Target’s gender-neutral approach to children’s toys is seeping into other aspects of the retailer’s business. Over the weekend the big box store unveiled a new brand of kids’ home decor that comes without boy or girl designations. [More]
retail
Walmart Ditching Murphy USA After 20 Years; Will Run Its Own Gas Stations Going Forward
By 2.4.16
Stop by just about any Walmart and you’re likely to see several fuel pumps in the front or on the side of the store. For the last 20 years, those gas stations have been operated by another company, Murphy USA, but that’s about to change. [More]
IKEA Giving All U.S. Restaurants A Makeover Because Plenty Of Shoppers Are Just There For The Food Anyway
By 2.4.16
When someone asks you if you want to go to IKEA, does your brain translate that question as, “Do I want meatballs?” You’re not alone, unsurprisingly, as many shoppers head to the Swedish retailer’s stores just for the food offered in its restaurants. IKEA knows this, which is why its giving those dine-in eateries a makeover in the U.S. [More]
CVS Unveils First Store-Within-Store Pharmacies At Target
By 2.3.16
Target customers will soon see what $1.9 billion can buy, as CVS has officially started rebranding the big box store’s pharmacies into its own mini drugstores. [More]
Report: Dov Charney Creating Another Retail Chain In American Apparel’s Likeness
By 2.2.16
Now that Dov Charney’s dreams of owning American Apparel again have been totally and completely dashed, it’s time for a new plan: according to a new report, if he can’t have the company he founded, Charney is just going to start over with a new one. [More]
Would-Be Macy’s Burglar Pulls Ploy From ‘Home Alone 2’ Handbook
By 1.29.16
The things that work in the movies, don’t always – or almost never – result in the same outcome in real life. Just ask a would-be thief in Oregon who tried to pull a Home Alone 2 ploy to rob a local department store. [More]
Quiksilver Creditors Come To Agreement, Keep Surf Brand Going
By 1.28.16
Back in September, “action sports company” Quiksilver USA filed for bankruptcy protection, planning to reorganize and make its retail presence even more action-packed. After months of arguing over the value of the company, with creditors claiming that the company is worth $144 million more than it claims. Finally, the two sides have come to an agreement, and the bankruptcy will be settled. [More]
Coyote Gets Stuck In Kohl’s Entrance, Doesn’t Get To Use Kohl’s Cash
By 1.25.16
Just like humans, some wild animals get the urge to shop — from strolling the aisles of Rite Aid to sauntering into a local watering hole in search of libations. That unsettling trend continued over the weekend when a coyote tried to pick up a few items from a Kohl’s store in Indiana. [More]
15 Things We Learned About The Downfall Of Target Canada
By 1.22.16
Why did Target’s expansion into Canada fail so quickly? The company is based in Minnesota, which is dangerously close to being Canada. Yet Target Canada failed spectacularly. Why? Sure, they expanded too quickly, and had supply chain problems: we all know the answer. Yet what did that look like on the ground? [More]
Target CEO, Other Executives Paying Customers Home Visits To Improve Shopping Experience
By 1.21.16
Would you allow a stranger to enter your house, rummage through your closets and cupboards if it meant that your next shopping experience might be better? That’s the idea behind Target’s latest initiative to change the way it gets to know customers. [More]
Walmart To Raise All Employees’ Wages Next Month
By 1.20.16
Nearly a year after Walmart announced it would give 40% of its employees – mostly minimum wage workers – a pay increase, the nation’s largest retailer plans to give all employees, about 1.2 million of them, an earnings boost. [More]
JCPenney Testing Appliance Sales By Creating An “Emotional Connection” With Women
By 1.19.16
Nearly 30 years after JCPenney discontinued selling ovens, refrigerators, washers, and the like, the retailer is once again dipping its toes into the appliance business, this time with a focus on targeting female shoppers. [More]
American Apparel Rejects Takeover Bid From Former CEO Dov Charney & Pals
By 1.15.16
Dashing former CEO and founder Dov Charney’s dreams (for now), American Apparel’s board of directors has rejected the $300 million takeover bid he put on the table earlier this week with the help of financial backers. [More]
U.S. Retail Spending Growth Slows Down: Americans Possibly Have Enough Stuff
By 1.15.16
While our economy is supposedly expanding and consumers have more money in our pockets thanks to lower gas prices, new data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that that we’re not spending that money in retail stores, online or in real life. If we’re not out hitting the malls, where’s all that money going? [More]
JCPenney Closing 7 Stores By Mid-April
By 1.13.16
History appears to be repeating itself at JCPenney this week. Just days after the retailer announced its same-store sales were up through the holiday season, the company tempered that good news by unveiling plans to close several stores… again. [More]
Aldi Getting Rid Of Candy In Checkout Lines
By 1.13.16
Most of us have been there: You push a cart full of healthy food up to the supermarket checkout line only to cave to sugary temptation when running that final gauntlet lined with chocolate, candy, and other snacks. But that may soon be a thing of the past for Aldi shoppers. [More]
Victoria’s Secret Giving Away $70 Workout Pants When You Buy $30 Sports Bras
By 1.8.16
Usually, when someone offers a “Buy X, Get Y Free” deal, Y is something that costs the same or less than X. But that is apparently not the case for a deal currently being offered by Victoria’s Secret. [More]
Macy’s Will Close 40 Stores This Spring: Here’s The List
By 1.7.16
Three months after Macy’s said it would likely shutter dozens of stores in the first months of 2016, the retailer has solidified its plan. [More]
