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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Wal-Mart Not Banking on Banking Anymore
Where Wal-Mart goes, controversy follows. Such was the case back in 2005 when the company made an application to get into the banking business with the acquisition of an industrial…
BrainTrust Query: Will New Mobile Phone Technologies Empower ‘Shopper Search’ for Local Retail?
Recently, the New York Times ran a story on the arrival of cell-phone shopping, and profiled some companies tapping into such services. One, NearbyNow, does this by prompting pedestrians to…
Layaway Makes a Comeback Online
Wal-Mart decided to do away with layaway and consumers who used the service were really disappointed. It seemed to many that few retailers (Kmart was one exception) understood their financial…
BrainTrust Query: Is Multi-Channel Integration Getting Short Shrift?
Nearly 80 percent of retail winners (those that outperform peers in comparable store sales growth) operate in multiple channels versus only 50 percent of retailers who perform worse than average,…
Avon Keeps Knocking
The armies of well-dressed, well-groomed ladies who used to ring the doorbell bearing samples of Avon cosmetics are about to be joined by a generation of new recruits. The New…
Safeway Looking to Buy
In the past, Safeway experienced some self-inflicted shrinking pains after acquiring supermarket chains in metro markets around Chicago, Dallas, Houston and Philadelphia. That has not deterred the company, which is…
Patrons Check Selves Out at Legal Sea Foods
Legal Sea Foods believes it may have the answer to the wait for the check after dining–it basically comes down to letting its patrons take care of the check without…
BrainTrust Query: Can ‘The Secret’ Help your Business?
If you’re asking “What secret?” you’ve been away on a safari far too long. The book is outselling Harry Potter. Oprah is absolutely fawning over both the book and the…
Franchisees Key to 7-Eleven’s Plans
The nation’s largest convenience store operator is looking to get out of running its own stores and turn them over to franchisees instead. 7-Eleven Inc. has targeted 2013 as the…
Costco ‘Raises’ the Bar on Wages
Continuing to put its employees needs over investors, Costco Wholesale Corp. last week announced plans to increase wages for its hourly service workers in its U.S. stores. Do you…
Eminent Domain Works for Retailers
A bill before Utah’s governor would make it possible for communities to use eminent domain to take property away from owners in designated blighted areas so the land may be…
Wal-Mart Grades Suppliers on Packaging Math
Wal-Mart has released the initial results of its Packaging Scorecard, a program developed to gauge the progress vendors are making in reducing packaging waste and assisting in the protection of…
KKR Knows the Value of a Dollar Store
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) is in the dollar store business. The firm, it was announced yesterday, is the new owner of Dollar General after paying $6.9 billion to…
Is Service Coming Back in Beauty?
As the move to self-service took hold decades ago, beauty consultants became a thing of the past for most retail outlets. However, many merchants – most notably Target, in partnership…
Dove Offers Real Lessons in Marketing
Randall Rothenberg, president-CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, believes there is much for marketers to learn from Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign. In fact, in an article on AdAge.com, Mr. Rothenberg…
Iconix: Licensed to Build Brands
Iconix Brand Group Inc., which last week reached an agreement to acquire the Rocawear urban label for $204 million, is turning the apparel-branding model on its head. Formerly called Candies…
Retail is Ready-To-Eat Restaurant Profits
Are retail meals (ready-to-eat/ready-to-cook meal solutions) becoming an even bigger threat to restaurants and fast-food chains? Technomic announced last week that it planned to launch a research study, Retail Meal…
Retailers Fetching Lots of Doggie Dollars
On March 3rd, Petco held its first-ever Spring Pet Fashion show nationwide. During the event, pets – mostly dogs but a few cats and iguanas as well – scampered down…
Apple Shines in Retail Marketplace
Apple has always been known for its legion of loyal fans – even as everyone else seemed to see Windows as the only operating system in the world. It…
CompUSA: Operating System Crashes
CompUSA, one of the early pioneers of the category killer concept, seems to have bet on the wrong category. The computer superstore, which helped launch the widespread use of business…
Save Mart CEO Does It His Way
“You can’t go wrong doing something that makes you happy.” In a nutshell, that is the personal and business philosophy of Bob Piccinini, CEO of Save Mart. In an interview…
