wednesday with the launch of Amazon Local Register, a mobile point-of-sale service to challenge mobile payment companies like PayPal, Intuit and Square. [More]
14-Year-Old Camps Inside Walmart For 4 Days Before Being Caught
By 8.13.14
Remember that guy who managed to spend 24 hours inside Walmart? That’s minor-league compared to a Texas teenager’s 4-day in-store camping trip. [More]
There’s A Dead Elephant Buried At This Dead Mall
By 8.12.14
Someday in the far future, the fortunes of suburban Detroit might improve, and someone will redevelop the site of Summit Place Mall in Waterford, Michigan. When that happens, the new owners may excavate the site and wonder what the skeleton of an elephant is doing in suburban Detroit. That will be a very good question. [More]
Borden Shrink Rays Cheese Package, Forgets To Destroy The Evidence
By 8.12.14
Elsie the Cow, mascot of Borden brand products, is good at many things. She can give milk, apparently. She looks very pretty, and can smile in her official portraits, even though we’re pretty sure cows can’t actually smile. What she isn’t very good at is covering her tracks. When Borden recently Shrink Rayed their packages of cheese to seven ounces, Elsie forgot to destroy the evidence. [More]
Christmas Tree-Shaped Ice Cream Is Here In Time For, Um, Summer
By 8.11.14
What better way to celebrate “Christmas in July” than breaking out Reese’s peanut butter cups shaped like pine trees? Yeah, we didn’t think that it was such a good idea, either, especially since it’s no longer July. However, the freezer case at Walmart disagrees. [More]
The Science Behind Those Never-Melting Ice Cream Sandwiches
By 8.11.14
If you find the idea of ice cream that doesn’t melt after sitting out for hours in 80-degree heat unsettling, you aren’t alone. And because you can’t believe everything you hear on the news, our knowledge-thirsty compatriots at Consumer Reports decided to test out those never-melting ice cream sandwiches for themselves. [More]
Indiana Walmart Under Siege By Feral Cats
By 8.11.14
If you’re a feral feline in southern Indiana, it looks like the Walmart in Jasper is the place to be. The store’s parking lot has apparently been overrun by dozens of cats out looking to score free food. But unlike past instances where Walmart has been accused of trapping and hauling off the cats to be killed, this store appears to be taking a more humane approach to these wild cats. [More]
Amazon Picks Fight With Disney, Stops Pre-Orders Of Studio’s DVDs, Blu-Rays
By 8.11.14
Add another big media name to Amazon’s “enemy” list. Already this year, the online retail giant has picked fights with book biggie Hachette and home video superpower Warner, refusing to take pre-orders for these companies’ highly expected new releases while battling it out in boardrooms over a few pennies on the wholesale price. Now Amazon is using the same tactic to fight an even bigger media monster — Disney. [More]
909 Authors Write Amazon Asking It To Call Off E-Book Feud With Hachette
By 8.8.14
The battle royale continues between Amazon and book publisher Hachette, and more than 900 authors are joining the fight. [More]
How Leasing A Car Became A $4,779.37 Mistake
By 8.7.14
Generally, any story that contains the phrase, “the salesperson talked me into…” is not going to end well. That was the case for personal finance blogger Michael Timmermann, who started out ready to buy a car in cash, ended up with a lease on a beautiful Audi A4. This wasn’t so bad until he moved to Washington, D.C., where he didn’t really need a car, but had to pay $300 per month to park his Audi. [More]
Barnes & Noble, Google Partner To Take On Amazon With Same-Day Book Shipping
By 8.7.14
The spirit of competition has a tendency to create odd bedfellows. Or so seems to be the case for Barnes & Noble and Google, whose partnership to offer same-day shipping could prove to be a formidable rival to Amazon. [More]
Attention Parents: The LEGO Store Is Not A Day Care Center
By 8.7.14
LEGO stores are fun and amazing places for children, collectors, and for human beings in general. However, there is one thing they are not: a child care service where parents can ditch their kids while they shop. A mother from Long Island learned this earlier this week after she was arrested when she returned to the store to pick up her 7-year-old son. [More]
Bank Of America Settlement Could Be Worth As Much As $17 Billion
By 8.6.14
Earlier this summer, when it looked like Bank of America and the Justice Dept. were reported to be on the brink of a settlement that would close the books on multiple cases involving the bank’s mishandling of toxic home loans in the run-up to the collapse of the housing market, it looked like BofA would be on the hook for around $12 billion. But now comes news that the deal could hit the bank for anywhere from $16-17 billion. [More]
Amazon Expands Same-Day Delivery To 6 Markets, Including NYC, Dallas, D.C.
By 8.6.14
After trying out same-day delivery in a handful of markets primarily on the West Coast, Amazon has announced its first large-scale expansion of “Get It Today” purchasing. Customers along the I-95 corridor from D.C. to Boston — along with people in Indianapolis and Dallas — have the option of getting some items the same day they are ordered. [More]
Raiders Of The Lost Walmart Dust Off The Original PlayStation
By 8.5.14
The Raiders of the Lost Walmart are a brave team of retail explorers who comb the world’s electronics departments for surprisingly old technology at surprisingly high prices. Today’s find is a copy of the football simulator Madden that shouldn’t exist, and certainly shouldn’t still be available at its original retail price. [More]
Study: Credit Card Applications Becoming More User Friendly, But Still Lack Valuable Informaton
By 8.5.14
Credit card companies love to advertise all the perks of being a cardholder — rewards points, cash back, airline miles, etc. — but card issuers have historically hidden the not-as-good stuff in the fine print of card applications. A new study finds that banks are doing a better job of making things more transparent — but not about everything. [More]
GameStop Promises More Money For Trade-Ins… Just Not A Lot More
By 8.5.14
GameStop’s much-maligned trade-in program is leveling up. Their new plan doesn’t do anything about fingerprints or ID collection, because those are legal issues, but it does do one big thing shoppers always like: players who trade in games will now get more money for them. [More]
