ABCNews took a look inside the mysterious world of Costco. Why does everyone love it so much? Turns out the secrets are simple: Small selection, good quality, low price. [More]
retail
As The Economy Improves, Shoppers Ditch Walmart
By 3.22.10
The NY Post says that they’ve found a correlation between economic growth and same store sales at Walmart. Their theory is that as the economy improves, people run away from the big blue box. [More]
Lawsuit: Prada Exec Wanted To Eliminate "Old, Fat, Ugly, Disgusting" Employees
By 3.12.10
Here’s a guy who sounds like a real lovely person to be around: The CEO of Prada Japan. A lawsuit alleges that he asked an employee to “eliminate” around 15 managerial staff he described as “old, fat, ugly, disgusting or not having the Prada look,” following a tour of 40 stores,” reports the Telegraph. [More]
Ask The Consumerists: Would You Use A Credit Card With Your Photo On It?
By 3.11.10
Thinking about the controversy over asking for ID during credit card purchases, and the competing values of privacy and safety, Daniel had an interesting idea–though it isn’t a new idea. What if credit cards were photo IDs, and had our pictures on them? Logistical nightmare, or handy fraud-prevention tool? [More]
Sam's Club Lays Off 10% Of Employees
By 1.27.10
Sam’s Club, owned by Walmart, is cutting about 11,200 jobs nationwide in its stores. That’s about ten percent of the chain’s workforce. The part-time employees who currently hand out product samples and perform demonstrations will be replaced with ringers from the outside company that performs the same service in Walmart stores. [More]
Target Stops Selling Farmed Salmon. Also, Target Apparently Sells Salmon.
By 1.26.10
Target has announced that, due to love of the planet, they have decided to stop selling farmed salmon. Salmon farms, according to Target’s press release, produce “pollution, chemicals, parasites and non-native farmed fish that escape from salmon farms all affect the natural habitat and the native salmon in the surrounding areas.” They’re switching to “sustainable” wild salmon. [More]
Is Bringing Your Dog To Work At PetSmart "Theft Of Services?"
By 1.19.10
A former PetSmart employee says he was terminated for “theft of services” after he brought his dog to work on an overnight shift that he was doing as a favor to the store manager — and left the dog in the pet day care facilities. No other employee was working at the time, so he was supervising his own pet. Should this count as “theft?” [More]
Walgreens Wants To Sell You Food Now
By 1.18.10
Walgreens told Bloomberg News that the company is looking into selling fresh food and prepared meals–things like salads, cut fruits, and sandwiches. From RetailWire: [More]
NYC Police Dept Stops Giving Counterfeit Clothing To Charity
By 1.13.10
It turns out H&M and Walmart aren’t the only two organizations caught destroying clothes they couldn’t sell. Yesterday the New York Times reported that the NYC Police Department has also been destroying clothing that would otherwise be wearable. The big difference this time is that the clothing is counterfeit. [More]
Fluevog Offers Great Service, Free Slightly Scuffed Shoes
By 1.13.10
People seem to either love or hate the odd designs of Fluevog shoes, but on a visit to one of their retail stores, Lee learned that the company’s retail customer service went well above and beyond to make a customer with a problem happy. [More]
H&M Insists That All Unsold Clothing Is Donated, Manhattan Store Went Rogue
By 1.9.10
After last week’s uproar and public shaming, over unsold clothing that was intentionally destroyed, then thrown in the trash behind the chain’s Herald Square location, clothing retailer H&M insists that the incident was against company policy and a fluke. Then TV station WPIX caught an employee throwing away a giant bag of shoes a few days later. [More]
Target To Sell $99 "Video Game Setup" Services
By 1.8.10
For a mere $99, Target will go to your house and set up your video game system for your dumb ass. Why? Margins on products are very thin. The margin on services, especially stupid ones, is very high. [via Kotaku]
RELATED: Best Buy Optimization Is A Big Stupid Annoying Waste Of Money
H&M Store Cuts Up Unsold Clothing, Throws It Away
By 1.6.10
Some retailers donate unsold clothing to charity, or discount it by the palletful and sell it to thrift stores or closeout retailers. But the New York Times reports that the H&M at Herald Square in Manhattan gets rid of their unsold clothing by cutting holes in it to render it unwearable, then throwing it away. [More]
Stores Worried About Employees Using Gift Cards To Steal
By 12.31.09
Gift cards may encourage spending, but they also make it easy for employees to steal, writes the New York Times.
Among the variations of such crimes, cashiers often do fake refunds of merchandise and then, with the amount refunded, use their registers to electronically fill gift cards, which they take. Or sometimes when shoppers buy gift cards, cashiers give them blank cards and then divert the shoppers’ money onto cards for themselves.
Target Is Out Of PrePaid AT&T Cards, So How About Some WalkieTalkies?
By 12.29.09
Reader David spotted this odd suggestion on Christmas Eve at his local Target. Not the most practical idea they’ve ever had, but then again: Target is crazy. [More]
This Verizon Store Provides Weird Repair Services
By 12.21.09
Some Motorola Droid phones are having problems with the battery cover coming off too easily. That’s what was happening to Chris’ Droid, so he and his girlfriend brought it into a Verizon store in Pleasant Hill, CA. His girlfriend brought along her defective enV Touch for service as well.
When they left, Chris had a sticker stuck to the back of his Droid, and his girlfriend was told to stop wearing makeup because makeup ruins the enV Touch.
You Must Waste A Shopping Bag At Bath & Body Works, Or Else
By 12.19.09
Some retailers, like CVS, reward their customers for using reusable shopping bags. Others, like Macy’s and Borders, sort of do the opposite. Reader Jennifer says that this happened to her. A local Bath & Body Works store wouldn’t sell her anything if she stubbornly insisted in putting her purchase inside one of the bags she already had. Wait, isn’t she saving the store money by not taking a bag? [More]
The Truth About Walmart's Super-Secret Data Center
By 12.11.09
Reader humphrmi thinks he knows what’s up with Walmart’s giant unmarked datacenter, photos of which we posted recently. It’s a truth SO REVEALING that it may make you go, “Oh, that makes sense.” [More]
