Nitra Gipson sold her car to pay for her last two semesters at Texas Southern University, where she is studying criminal justice (of all things), and was paid with Wal-Mart Money Orders. When she tried to cash these money orders at her local Wal-Mart she was arrested and charged with felony forgery — even though the money orders were real.
big box
Wal-Mart Tosses Student In Jail For Trying To Cash Real Money Orders, Then Sends Her A Bill
By 6.12.08
Wal-Mart Planning Its Own "Geek Squad"?
By 6.6.08
MarketWatch says that Wal-Mart is “very interested in expanding into installation and repair services in its fast-growing electronics segment.”
Warning: There Are Scorpions In The Walmart Produce Department
By 5.27.08
12-year-old Megan Templeton was shopping with her father for some watermelons and hamburgers for their Memorial Day cook-out when she was stung by a stowaway scorpion that had made a home in the produce section of her local Walmart.
Big Box Retailers Fight Back Against FCC's Recent Fines
By 5.20.08
Best Buy, Circuit City, and Sears are all contesting the FCC’s recent fines against them for not properly following analog transition rules in their stores, reports Ars Technica. Last week, Best Buy submitted a 41-page response (PDF) that claimed among other things that the FCC has no authority to fine them.
Walmart's "$4 Prescription Plan" Adds OTC Drugs, 90-day Supplies For $10
By 5.5.08
Walmart’s $4 prescription plan is getting even cheaper, says Reuters. The big blue box will add 1,000 over-the-counter items for $4 or less and make some drugs available in a 90-day supply for only $10 — thus kicking K-mart’s 90-day supply program squarely in the teeth.
Target Bungles Wedding Registry, Won't Exchange Duplicate Gifts Without Receipts
By 4.13.08
Target doesn’t accept returns without receipts to keep criminals at bay, but Chrissy recently discovered that their policy also extends to wedding registry gifts. Chrissy and her husband ended up with several duplicate gifts when Target failed to keep track of her registry. Chrissy didn’t want a refund or cash, just store credit, but Target refused to consider any proffer until Chrissy provided receipts. One manager even urged Chrissy to call her wedding guests to ask for their receipts, because in Target’s book, that’s not extraordinarily rude or anything.
Can The "Sears Catalog" Save Sears?
By 4.7.08
When Sears chairman, Eddie Lampert, took over Kmart, he was determined to revive the long dead “blue light special.” Excited about bringing back the old favorite, Lampert’s chief marketing officer called the new campaign a “marketplace of discoveries.”
Walmart Drops Lawsuit Against Brain Damaged Worker
By 4.1.08 — Updated: 10.25.12
The world’s largest retailer said Tuesday in a letter to the family of Deborah Shank it will not seek to collect money the Shanks won in an injury lawsuit against a trucking company for the accident.
Walmart Calls You An Idiot, Tells You To Shut Up And Never Come Back
By 3.25.08
Greetings from Austin, Consumerist. I thought y’all might like to hear tale of a visit to a local Walmart (store 1185, for those keeping track).
Walmart Apologizes For Making Fun Of A Muslim Woman Wearing A Veil
By 3.12.08
“Please don’t stick me up,” a cashier told the shopper on Feb. 2, according to the Nevada chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Walmart To Partner With Hospitals, Open More In-Store Clinics
By 2.7.08
The first of the new Clinic at Wal-Mart walk-in centers, as they will be called, is to open in Little Rock, Ark., in April and be run by nurse practitioners employed by the St. Vincent Health System, a three-hospital group in central Arkansas.
Man Accused Of Rappelling Into Kmart Punches His Lawyer In The Face
By 2.7.08
Here’s an odd bit of retail-related crime.
"Customers Are Avoiding Sears Stores In Droves"
By 1.28.08
On paper, the merger between Kmart and Sears looked almost fool-proof. Investors were confident that hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert had the midas touch, and that Sears’ real estate holdings were worth more than $150 on their own. Sears’ well-regarded brands would be paired with Kmart’s convenient locations—and everyone would make tons of money.
Diane Von Furstenberg Sues Target For Copyright Infringement
By 1.25.08
“Defendants’ infringing dresses are ‘wrap’ dresses made of materials designed to look like silk jersey, a style consumers and the general public have come to associate with DVF,” the complaint said.
By 1.9.08
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Best Buy announced today that they’ll be opening stores in Mexico later this year. We can’t wait for our first story where someone buys a hard drive and opens the box to find it’s been replaced with a piñata.
Target's Red Bull Pricing Scheme Rewards People Who Pay Attention
By 1.8.08
I typically prefer to make jokes at Wal-Mart’s expense. Target, however, is forcing me to make a joke with Target as the punchline. Every time I go into the store, I have to stand and gawk at the point of purchase Red Bull display. A 4-pack is $5.89 and the 12-pack is $19.99. Seems to me that you could just get three 4-packs for $17.67 and save yourself a cool two dollars. Also, this is Target’s standard pricing for these items as I check every time I go in Target to see if they have wised up. Also, it saddens me to say that I have seen customers purchase the 12-packs. So maybe Target has it figured out after all?
Firing All The Smart People Isn't Working: Circuit City Sales Down 12%
By 1.8.08
Circuit City’s same store sales for the month of December are down 12% in the U.S., causing some to speculate that firing all the people who understand the products you carry might not be a winning sales strategy.
