When properly used, a cake-cutting knife should not cut the person slicing into the cake. But some Martha Stewart-branding serving sets have been breaking, doing damage to the holder instead of the cake. [More]
Retail Services
19,000 Macy’s Martha Stewart Cake-Cutting Sets Recalled Because They Aren’t Supposed To Cut You
By 10.16.17
You Can Now Order Food From Within Facebook
By 10.13.17
Facebook wants to be your portal to the world. It’s where you can connect (in a sense) with others, keep up with current events (through the filters of you and your friends’ personal biases), watch videos (of people doing their versions of videos previously posted by others)… and also order lunch. [More]
Report Finds Auto Dealers May Be Charging Hispanic Customers More For Vehicle Add-Ons
By 10.11.17
If you’ve purchased a new car at a dealership, you’re probably familiar with the slew of possible options and add-ons for your vehicle — everything from tinted windows to extended service contracts. A new report claims that the price a customer is charged for these extras may be linked to their ethnicity.
[More]
Owner Of Dozens Of Malls Says They Won’t Be Open On Thanksgiving This Year
By 10.11.17
Though many of the big box stores now open for Black Friday at some point on Thanksgiving, some retailers and mall owners have fought back against this trend. For the second year in a row, one of the nation’s largest mall operators has declared that its properties’ doors will remain shut this Thanksgiving. [More]
Kroger May Sell Off Its Convenience Store Chains, Including Kwik Shop, Tom Thumb, Turkey Hill
By 10.11.17
Most people know Kroger as a large, national chain of supermarkets. What they may not know is that Kroger also operates nearly 800 convenience stores under a variety of regional brands, including Kwik Shop, Tom Thumb, Turkey Hill, Quick Stop, and Loaf ‘N Jug. However, those could all soon be up for sale. [More]
Coach Changes Name To ‘Tapestry’ Now That It Owns Other Brands
By 10.11.17
Months after Coach went on a shopping spree, picking up rival Kate Spade for $2.4 billion, the company has changed its name to Tapestry. [More]
Amazon Launches Shopping Portal For Teens, Complete With Spending Allowances
By 10.11.17
Remember the first time your parents trusted you with their credit card after firmly explaining it was solely for emergencies? If you’re like some of us, you might also recall justifying to yourself that paying for Dave Matthews Band tickets constituted an emergency. Your folks likely disagreed, even if they were down with the DMB. So you can probably see why Amazon’s new teen-specific shopping portal lets parents cap how much their kids can spend. [More]
Bankrupt Sears Canada Asks Court For Permission To Liquidate, Shut Down
By 10.10.17
Like its American cousin, Sears Canada is in financial trouble. Unlike Sears Holdings, it doesn’t have a vast real estate portfolio that it can sell to raise cash. To that end, the company announced today that there is no way to keep the business going, and it will close all stores and liquidate. [More]
Toys ‘R’ Us Recalls 29,000 ‘Wiggle Ball’ Toys Over Choking Hazard
By 10.10.17
Kids love wiggly, easy-to-grasp toys. Some kids also like putting little pieces of brightly colored plastic in their mouths. So when one of those wiggly toys has pieces that can break off and find themselves in a baby’s mouth, it’s time for a recall. [More]
Amazon May Go After “Porch Pirates” By Delivering To Car Trunks, Inside Homes
By 10.10.17
Have you ever come home, expecting to see an Amazon delivery waiting by your door only to find that it had been pilfered by “porch pirates” who will swipe any box with that trademark grin printed on it? But what if that same package could be delivered inside your home? [More]
Target Says It’s Not Trying Compete With Amazon, Just Trying To Be “Best Target”
By 10.10.17
They say that before you can be in a truly happy relationship you have to be happy with yourself. This apparently applies to retail, too: Target executives say the company isn’t trying to compete with Amazon to get customers in the door, instead the retailer is just tying to be the best version of itself for customers. [More]
Walmart App Will Let You Return Online Items In Stores
By 10.10.17
For years, Walmart has been offering ways for customers to shop online and pick up in stores. But Walmart’s new idea to attract online shoppers flips things on their ear by using its retail stores as the places where you return unwanted online purchases. [More]
Playtex Recalls Kids’ Dishes That May Peel, Creating Choking Hazard
By 10.6.17
Do the construction or the princess kids’ dish designs that accompany this post look familiar? Does your child have a similar plastic plate, bowl, or eating set that features animals, superheroes, or other kid-friendly themes? If so, check over those plates and bowls: They may be one of millions of dishes that could have its plastic coating peel off, posing a choking hazard to the child. [More]
L.L. Bean Sued For Using The Word “Outsider” In Ad Campaign
By 10.6.17
L.L. Bean is arguably the apparel brand most widely associated with the outdoors, but when the plaid-clad company dared to use the term “outsider” in a marketing campaign, it put its duck boot into a bit of a legal mess. [More]
More Retailers Are Actually Surviving Bankruptcy, Saving Jobs And Stores
By 10.6.17
This year, there have been a record number of retail bankruptcies, but there’s also been a change in the industry. While some of the largest recent retail bankruptcies were preludes to liquidation, lenders and landlords are now working to keep as many stores open as possible after bankruptcy. [More]
Sears Borrows Yet Another $100M (And Possibly $200M) From Its Own CEO
By 10.6.17
It hasn’t even been a year since Sears, the mall anchor store where there’s always plenty of parking, borrowed half a billion dollars from its own Chairman and CEO Eddie Lampert. Now the once-great retailer that’s living in a converted storage space above its parents’ garage while it sorts things out is borrowing another $100 million from Lampert, with a second $100 million loan possibly coming in just a matter of weeks. [More]
Costco Ramping Up Amazon Rivalry With New Push Into Grocery Delivery
By 10.6.17
Until recently, Costco didn’t have to worry too much about Amazon, but then the online retail giant began to figure out how to sell and ship the fresh groceries and pantry items that make up Costco’s core business. In an attempt to keep itself from going the way of so many other bricks-and-mortar stores, the warehouse club is grabbing a jumbo-size battle hammer and jumping into the grocery delivery fray. [More]
Report: Amazon Piloting New Delivery Service To Reduce Reliance On UPS, FedEx
By 10.5.17
It’s no secret that Amazon has long been lusting after the chance to unfetter itself from the delivery ties that bind it to companies like FedEx and UPS — with its own branded freight plane, plans for self-driving delivery vehicles, and of course, drone delivery — and now it sounds like the company is one step closer to its dream of independence, with a new test of its own delivery service. [More]
