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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Grass Gets Eight Years In Rite Aid Fraud Case
Martin Grass, the former chief executive of Rite Aid, was sentenced to eight years in jail for defrauding the drugstore chain and its shareholders and then seeking to obstruct the…
The Clothes Make The Retailer
While this week’s annual shareholders’ meeting was short on specifics for how Kmart planned to stop its skidding same-store sales, one thing has become increasingly clear, the retailer believes that…
Memorial Day: Beyond The Sales
Over the past few decades, at least, Memorial Day has become more of a retailing event than anything else. While there isn’t anything wrong with that, this year is a…
Nordstrom Has Growth Spurt
It doesn’t seem that long ago that industry observers were asking what was wrong with Nordstrom? Well, having just come off the best year in its history and with same-store…
Target Looks To Be Number One Spot For Deals
Target’s 125-unit test of its dollar store-within-a-store concept called “1 Spot” has been deemed a success and will now be rolled out to all of the chain’s stores by September…
Wal-Mart Gets OK For Chicago’s West Side
Wal-Mart was looking for approval to open two stores inside Chicago city limits. It got half of what it wanted, at least for now. What are your thoughts on the…
Kmart Short On Specifics For Turnaround
At yesterday’s annual shareholder meeting, Kmart chairman, Edward Lampert, was clear on what the retailer wouldn’t be doing to try and turnaround its lagging same-store sales picture. What are your…
Industry Proposes COOL Alternative
Ten associations representing a wide variety of food industry interests have joined together to offer a voluntary alternative to the mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) program. Is the country-of-origin labeling proposal…
Wal-Mart and Urban America
No matter where you stand on the Wal-Mart “issue,” it’s hard to dispute it has a weighty public relations challenge. Has Wal-Mart’s failure to win over communities in places…
Grocer and Volunteers Deliver To Those In Need
As the sign on the church secretary’s desk used to read, “Working here doesn’t pay much but the benefits are out of this world.” People at the Albertsons Food and…
E-Tail Sales Up 51 Percent, Margins At 21 Percent
A survey of online retailers, The State of Retailing Online7.0, conducted by Shop.org and Forrester Research, discovered that sales for the group jumped 51 percent last year and the channel…
Wal-Mart Says Subsidies Worth The Investment
A report by the nonprofit group, Good Jobs First of Washington, showing Wal-Mart received roughly $1 billion in taxpayer subsidies over the past 10 years to open stores and distribution…
A-B and Miller Trade Jabs
There’s a battle brewing in the beer category as Anheuser-Busch and Miller Brewing trade jabs in a public advertising and public relations contest of one-upmanship each hopes will result in…
World Takes On Obesity Fight
The World Health Organization, the United Nations’ health agency, has agreed on a plan to combat obesity across the globe, reports Reuters. Related to Friday’s discussion on personal responsibility for…
Marketing Based on Customer Data Increases Sales and Loyalty
Canon recently built a customer database compiled from its dealer network in efforts to create targeted marketing campaigns executed based on this new, more cohesive knowledge bank. What other companies…
Unions Make Stand Against Wal-Mart In Michigan
The Teamsters, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), Service Employees International and Hotel and Restaurant Employees International are joining together in Michigan to launch a publicity campaign they hope will…
What You Eat: Nobody’s Business But Your Own
Radley Balko, a policy analyst with the Cato Insitute, thinks its time we collectively ‘just said no’ to the push to tackle the nation’s weight problems through legislation or the…
Kmart Seeks Coolness Through Association
Kmart wants to be cool. That’s right. You heard it here. Kmart wants to be cool.That’s why the retailer hooked up with The WB network on an exclusive deal that…
Higher Co-Pays May Not Save Money
A new study by the RAND Corporation suggests that companies may wind up spending the same if not more on health care costs when they require employees to pick up…
Indy Health Food Store Dies
Imagine a twist on the David and Goliath tale from The Bible. In the new version, David’s slingshot misses Goliath leaving him unharmed. Unfortunately, it ricochets and fells the boy…
UFCW President Bashes You Know Who
When it comes to Wal-Mart’s prices, it’s not unusual to hear a retailer say something such as “they’re selling it for cheaper than I can buy it.” What are your…
