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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Marshall Field’s New Lease on Life and Business
The department store retailer, Marshall Field’s, is seeking to revitalize its business by leasing space within its stores to designers and other merchants. According to USA Today, the store plans…
Sears To Dress Store Employees
Sometime between now and September, Sears will begin requiring its store sales staff to wear solid black or white tops with black or tan pants, according to a report by…
The Tom Peters Experience
In a wide-ranging, energetic presentation at the recent IDDBA convention, management guru Tom Peters expressed his ideas on branding in an age of commodities. According to Mr. Peters, consumers have…
RFID to Start with Pallets
Wal-Mart’s chief information officer, Linda Dillman, said the retailer is focusing its initial radio frequency identification (RFID) technology efforts on pallets. Wal-Mart is looking to have 100 key vendors supporting…
Great Retailing Ideas Stopped at Border
In his May Warren’s Wanderings column in Private Label Buyer, Warren Thayer offers a theory that may explain why great retailing ideas from Canadian merchants such as Loblaw’s rarely seem…
Harry Potter Expectations Overblown
Although pre-orders of “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” have topped a million on Amazon.com, signs are that this soon to be released J.K. Rowling installment may not…
Ad Spending Up, But Branding Takes a Back Seat
Some restaurant chains in the Twin Cities area appear to be gaining confidence in this slowly warming economy and are ramping up advertising expenditures, but their new ads are not…
Starbucks Approaching Oversaturation in Japan
Starbucks’ biggest expansion outside the U.S. has been in Japan, which is now home to 466 stores. But on closer examination, the Japanese momentum is showing sure signs of waning…
Retailers Favoring Use of IT to Improve Customer Service, Survey Says
A new study indicates a retail community that is broadly re-energized in many areas of retail technology development. In one portion of the survey, retailers voice a newfound commitment to…
Netflix Stirs the Sleeping Giant
Events developed quickly this week with DVD-by-mail operation Netflix. First came Netflix’ celebratory announcement Monday evening that they were boosting their second-quarter earnings outlook. Then, Wal-Mart released news that they…
Asda Tests Standalone Clothing Stores (By George!)
Wal-Mart’s U.K. Asda unit will test two standalone stores featuring the George clothing line, which was previously sold only in their standard stores. The new stores will be simply named…
Amazon Markets Its E-commerce Technology
Amazon will launch a wholly-owned subsidiary offering services and technology to help retailers develop their own online enterprises. Amazon’s e-commerce and distribution systems are already being put to use in…
Regionals Running to Stay Ahead of the Pack
In a session at the recently concluded GMA Executive Conference ), top execs representing three leading regional retailers — Meijer, Shaw’s and Roundy’s — provided insights into “Staying Ahead of…
Wal-Mart’s June Off to a Mm, Mm Good Start
Unusually cool weather in many parts of the US meant sales of soup and hot chocolate were hot while air conditioners cooled on the shelf in Wal-Mart for the beginning…
Convenience Store and Consumers on Automatic
Automated retailing’s time has come. At least that’s what Mike Rivalto, owner of SmartMart, an automated convenience store in Memphis, Tenn., is counting on. At SmartMart, customers can drive in…
Last Quarter Harsh for Marsh
Marsh Supermarkets reported a net loss of $824,000 or 10 cents a share for the fiscal quarter ending March 29. Same-store sales were down 2.2 percent of the period. Comp-store…
Giant Gets Into Special Delivery Business
Giant Foods, division of Ahold, will begin offering home delivery to shoppers in the Baltimore area beginning June 22. It won’t be through Peapod, however. Giant working with neXpansion will…
Men: We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Clothes
Stores such as Target and Gadzooks are cutting back or eliminating men’s wear departments because of a lack of demand. Sales of men’s wear have been falling almost from the…
Oops, Suspect is a Senator
A State Senator, the first black women ever elected to Oregon’s Legislature, Margaret Carter, claims she was singled-out by Fred Meyer employees for shoplifting after an exit alarm went off…
FMI Speaks
Food retailer sales grew only 1.6 percent last year, according to the Food Marketing Institute’s (FMI) Food Marketing Industry Speaks 2003. However, nearly half of retailers surveyed reported posting same-store…
Kmart Chairman Stocks Up on Sears
Edward Lampert, the chairman and largest shareholder of Kmart, has increased his ownership of Sears stock to 10.13 percent from 8.9 percent at the end of the last year, fueling…
