Management

George Soros has found a new financial disaster from which to profit: American Apparel. The billionaire octogenarian who, like American Apparel's controversial CEO Dov Charney, has lately been entangled in lawsuits with young, beautiful women, is backing a firm that's in talks to extend a credit line worth as much as $80 million to the cash-strapped clothing chain, The Post has learned. The credit facility from Crystal Financial, a Boston-based firm that boasts Soros’ hedge fund as its lead investor, will immediately replace and expand a $75 million revolving credit line from Bank of America.

Starting today, TOURNEAU, a retailer of fine timepieces, will begin the painstaking task of shifting forward its expansive inventory of watches in accordance with Daylight Saving Time. Spread over 35 stores across the country, over 1,000 TOURNEAU watch technicians will begin the monumental process of changing hundreds of thousands of timepieces from the 111 brands the stores carry: a process that will take two full days to complete nationwide.

Ever wonder how Wal-Mart gets the price of toilet paper so low? In part, it could be because the workers who distribute products are paid below minimum wage, according to the allegations of a new lawsuit. 

Ikea workers and trade union leaders from around the world will meet in Istanbul from March 6 to March 8 to launch the UNI IKEA Global Union Alliance to ensure good working conditions for all workers at all Ikea workplaces across the globe.

Shoppers are like laboratory rats these days. From the time shoppers walk into stores, their footsteps, eye movements, choices and reactions to discounts are often closely monitored. With this analysis, stores can determine with startling accuracy whether changes such as remodeled stores, specific deals and more salespeople will make people spend more.

Tesco, Britain's largest grocer, says it will hire 20,000 additional workers in Britain over the next two years as it opens new stores and improves its fresh food offering. The new hires represent a 7 percent increase on the company's current U.K. workforce of 290,000.

The Kronox Retail Labor Index released on Thursday showed that retail hiring is on the rise, even as fewer people seek jobs in the retail sector. The index jumped to 4.2 percent, up nearly 7 percent from last year, indicating a potential recovery in the labor market.

Retailers nationwide lose less to shoplifters and organized crime than they do to another group: their own employees. Thefts by employees accounted for about 45 percent of retail losses in 2010, according to the National Retail Security Survey. Shoplifting and organized retail crime made up about 31 percent of inventory shrinkage, the accounting term for loss of products between the point of purchase from a supplier and point of sale.

Aaron's, the nation's leader in the sales, lease ownership and specialty retailing of residential furniture, consumer electronics, home appliances and accessories, announced that its board of directors has elected interim CEO Ronald W. Allen as president and chief executive officer of the company. 

Word on the street is that MAC Cosmetics, a division of Estee Lauder, signed a lease that breaks the record for the highest rent ever paid for a New York retail space. If true, the transaction sets a new high for rental rates in an area that last year already ranked as the most expensive retail strip in the world.