Despite opening a new, hipper version of its typical stores, Whole Foods doesn’t appear to be making much headway in turning around its slumping sales. In fact, customers are actually heading to discount retailer Aldi. But why? [More]
retail
No Strike For Macy’s In NY After Company Reaches Deal With Workers’ Union
By 6.16.16
Macy’s hasn’t had to face a workers’ strike since 1972, and it looks like that streak won’t be broken, now that the company and the union representing thousands of workers in the New York City area have reached a tentative deal. [More]
Bed Bath & Beyond Buying Home Furnishing Retailer One Kings Lane
By 6.15.16
Bed Bath & Beyond is apparently looking to grow, well, beyond its big box status, as it went shopping for a furniture and decor company and wound up scooping up home retailer One Kings Lane. [More]
Texas-Based Retailer Hastings Files For Bankruptcy; Looks To Sell 126 Stores
By 6.14.16
Following in the footsteps of companies like Blockbuster, Borders, and other retailers that sold or rented books, movies, and video games, Hastings Entertainment is bowing to years of faltering sales, filing for bankruptcy on Monday. [More]
Walmart Urging Customers To “Cut The Cable” With Promo
By 6.13.16
While cutting the cable cord might seem like a way to stick it to multibillion-dollar companies like Comcast and DirecTV, cord-cutting is also a potential goldmine for retailers eager to sell you the tools you’ll need to snip that traditional pay-TV umbilical. That’s why Walmart is pushing this new generation of products with a “Cut the Cable” promotion.
Report: Amazon’s Strides In Apparel Could Be Serious Threat To Brick-And-Mortar Stores
By 6.10.16
As if retail chains aren’t already having a rough time of it lately, a new report says Amazon’s clothing business could prove to make things even worse in the future. [More]
Ralph Lauren Closing Stores, Cutting Jobs In Effort To Turn Around Sliding Sales
By 6.7.16
In an effort to compete with the likes of fast-fashion retailers like H&M, Ralph Lauren Corp. says the company will be shrinking its real estate footprint, closing stores, and cutting jobs as it tries to make a comeback under its new CEO. [More]
Walmart Testing Drones To Help Manage Warehouse Inventory
By 6.2.16
As predicted, so it has come to pass: after asking the Federal Aviation Administration for permission to start testing drones for things like managing warehouse inventories, Walmart says it’s started that process, and could have the little guys up in the air and on the job in the next six to nine months. [More]
Under Armour: Sports Authority Closures Will Hurt Sales Of Sneakers, Clothes
By 6.1.16
When one business fails, its failure spins out and also affects clients and customers. The failure of a national mega-retailer, Sports Authority, doesn’t just affect its competitors in the coming months as they have to compete with liquidation sales. The company’s bankruptcy also affects its suppliers, including big companies like Under Armour. [More]
Abercrombie & Fitch’s Hollister Poised To Profit From Bankruptcy Of Fellow Teen Retailers
By 5.31.16
While teen retailers like Aéropostale and PacSun are going down in flames, their rivals are hunched on the sidelines, waiting to pick their bankrupted bones clean. There’s still money to be made catering to teenagers, after all, and analysts say Abercrombie & Fitch could be the one making it. [More]
Target Shutting Down Curbside Pickup Pilot Program Effective June 15
By 5.27.16
If you were hoping that Target’s curbside pickup would eventually reach your city, your hopes are for naught: Target tells Consumerist the pilot program will be discontinued effective June 15. [More]
Amazon Stops Price-Matching Everything But TVs, So Here’s Your Guide To Other Retailers’ Policies
By 5.23.16
No one likes to pay more for something than they have to. For that reason, several retailers offer pricing guarantees that allow customers to receive refunds if the cost of an item changes within a certain amount of time. Amazon is no longer one of the companies offering this protection. [More]
Abercrombie & Fitch May Be Getting Worried Now That European Tourists Aren’t Shopping As Much
By 5.23.16
Even as Abercrombie & Fitch was struggling to bring American customers back into it stores, there was always one group the retailer good count on: European tourists who flock to the stores, waiting in long lines to purchase A&F-branded clothing. Abercrombie might not be able to count on that foreign bread and butter forever, however. [More]
What Are Shoppers Buying Since They Aren’t Buying Clothes?
By 5.23.16
It’s bleak out there for a clothing retailer, with sales slumping at many chains, leading some — American Apparel, Aeropostale, Pacsun, among others — to declare bankruptcy. So if we aren’t shopping for items to clad our bodies, what are we shopping for? [More]
Stores Are Crammed With Unsold Merchandise, Especially Clothes
By 5.20.16
Here’s some great news for bargain-hunters, if not necessarily for retailers: dismal sales numbers from national retailers have experts worried about the future of American malls. Low sales numbers mean stores crammed with inventory that will have to be put on sale. That could boost total sales numbers, but hurt profits. [More]
The Short Rise (And Possible Fall) Of Online Teen Clothing Retailer Shop Jeen
By 5.20.16
Yet another teen retailer appears poised to join the likes of Aeropostale, DEB, Wet Seal, and Delia’s on the list of clothing stores that have fallen from their glory days of outfitting youngsters in fashionable duds. The website of quick-rising online retailer Shop Jeen has been down for several days. [More]
Macy’s To Pay $15M Over Escalator That Mangled Girl’s Foot
By 5.20.16
In 2013, a young New Jersey girl’s leg became trapped in a Macy’s escalator while on a shopping trip with her family. Nearly three years later, the family, the retailer, and the company tasked with maintaining the escalator are ready to put the ordeal behind them, agreeing to a $15 million settlement. [More]
Target Using California Stores As Retail Labs To Test “Enhancements”
By 5.19.16
Retailers tend to be cautious about rolling out changes nationwide, instead testing out a couple tweaks here and few updates there. Target, however, is using entire stores in California as testing grounds for dozens of new in-store “enhancements.”
[More]
