A salesman working at a popular video game store shares nine insider tips for customers:
retail
This Will Totally Be A Whole Foods Just As Soon As We Clean Up The Toxic Waste
By 2.26.07
For those of you not familiar with the landscape of the borough of Kings, this is a photo taken from inside of the site of a new Whole Foods store in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn. Currently, the site is home to an underground toxic plume of benzene that may or may not have originated at the nearby Verizon fuel station. Verizon denies that the fuel station, which is at the epicenter of the toxic plume, is the cause of the mess, despite the fact that there have been 5 oil spills on the site.
Whole Foods Will Consume Wild Oats
By 2.24.07
Well, folks it looks like Whole “Paycheck” is about to get a lot bigger. The natural-foods grocer announced that it would be acquiring competitor Wild Oats. The Wild Oats stores will be remodeled and re-branded as Whole Foods. Do these tears come in soy?—MEGHANN MARCO
On Second Thought, Don't Expect Good Prices During CompUSA Fire Sales
By 2.23.07
News of CompUSA closing 100 stores brought visions of fire sales to our eyes (burn, prices, burn!), but our CompUSA insider says those fantasies may be just that.
EXCLUSIVE: CompUSA Closing 100 Stores
By 2.23.07
CompUSA will close 100 stores this year, according to an industry insider speaking to us under conditions of anonymity.
Is Costco "The Anti-Walmart"?
By 2.22.07
This formula has generated fierce loyalty among both shoppers and workers while rewarding long-term investors…the company also has managed to make discount shopping fashionable for affluent Americans by offering fine wines, books and big-screen televisions at low prices, and staples such as paper towels and razor blades in bulk.
TJ Maxx Security Breach Happened A Year Earlier Than Previously Reported
By 2.21.07
“TJX Cos. said today that the unauthorized intrusion into its computer system occurred nearly a year earlier than it previously believed.
Best Buy to Open 90 New Stores In The US
By 2.21.07
Best Buy estimates the new stores will created 12,000 retail jobs. For those of you who don’t live near a Best Buy and have only used Best Buy.com, the prices in the stores are sometimes different. —MEGHANN MARCO
Thieves Rip The Doors Off Of A Best Buy With A Truck, Steal iPods
By 2.16.07
“I’ve never seen anyone pull hurricane shutters out like that,” said general manager Ole Goode. Goode said the outside is bad, but inside is even worse.
T.J. Maxx Credit Card Breach Probed By MA & RI AGs
By 2.16.07
Massachusetts and Rhode Island are opening probes into T.J. Maxx after the retailer lost millions of consumer’s credit cards in a recent breach.
Is It New If GameStop Already Opened It?
By 2.7.07
I stood there and watched the clerk open the cabinet and lift out a Sid Meier’s Pirates designed users manual. I see him pop open an empty PSP case and slide it in.
T.J. Maxx Gets Class Actioned For Credit Card Breach
By 1.30.07
A class action lawsuit was filed yesterday against TJ Maxx for allowing millions of customer’s credit cards to be stolen in a Jan. 17. security breach.
When Shoplifting, Don't Carry An 18" Steel Machete
By 1.30.07
Not that you should shoplift, but if you do, you should realize that shoplifting while carrying an 18″ steel machete will take your charges from retail theft up to prohibited offensive weapons charges. That’s what happened to one Pennsylvania shoplifter, when he was caught with $140 dollars worth of CDs that he’d shoplifted from Target… and an 18″ steel machete that he’d shoved down the left leg of his jeans. Allen Edward Pople, 18, is now being held on $25,000 bond.
10 Shopping Tricks That Stores Hate
By 1.30.07
Stores are always trying to get you to do what they want. But what if you refuse? What if you do what benefits you and not the store? Aside from outright fraud, what are the things that you can do to come out ahead? We’ve put together 10 tips that will help you save money, but probably won’t help the store. That’s why they hate them. And you.
Take that Bratz: Barbie is Back?
By 1.29.07
Gross sales of its Barbie line rose 3 percent domestically and worldwide during the quarter.
Walmart to Pay $33 Million in Back Wages, One Worker To Get $39,000
By 1.29.07
Steven Mandel, associate solicitor in the U.S. Labor Department’s Fair Labor Standards Division, said the case — involving nearly 87,000 employees nationwide — resulted from Wal-Mart coming to the department in early 2005 and asking for a review of its overtime calculations.
More Crap About The GAP
By 1.26.07
Pressler’s penny-pinching may have turned off the Gap’s core customers. Sweaters that were once 100% cotton or wool, for example, showed up in stores as acrylic blends, and people noticed. Banana Republic tried to woo the same high-end consumers as J. Crew but didn’t go far enough in offering luxury fabrics, like cashmere, that those shoppers wanted. In 2005, while department stores couldn’t sell enough $100-plus premium jeans, the Gap skipped denim and tried to push khakis. “Pressler went too far in focusing on costs at the expense of merchandising,” says Christine Chen, senior research analyst at Pacific Growth Equities. “Sometimes you just need to go with your gut and do what makes sense to get customers in the door.”
The article also mentions the way in which stores like H&M refresh their looks faster, drawing in and keeping customers in their 20s and 30s. By the time a look hits the GAP, it’s already over, and possibly expensive for the store and unflattering for the customer (skinny jeans?)—MEGHANN MARCO
