Hobby Lobby — home to glitter glue, crepe paper, and distress paint — was also apparently in the business of acquiring ancient Mesopotamian relics. However, the crafty retailer says it didn’t quite understand all the ins and outs of the whole “importing artifacts from Iraq” process and has agreed to forfeit thousands of items, including clay cuneiform tablets, that the federal government says were smuggled into the country. [More]
Retail Services
Hobby Lobby Agrees To Turn Over Thousands Of Ancient Iraqi Artifacts That Were Smuggled Into U.S.
By 7.5.17 — Updated: 7.6.17
Red Lobster In Legal Battle With Music Festival Over The Word “Summerfest”
By 7.5.17
People tend to add suffixes like “-fest,” “-athon,” or “-palooza” to just about any event these days, but some of these promotional names are well established and protected by registered trademarks. Which is why a beloved Wisconsin music festival is taking seafood chain Red Lobster to court over its use of “Summerfest.” [More]
Mall Owners Try Makeovers To Attract Customers Back
By 7.5.17
Americans still go to malls, but they aren’t shopping as much as they used to. Mall landlords have been able to replace vacancies left by failing stores with everything from restaurants to supermarkets to rock climbing gyms. While these new tenants might be paying higher rents, this transition is coming at a significant cost to mall owners. [More]
Walmart Expands Use Of Giant Orange Vending Machines For Online Pickups
By 7.5.17
Walking into your local Walmart you could soon be greeted with a giant, orange vending machine, as the big box retailer expands the self-service kiosks in order to provide online customers with a quick option to pick up their orders without the apparent hassle of having to speak to a human being. [More]
Denim Retailer True Religion Files For Bankruptcy
By 7.5.17
Before recent “crimes against jeans” in which companies are charged hundreds of dollars for “window” jeans, clear jeans, and painted on mud jeans, people would spend the same amount of money on a relatively simple, if not bedazzled, pair of high-end jeans. But with changing fashion and tastes, these denim-focused retailers of yesteryear aren’t faring so well. Case in point: One-time denim darling True Religion has filed for bankruptcy. [More]
6 Things We Learned About Why Port Of Los Angeles Truckers Can’t Afford To Work
By 6.30.17
By now, most retailers have become sensitive to media reports of labor abuses in their supply chains — but a new report from USA Today suggests that abuses occurring during the last leg of a product’s journey — from the port to the store — may have escaped attention. [More]
Which Fireworks Are Legal In My State?
By 6.30.17
This holiday weekend is a long one, giving people everywhere ample opportunity to stock up on all manner of fireworks from not-at-all sketchy roadside vendors conveniently situated near the state border. But are you actually allowed to set off those Big Bang Boomers and Star Spangled ‘Splosions, or are you limited to staring into the glinting abyss of a sparkler, hoping to recapture the simple joys of youth? [More]
RadioShack Creditors Sue Sprint, Accuse It Of Destroying 6,000 Jobs
By 6.30.17
Just over two years ago, venerable but bankrupt electronics chain RadioShack cut a deal with mobile carrier Sprint to save thousands of jobs and keep 1,740 stores that were formerly part of RadioShack open. Only the unsecured creditors in RadioShack’s second bankruptcy now accuse its pal Sprint of using information from the contract to open hundreds of stores near the strongest RadioShack locations, dooming the reborn RadioShack.. [More]
Garlic Fries Returning To McDonald’s, But Only In San Francisco
By 6.29.17
McDonald’s continues to tease most of the country, dangling the promise of garlic fries — not some caked-on garlic-and-puke-flavored powder but real garlic — then pulling them away, and now bringing them back, but only in the San Francisco area. [More]
RadioShack Closes Last Store In Its Hometown
By 6.29.17
Even as the number of remaining RadioShacks dwindled to below 100, the once-popular retailer held off on closing the one store left in its hometown of Fort Worth, TX. But when that lone holdout shutters this weekend, it will leave a huge swath of Texas without a RadioShack for the first time in decades. [More]
Scammers Use Counterfeit Cash At Victoria’s Secret, Get Upset When They Get Their Fake Money Back As Refund
By 6.29.17
The entire point of having counterfeit cash is to get it out of your hands by purchasing things or swapping it out with genuine legal tender. So it doesn’t help if you scam a store into accepting your faux bills and then get greedy by trying to con them a second time, only to end up with the counterfeit money you had in the first place. [More]
Staples Sells Itself For $6.9B To Private Equity Firm
By 6.29.17
Two months after Staples said it was ready to move on with a new lover following the messy breakup of its engagement to Office Depot, the office supply store is once again heading to the altar, selling itself to private equity firm Sycamore Partners for $6.9 billion. [More]
Walgreens No Longer Merging With Rite Aid; Still Plans To Buy Half Of Rite Aid Stores For $5.2 Billion
By 6.29.17
It’s been nearly two years since Walgreens first agreed to buy competitor Rite Aid and its 4,600 or so stores for $9.4 billion to form the nation’s largest drugstore chain, only to see the value of that deal shrink amid antitrust concerns. Today, Walgreens announced that it’s scrapping that original plan to combine forces with Rite Aid but still plans to purchase about half of the smaller company’s retail locations. [More]
CVS Ditches Tanning Oil, Hides The Candy
By 6.28.17
We all refer to chains like CVS and Walgreens as “drugstores,” but they also sell everything from makeup to school supplies to snacks. However, CVS has been quietly revising its inventory and store layout to remove or deemphasize some items that are making customers less healthy. [More]
Best Buy Is Now A Showroom For Amazon, Google Home Products
By 6.28.17
How quickly tides turn. Not that long ago, Best Buy looked upon Amazon and Google with disdain, angry that “showrooming” customers were coming into Best Buy stores just to look at products that they would then — sometimes while in the store — purchase online for less. Now Amazon and Google have turned to Best Buy to showroom their growing array of devices.
[More]
Amazon Hosts Invite-Only Events To Keep Sellers From Defecting To Walmart
By 6.28.17
Like the guy in the office who tries to make up for the fact that he’s been a real jerk by taking everyone out to happy hour, Amazon is hoping that some meet-and-greets with under-appreciated third-party sellers will keep them from fleeing to Walmart.com or other rivals. [More]
Online Consignment Retailer ThredUP To Open Physical Stores
By 6.28.17
While some traditional retailers are moving their businesses online-only, one previously online-only clothier is doing the opposite: Online consignment and thrift store ThredUP is taking its business offline, opening several bricks-and-mortar stores. [More]
