While you can walk into just about any fast food restaurant and get french fries, there’s currently only one Taco Bell where you can get your fry fix. [More]
Retail Services
Hatchimals, This Holiday’s Hot Toy, Leaves Many Parents Disappointed
By 12.28.16
If you have a child of a certain age — or you just keep up with the latest trends — then you’ve probably heard of Hatchimals. The interactive toy was amongst the hottest, in-demand products this holiday season. But for some who were able to score the coveted plaything it left a lot to be desired. [More]
Malls Try To Impose Order, Prevent More Christmas Break Brawls
By 12.28.16
On Dec. 26 at malls across the country, what appears to be a very loosely coordinated series of brawls and mass hysteria broke out in malls, mostly beginning in the food courts and spiraling outward. Mall operators would really prefer if this didn’t happen again for the rest of the holiday season. Or ever. [More]
UPS Expecting To Send 1.3M Packages Back To Retailers On ‘National Returns Day’
By 12.27.16
If you’re the kind of person who likes keeping track of arbitrary holidays, here’s one more to add to your list: Jan. 5, known as “National Returns Day,” or, “The Day You Send That Horrorshow Of A Sweater Back From The Fiery Chasm From Whence It Came.” [More]
Amazon Claims Fastest Christmas Eve Delivery Only Took 13 Minutes
By 12.27.16
‘Tis the day after the day after Christmas, when retailers sit back and congratulate themselves on all their hard work. Like Amazon, which says it was so good at selling last-minute gifts, its fastest Prime Now delivery on Christmas Eve took only 13 minutes. [More]
A Handy Guide To This Year’s Biggest Post-Christmas Mall Brawls
By 12.27.16
All across the country, mall shoppers took Boxing Day way too literally this year, with high-profile skirmishes, arrests, and evacuations occurring at shopping centers in nearly a dozen states. [More]
Seeking Sweetgreen Salad? Don’t Bother Bringing Cash.
By 12.22.16
If you’re looking for a swanky, sustainably-sourced salad for lunch… don’t bother bringing your wallet. Sweetgreen doesn’t want your money, at least not the paper kind; it prefers you pay digitally. Period. [More]
Tanning Salon Barred From Claiming Indoor Tanning Is Safer Than Sitting In The Sun
By 12.22.16
Because there’s no guarantee that willfully exposing your skin to the sun won’t increase the risk of cancer, whether you’re basking in the rays of a UV lamp or sunning on the beach, a New York tanning salon company has agreed to a settlement that bars it from making misleading health-related claims regarding the harms and benefits of indoor tanning. [More]
JCPenney Now Wants To Sell You An HVAC System Too
By 12.22.16
Mall stalwart JCPenney isn’t just for socks and chinos anymore; the retailer has been edging into the appliance territory once dominated by competitor Sears for a while. But apparently edging in on Sears’ turf isn’t enough, and JCP is considering honing in on something a little more Home Depot, too. [More]
IKEA To Pay $50M To Families Of 3 Toddlers Killed In Dresser Tip-Overs
By 12.22.16
Six months after IKEA and the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall of more than 29 million topple-prone Malm dressers now linked to four deaths, the furniture maker has agreed to pay $50 million to three of the affected families. [More]
It’s Probably Time To Use Up Your Gift Cards For The Limited
By 12.21.16
If you’ve got a gift card for The Limited gathering dust, you may want to use it before a potential bankruptcy could make that card worth less than the plastic it’s printed on. [More]
World’s First Combination IHOP/Applebee’s Restaurant Slated For Detroit
By 12.21.16
This just in, from the Midwest: corporate siblings IHOP and Applebee’s will be joining forces to create a combination restaurant — the first of its kind — expected to open in downtown Detroit. [More]
Racist Tirade Proves To Be One Way To Get Banned From A Mall
By 12.21.16
What kind of behavior can get you banned from a public place like a mall? Being caught on camera verbally abusing other customers is one way, as a woman in Kentucky recently found out. [More]
How Do You Feel About Ketchup On Hot Dogs, Ranch Dressing On Pizza & Other Divisive Food Issues?
By 12.21.16
Imagine you’re at the ballpark and just bought some food. You’re waiting to use the condiment station, when the person in front of you begins pumping ketchup along the length of their hot dog. Do you think “Oh yeah!”? Do you want to grab them by the shoulders and shake some sense into them? Or does it not matter to you, but that person over there dipping their slice of pizza in ranch dressing is driving you into a fury? [More]
Thieves Cut Hole In Target Roof, Go On Electronics Theft Spree
By 12.21.16 — Updated: 12.22.16
Thieves dead-set on getting their hands on goods that aren’t theirs — which is what makes them thieves in the first place — have been known to employ some extreme methods to pull off heists, like the two alleged ne’er-do-wells in the Atlanta area who recently created an unauthorized skylight in a local Target store. [More]
IKEA: We Know It’s Tempting, But Please Stop Having Sleepovers In Stores
By 12.21.16
Now matter how cool your inner child may be, you’ve almost certainly gazed upon IKEA’s vast array of demo rooms and beds and pondered some sort of Night at the Museum overnight adventure in the store. While IKEA understands this temptation, the Swedish retailer still considers it trespassing. [More]
How Do Some Retailers Succeed While Ignoring The Internet?
By 12.21.16
Shopping online: it’s convenient for customers and brings in big bucks for retailers. But not everyone is jumping at the chance to sell their goods on the internet. HomeGoods and Marshall’s don’t have websites filled with products and TJMaxx has a sparsely filled online platform, and they appear to be doing just fine, thank you very much. [More]
7 Injured After NYC Mall Escalator Malfunctions, Causing Chain Reaction
By 12.21.16
Several shoppers in New York City had an unpleasant surprise yesterday when an escalator malfunctioned, tripping up at least one person who fell and caused a chain reaction. Seven people were injured in the accident, officials say. [More]
