retail stores

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Microsoft Pinching Apple Employees to Staff Stores

Managers enticed with higher salaries and sent back to poach sales people

(Newser) - Microsoft’s planned expansion into the brick-and-mortar retail sector will be staffed at least in part by…Apple Store employees, reports the Loop. The software giant is hiring away Apple managers with higher salaries, sources tell the tech blog. Those managers in turn are trying to bring aboard Apple's top...

Toys R Us Pumped Up for Holiday Offensive

Chain plans to open 80 temporary stores in time for holiday shopping season

(Newser) - Toys R Us is getting ready to go on the offensive in the battle for holiday sales, the Washington Post reports. The company—which snapped up the KB Toys and FAO Schwarz brands earlier this year—plans to open 80 temporary "Holiday Express" stores in malls across the country,...

How Should Wal-Mart Handle Blog Ridicule? Ignore It

No right move on 'People of Walmart' pics of fashion misses

(Newser) - A wildly popular new blog mocks Wal-Mart and its customers, and encourages others to join in by uploading their own photos and comments. So what should the retail giant do? Nothing, writes BL Ochman in Advertising Age. The site—People of Walmart—isn't “likely to do lasting damage to...

Lousy Retail Sales Will Delay Recovery

Recession isn't over as far as consumers are concerned

(Newser) - If the recession is indeed waning, nobody told consumers. Retailers of every kind reported lousy sales for the quarter ended Aug. 1, the Wall Street Journal reports. Target’s same-store sales fell 6.2%, Home Depot’s dropped 9.1% and Saks’ plummeted a whopping 15.5%. And with unemployment,...

Radio Shack Ditches 'Radio' to Become ... 'The Shack'

(Newser) - From all accounts, Radio Shack is set to rebrand itself “The Shack,” Joshua Topolsky writes for Engadget. “It makes perfect sense—radios aren’t exactly considered cutting edge these days,” Topolsky writes, and “the store is about to launch a full assault on the mobile...

Retailers Slash Selection in Response to Recession

(Newser) - A fundamental shift is going on in the consumer product world as retailers decide that less is more, the Wall Street Journal reports. Big national retailers are expected to slash selection by at least 15%, analysts say. Gone will be 30% of Kroger’s cereals, 20 of the 24 tape...

Rabbi Seeks Boycott of 'Revolting' Mannequins

Stores could lose kosher certification

(Newser) - An Israeli rabbi has called for a boycott of shops that display scantily clad mannequins, AFP reports. Mannequins and "obscene photographs" of models wearing swimsuits or underwear "elicit sorrow among the passers-by," said the rabbi. Stores in the northern city of Tiberias that keep their racy displays...

Some UK Advice for US Topshop Virgins
 Some UK Advice for 
 US Topshop Virgins 
OPINION
Mar 31, 2009 2:32 PM CDT

Some UK Advice for US Topshop Virgins

(Newser) - The wildly popular British clothing store Topshop opens its first outpost in New York this week, and Emily Rotberg has advice for uninitiated Americans. First and foremost, “don’t be afraid to push" she writes in the Guardian. "They’re not your friends.” Other nuggets:
  • "Sales
...

Circuit City to Liquidate US Stores

Everything must go

(Newser) - Circuit City will liquidate all 567 of its US stores after failing to find a buyer or a refinancing deal, the AP reports. The nation's second-biggest electronics retailer employs more than 30,000 people. Calls to the Richmond, Va.-based company and its designated liquidators were not immediately returned. Circuit...

'Sea Change' In Store for Retail

Shops to shut, brands to fold as bankruptcies soar

(Newser) - Shaken by a tough holiday season and bracing for more trouble, the retail scene may look very different in 2009, the Wall Street Journal reports. Some stores will be reducing inventory and cutting suppliers, which could force small manufacturers to fold. Retail bankruptcies could abound. "We will have a...

Japanese Stores Conquer Convenience

Hard times suit the country's ultra-handy 7-11 descendants

(Newser) - Japan's ultra-convenient convenience stores are one of the few bright spots in the nation's struggling economy, the Washington Post reports. Business is booming at the 40,000 stores nationwide, which offer everything from hot soup to cold beer to fresh sushi. Customers can pay their bills, book travel, and even...

Staggering Slowdown Hits Retail Sales

Ominous sign of dismal holiday season

(Newser) - Retail sales plummeted last month ahead of the holiday shopping season—which threatens to be the worst in decades, the New York Times reports. The downturn ran the gamut from upscale department stores to shops like the Gap. Neiman Marcus saw a 28% drop compared with the same month last...

Bankrupt Mervyn's Goes Belly Up
Bankrupt Mervyn's Goes Belly Up
Oct 18, 2008 6:39 AM CDT

Bankrupt Mervyn's Goes Belly Up

All of chain's 149 stores to be liquidated before end of year

(Newser) - Mervyn's will be closing all of its 149 stores before the end of the year and holding huge going-out-of business sales, the Bay Area's Daily Review reports. The California-based department store chain filed for bankruptcy in July and had been fruitlessly scrambling for a sale or a deal with landlords...

For Retail Workers, Big Bro Is Tracking

Computer systems help max productivity, cut costs

(Newser) - As a sluggish economy pinches retailers, many are now turning to computer programs to track employee productivity, the Wall Street Journal reports. At Ann Taylor stores, a computer system calculates average sales per hour, units sold, and dollars per transaction —then automatically schedules the best workers during the store’...

Consumers Are Quickly Trading Down
Consumers
Are Quickly Trading Down
Jul 11, 2008 12:26 PM CDT

Consumers Are Quickly Trading Down

Switch to cheaper goods is broadest since early '80s

(Newser) - As fuel prices and home foreclosures steadily rise, Americans are trading down in everything from automobiles to their lunch options. That's not unusual in an economic downturn, but the speed with which it's happening is, the Wall Street Journal reports. And the flight to the affordable and generic is affecting...

Former Retail Workers Stuck in Folding Mode

Gap-style training creates a generation of neat freaks

(Newser) - Countless current and former retail workers have an obsessive urge to fold clothes ironed into their brains, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Gap started the trend for tightly folded displays in the '80s and rivals quickly followed suit. A whole generation of retail alumni spent thousands of hours folding...

Retailers Checking Out as Economy Falters

Each default brings widespread fallout

(Newser) - Stores across the country are closing their doors, the New York Times reports, victims of a downturn in consumer spending. Retailers are often heavily leveraged, and as the economy falters banks are tightening credit. Several chains, including Sharper Image, have declared bankruptcy; others like Footlocker, Ann Taylor, and Zales are...

Linens 'n Things to Go Bust
Linens 'n
Things to
Go Bust
Apr 11, 2008 6:50 AM CDT

Linens 'n Things to Go Bust

Home-furnishings giant may be first retail victim of market crisis

(Newser) - Linens ‘n Things ls expected to file for Chapter 11 by Tuesday, the deadline for a $15-million quarterly debt payment, the Wall Street Journal reports. The move would make the home-furnishings giant the first major retailer sunk by the housing crisis, after bloated debt and plummeting demand handed the...

Shops Shut as Wind Goes Out of Sales

Store closings rise along with gas prices, foreclosures

(Newser) - Soaring gas prices and a still-boiling housing crisis are taking their toll on America's smaller retailers, with store bankruptcies and vacancy rates rising steadily as customers avoid impulse-buys that once fueled the industry's rapid expansion, reports AP. Vacancies hover between 7% and 8%, up from 5% just six months ago—...

Wal-Mart Gets Halal Makeover
Wal-Mart Gets Halal Makeover
Mar 4, 2008 2:57 AM CST

Wal-Mart Gets Halal Makeover

Execs confer with Arab community to open Mideast-themed Michigan megastore

(Newser) - Tahini, olives and frozen falafel line the shelves in a new Michigan Wal-Mart in Dearborn that caters to local customers: in this case, the nation's largest Arab-American community. The 200,000-square-foot megastore, which opens today, even has a section for Halal meats culled in accordance with Islamic law, Newsweek reports.

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