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The electronics chain was referencing popular podcast "Serial," which investigates the murder of a 17-year-old named Hae Min Lee. According to Adweek, the high school student was strangled in a Best Buy parking lot in Maryland, after which the killer is said to have made a phone call from a payphone there. In little over an hour, the chain received hundreds of comments for the post, some of which criticized the brand. Others commented that people were overreacting to the gaffe.

Pet supply retailer PetSmart succumbed to calls from some shareholders for a sale on Sunday with an agreement to be bought by a private equity consortium led by BC Partners Ltd for $8.7 billion, in the largest leveraged buyout of the year. At a time when a stock market rally has made private equity firms reluctant to take companies private for fear of overpaying, the deal illustrates how activist investors have the potential to drive corporate boards to explore such deals and accept a price that makes a leveraged buyout possible.

In Manhattan's cavernous Park Avenue Armory, the thrum of the Rolling Stones’ "Sympathy for the Devil" blared as Mick Jagger's 22-year-old supermodel daughter, Georgia, sashayed down the catwalk. Vogue's Anna Wintour was in the front row. So were the daughters of rock royalty like Keith Richards, Simon Le Bon and Annie Lennox, firing off shots on Instagram (#tommyspring15). Kendall Jenner of clan Kardashian closed out the show strutting in a sheer, braless dress. The message of Tommy Hilfiger's New York Fashion Week show was as transparent as Jenner's top: After a long and painful fall, he's back.

U.S. retail sales perked up in November, as cheaper gas and an improving job market fueled a promising start to the holiday shopping season. Retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 0.7 percent, the most in eight months, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Excluding gas stations, sales climbed a healthy 0.9 percent. Spending on motor vehicles accelerated 1.7 percent, while purchases at clothiers, online retailers, electronics stores and department stores all expanded. Nonstore retailers, which include online and mail order outlets, rose 1 percent.

Back in the fall, reports were rampant that Amazon.com would open a physical store in midtown Manhattan in time for the holiday rush. The online giant had rented space across from the Empire State Building, according to reports, with plans to open a space that would double as a store and mini depot where select orders could be picked up and returned. But with the holiday season in full-swing, there's no Amazon storefront on W. 34th St. — and it doesn't appear any is likely in the near future. 

Millions of Target customers whose credit card data and identifying information was stolen by hackers face the prospect the retailer owes them nothing for their ensuing troubles, and they may have the government to thank for it. The retailer is counting on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling from last year grounded in the principle of no harm-no foul to win dismissal of about six dozen lawsuits that piled up after it disclosed a massive data breach six days before Christmas. 

Walgreens CEO Gregory Wasson announced Wednesday that he will step down from his position before the new year, just as America's largest drug store chain prepares to complete a merger with the Switzerland-based Alliance Boots. The company said in a statement that Stefano Pessina, executive chairman of Alliance Boots, will serve as acting CEO, pending a board search for a successor. Walgreens Chairman James Skinner will become Walgreens Boots Alliance's executive chairman.

The worst thing about going to the movies is having to sit upright for a few hours. Everyone knows lying down is the ideal viewing position for anything on a screen — or anything at all, for that matter. No stranger to putting dream-like imagery in its advertising, Ikea moves even more directly into the bedroom with its latest stunt. Moviegoers in Khimki, Russia are being treated to quite a surprise this month. After purchasing their tickets, patrons are led to a theater that's been completely gutted and transformed into a giant bedroom, entirely outfitted with Ikea furniture.

eBay is considering a plan to eliminate thousands of jobs early next year as it prepares to separate its PayPal payments unit, according to people familiar with the company's thinking. The cuts are expected to primarily affect workers in eBay's core marketplace division. One source said eBay has discussed trimming at least 3,000 jobs, or 10 percent of its total workforce. The planned layoffs appear to be part of eBay's preparations to be a stand-alone company, and a potentially attractive takeover target. The marketplace division, which includes eBay.com and StubHub, is more profitable than PayPal.

Why are black Barbies priced differently than white Barbies? It's a tough question and one that some of America's biggest retailers are having to answer amid the biggest shopping time of the year. For example, on Tuesday afternoon Wal-Mart's website listed an African-American ice skater Barbie for $11.87, while the Caucasian version costs just $9.88. The retailing giant said the pricing discrepancy was an unintended error. "They should always be the same price, across all ethnicities," a Wal-Mart spokesman said Tuesday evening. "This is just a pricing error. We corrected it immediately."