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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Home Depot in Rapid Deployment Mode
Home Depot is continuing to roll out rapid deployment centers (RDCs), large distribution centers positioned around the country, to help it get products to stores more efficiently. Are supply chain…
RadioShack: The Bidding Has Begun
It appears as though the rumors of RadioShack being up for sale may be true as the New York Post reports that the first round of bidding has been completed…
A High-End Retail Opportunity Grows in Brooklyn
Following Barneys’ announcement in March that it plans to open its first store in Brooklyn’s hot Cobble Hill neighborhood, other national high-end retailers are said to be looking to open…
Teens Missing Retail Party
While most of retail appears to be in recovery mode this spring, one petulant sector — teen retailers — is failing to participate. What do you think is behind the…
Will Wal-Mart Spark a Grocery Price War?
Gas prices have been coming down lately and American consumers may be in the position to save even more bucks this summer as a wide variety of retailers react to…
Movado Exits Retail
Movado Group Inc., the Swiss watchmaker and jeweler, last week announced plans to close its money-losing retail division by the end of June so the company can focus on its…
Rue21’s Small Town Strategy
Rue21, the off-price teen fashion chain, added 88 stores last year and looks to open another 100 this year — but you may not see them. What are the pros…
Sam’s Discounts Have Personal Touch
Sam’s Club is getting personal with its members. Plus card members, who pay an added fee over regular Sam’s shoppers, are able to go to an in-store kiosk and pick…
Sports Authority Concept Takes Elitist Approach
Sports Authority has announced plans to open a new small box sporting goods concept targeting consumers of high-end apparel, footwear and accessories. What do you think of the business potential…
BrainTrust Query: Getting Research Transformation to Stick
At the ARF’s first Research Transformation super-council meeting in early May, we heard a sobering factoid from McKinsey: 70 percent of all transformation efforts fail. What will it take to…
Toys ‘R’ Us Ready to Go Public, Again
The private investors who bought Toys “R” Us in 2005 are ready to take the chain public again. Private equity firms, according to a Bloomberg report, are taking companies public to raise…
Kindle Not Looking to Compete with iPad
Amazon.com’s CEO Jeff Bezos is looking to put the e-tailer’s Kindle device in the hands of the 10 percent of the population that are serious readers who, Amazon’s logic seems…
Prime Retail Space Getting More Pricey
The cost to rent prime space in some of the most prestigious retail districts in the U.S. is going up and that’s a good thing, according to the head of…
RSR Research: Death to Payroll as Percent of Sales
Assigning labor budgets based on payroll as a percent of sales is bad and should be reconsidered. So what should be used instead? What do you see as the pros…
Lower Prices Could Pump Up Consumer Confidence
It’s pretty much an annual ritual. The summer vacation season approaches, and gas prices go up. In some years past, prices rose to the point that consumers altered shopping behavior…
CPGmatters: Sara Lee Drives Brand Growth By Leveraging Shopper Insights
For a long time, Sara Lee defined the competitive set of breakfast sausage brands with Jimmy Dean. However, the “big revelation” came when studying the broader breakfast landscape. What lessons…
Interview: Flash Growth at HauteLook.com
Social sales, flash sales, sample sales – a new breed of websites offering discounted merchandise for a limited time only are taking off and among the most popular is HauteLook.com,…
Food Reality Shows Stimulate Culinary Aspirations
There is so much food and cooking now on television that retailers could be forgiven for wondering just what consumers want to buy and cook for themselves. What influence have the…
FD Buyer: Making In-Store Execution Happen
Prioritized and timely communication between headquarters and the stores is essential to improving in-store execution, according to Dan Raftery, president of Raftery Resource Network. What’s the best way to improve…
Should Wireless Carriers Drop Their Retail Stores?
Once upon a time, the reasoning in a Wall Street Journal article goes, it made sense for wireless carriers to operate retail stores because not everyone had a mobile phone and the…
Retailers Concerned with Europe’s Problems
While neither have stores in Europe nor source much product from the region, Home Depot and Lowe’s are at least two retailers somewhat concerned about how the current economic crisis…
