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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
The Near-Naked Actress and the Grand Opening
Sharon Stone was on hand to help open the new Luis Vuitton store in Paris last week and her choice of clothes caused quite a stir. According to a report…
Best Buy Plans to KO Competition This Holiday
Best Buy believes it has a one-two punch combination that will put its competitors down for the count this holiday season. First, it will take a swing with low prices…
Supervalu Looks to Grow Organically
Supervalu appears to be going the way of Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Wild Oats and others with a new organic and natural foods store concept under the Sunflower Market banner…
Walgreens Takes Heat for Gay Games Sponsorship
The Illinois Family Institute in Glen Ellyn, Ill. says homosexuality is against God’s law and it has biblical references to support its position. That’s why the organization is coming out…
Burd Pledges Aggressive Remodeling for Dominick’s – On One Condition
Yesterday, Mr. Burd announced Safeway would “aggressively remodel” its Dominick’s stores in and around Chicago “if” (intended as a big IF) the labor union that represents 7,900 of its workers…
Retailing Faux Pas
Bill Bittner writes, “We all have them – those encounters with a sales person that are permanently embedded in our memories. As I was hiking the other day, thinking about…
Randalls’ Rumors Renew
Since Safeway took over Randalls in Houston back in 1999, the chain has gone from holding a 20 percent share of market to 10.8 percent.That performance, or lack thereof, has…
Bath & Body Works Going Multi-Channel Route
Bath & Body Works, the 1,600-store division of Limited Brands, figured it was time it had an online store. Until last week when it went live with its e-commerce function,…
Automation and Customer Service: The Emperor Has No Clothes
Over the weekend, Al McClain had a couple of experiences that illustrate the problems consumers have getting real people to pay attention to them. His theory is that big businesses…
Seasonal Retail Grows in Orlando
When most people think of seasonal retail in Orlando, Fla., they have visions of shoppers visiting stores during the prime tourist season. For those who live in and around the…
RFID Keeps Wal-Mart in Stock
The results of a study conducted by the University of Arkansas show that using RFID technology has helped Wal-Mart reduce OOS and decrease the amount of time it takes to…
One from Amex Tries to Save for Loyalty
American Express has launched a new card called One from American Express. The unique feature of the card is that consumers will save automatically with every purchase. Is there any…
New Generation of Self-Service in Giant’s New Concept Store
The supermarket industry became a powerhouse in American retailing through the concept of self-service. Now, Giant Foods is taking self-service into the future with a new concept store in Camp…
Wal-Mart Sets Another Record
Wal-Mart has set another in a long line of records. According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., it has received more comments than ever before from Wal-Mart’s application to…
Shoppers Hate Being Rushed into the Holidays
We know that the holiday rush can fray nerves. But that’s not the only thing that makes consumers cranky. According to a new study, shoppers resent the feeling they are…
Retailers Don’t Want to Follow Dinosaurs and Dodos
To avoid ending up on the scrap heap of history, retailers and manufacturers, need to do a better job of listening to consumer needs and then providing meaningful answers. Paul…
Online Retailers Ranked By How They Treat Customers
According to The Customer Respect Group’s (TCRG) Third Quarter 2005 Online Customer Respect Study of Retailers, online retailers have a long way to go to demonstrate the proper amount of…
Out-of-Stock – Out-of-Chances
Among the things that really burn customers up are walking into a store to buy something only to find it is out-of-stock. The vast majority of customers can understand this…
TJX Nixes Online Business, Makes Other Changes
In an era when many brick and mortar retailers are moving to multi-channel models, TJX Cos. has made the decision to get out the e-commerce business. Last week in a…
No Joy in Toyland
It’s tough in the toy business. After two consecutive years of sales declines, the industry may be headed for a third as a combination of economic factors has many Americans…
Even Seasonal Workers Offered Benefits at REI
To be eligible for health benefits from REI, workers need to be employed by the company for 30 days. That’s it. Beginning in January, the retailer will begin offering health…
