While some states and cities consider rules regarding who can or can’t use which public restrooms, Target has confirmed that its policy is that customers can use whichever fitting room or restroom best reflects their gender identity. [More]
Retail Services
Netflix Mulling The Idea Of Offering An Offline Viewing Option
By 4.19.16
With Amazon launching new month-to-month Prime membership options, which include access to its streaming video and music libraries, and upcoming price hikes for its own streaming service, Netflix seems to be feeling the heat of competition burning just a little bit hotter. [More]
Are Amazon’s Month-To-Month Prime Memberships Ever Worth The Extra Money?
By 4.19.16
Earlier this week, Amazon announced that it was making its Prime membership program — which includes access to the Prime library of streaming video and music, discounted and expedited shipping, and other benefits — available on a monthly basis in two different forms. Instead of the annual all-encompassing fee of $99 (which comes out to $8.25/month), shoppers have the option of either $8.99/month for Prime Video only, or $10.99/month for full access to the program. So does it ever make sense to go the monthly route or should Amazon shoppers just ante up for the annual subscription? [More]
Report: Target Raises Lowest Wage To $10 To Stay Competitive
By 4.18.16
In the retail business, good employees are apparently becoming harder to find. Joining its main competitor, Walmart, Target will reportedly raise its lowest wage to $10, starting new employees at that rate or higher, and raising the pay of current employees who earn less than $10 to that level. [More]
Raiders Of The Lost Walmart Find Ancient iPod Case, Rare Full-Price MobiBLU
By 4.18.16
It was almost three years ago that one of the Raiders of the Lost Walmart excavated their first MobiBLU, a mini MP3 player that was the hottest entertainment technology available from Walmart in 2005. Somehow, the devices are still on the shelves at Walmart, sometimes at the original full price, never drawing any interest from paying customers: only from the camera lenses of our brave retail archaeologists. [More]
Costco Vs. Sam’s Club: Which Warehouse Club Should You Choose?
By 4.18.16
When it comes time to consider joining a national warehouse club, there are basically two choices facing consumers: Costco or Sam’s Club. Both offer to deliver big savings on not only groceries, but on everything from electronics and clothing to cars and home mortgages. So which one should the discerning shopper choose? [More]
GameStop’s New Venture: GameTrust, A Game Publisher
By 4.18.16
Realizing that the business of selling consoles and physical copies of new and used games in malls won’t last forever, GameStop has been working to diversify its business, acquiring related businesses ranging from third-party Apple store chain Simply Mac to pop culture purveyor ThinkGeek. The company is now starting a new venture even more closely related to its core business: GameTrust, which will publish games from outside developers, and distribute them to its customers. [More]
Target’s Marimekko Collection Doesn’t Fly Off Shelves, And That’s A Good Thing
By 4.18.16
Last year, a collection at Target from Lilly Pulitzer was such a hit that it temporarily took down the retailer’s site, and shoppers camped out overnight, cleaning out local stores. By the standards of Target’s designer collaborations, their latest one with Finnish company Marimekko is almost a flop, having only sold out of some of the products on the first day. [More]
Amazon Launching Standalone Video Service For $9; Allowing Monthly Prime Access For $11
By 4.17.16
While Netflix and Amazon Prime have been seen as the two main competitors in the subscription streaming market, it’s been difficult to do an apples-to-apples comparison of the two because Amazon has long charged a yearly fee for Prime, and even then the Amazon subscription also includes other benefits like discounted shipping. But now Amazon appears to be taking dead-aim at Netflix with a monthly, streaming-only version of its video service that is less-expensive than the competition. The e-tailer is also looking to expand its Prime membership my making it available on a month-to-month basis. [More]
If Home Depot Employees Think You’re Buying Parts For A Pipe Bomb, Expect A Visit From The Police
By 4.15.16
There are possibly non-bomb reasons for going into a hardware store, buying a length of metal pipe, having it divided up into smaller pieces, and then having each of those pieces threaded for caps on both ends — but it’s definitely the sort of purchase that will probably result in the police knocking on your door. [More]
GameStop Is Not Going To Change Its Name Anytime Soon
By 4.15.16
GameStop’s executives predict that three years from now, at least half of the company’s revenues will come from things that aren’t games. Should they think about changing their name, then? Nah, CEO Paul Raines said in an interview this week: they could change their name in the future, but for now games are still what they’re about. Like most things in life, though, that could change in the future. [More]
Candle Company Creates Hills Snack Bar Scent, Entire Mid-Atlantic Freaks Out
By 4.14.16
If you lived in parts of the Mid-Atlantic, South, or Midwest in the ’80s or ’90s, you were probably familiar with the discount department store chain Hills. (If you aren’t from that area, when you read this story, substitute your favorite now-defunct local or regional department or discount store for Hills.) This week, a local YouTube channel and a candle company teamed up to create a scented candle, and created a frenzy. [More]
Walmart Expands Grocery Pickup Option To Eight Additional Cities, Doubles Effort In Others
By 4.13.16
Consumers in eight additional cities will soon be able to order their groceries online and head to their local Walmart to pick them up later. Walmart announced Wednesday that it would expand its free online grocery pickup option — which officially launched in October — to Kansas City; Boise, ID; Richmond and Virginia Beach, VA; Austin; Provo, UT; Daphne, AL; and Charleston, SC, as well as double the number of stores that take part in the service in Dallas, Houston, and Atlanta. To use the service, customers simply place their orders online, pick a time to pick up their items, drive to the store, park in a designated spot, and call a special phone number. An associate then brings the goods straight to their trunk. [Walmart] [More]
North Carolina Governor Tweaks Anti-LGBT Law; Critics Say It Doesn’t Change Much
By 4.12.16
Only hours after Deutsche Bank canceled its plans to expand its presence in North Carolina — and following a similar decision last week by PayPal — the state’s governor has signed an executive order that softens some aspects of a controversial bill that restricts cities’ ability to protect the rights of people based on sexual preference or gender identification. [More]
Goldman Sachs To Pay $5B To Settle Charges Of Selling Troubled Mortgages Ahead Of The Financial Crisis
By 4.11.16
Federal and state prosecutors are closing yet another chapter in its investigation related to banks’ roles in the financial crisis. To that end, Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay $5.06 billion to settle claims it misled mortgage bond investors during the period leading up to the crisis. [More]
Best Buy’s Geek Squad Ditches Retro-Chic Beetles For Environmentally-Friendly Priuses
By 4.11.16
Volkswagen Beetles? That’s so last decade, at least where Best Buy’s Geek Squad is concerned: the tech support service is trading in the retro, kitschy appeal of the VW Beetle for the environmentally-friendly Toyota Prius. [More]
Reser’s Recalls Salads For Possible Listeria, Also Sold Under Walmart And Safeway Brands
By 4.11.16
Reser’s Fine Foods may not be a food brand name that you immediately recognize, but their products are popular across the country, and are also sold under store brand names. From a 3-ounce container of Reser’s brand potato salad to an 8-pound tub of Sysco-brand macaroni salad meant for restaurants and cafeterias, cold salads containing onions from Reser’s have been recalled. [More]
Facebook Will Maybe Start Doing Something About Ads For Shady Clothing Sites
By 4.8.16
You may have seen ads on Facebook or elsewhere online for what look like decent quality and trendy clothes at rock-bottom prices. They have some satisfied customers, but many of these sites offer ill-fitting clothes that barely resemble their photos. When shady overseas fashion purveyors advertise on Facebook to find new customers, does Facebook have any responsibility for what happens next? [More]
