Management

Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores said it will increase its workforce by more than 15 percent for the holiday season. Tom Williams, senior vice president of human resources for Jo-Ann, announced the company has begun the seasonal recruiting process and will hire more than 3,000 additional employees before the holidays. The company attributes the seasonal hiring to anticipation of increased traffic in stores through the holiday season.

Retail hiring levels have reached the highest mark in nearly three years. The Kronos Retail Labor Index, which characterizes the current state of the demand and supply sides of the labor market within the U.S. retail sector, rose to 3.9 percent in September, reflecting a strong gain in hires and a modest decline in applications, all on a seasonally adjusted basis.

As malls across the country empty out, it's no wonder their remains are being scavenged. Retailers are leaving malls whlie Protestant churches in the American suburbs are growing and franchising. Malls and churches may seem like an strange combination, like Auntie Annie's pretzels washed down with communion wine. 

Some Wal-Mart stores in China will close temporarily following accusations they sold ordinary pork as organic pork, Wal-Mart said. "We have agreed to temporarily close some stores in Chongqing for 15 days. We believe this will allow us to complete comprehensive actions to upgrade the standards in these Chongqing stores," Wal-Mart said in a statement.

The disconnect between how executives and consumer privacy advocates view email marketing was never more obvious than during the latest hijinks surrounding Barnes & Noble's acquisition of Borders' customer data, including email addresses. As part of the Borders bankruptcy proceedings, Barnes & Noble paid $13.9 million for Borders' intellectual property, including its 48-million customer database.

Best Buy made a pretty big goof, accidentally pricing the HTC Flyer at $99.99. The electronics retailer mistakenly dropped the price on the tablet following the launch of Amazon's Kindle Fire, which is priced at $199.

I was observing a salesperson in a store where I was doing consulting not too long ago. This young lady was a very talented salesperson. She was neat, smiling with an almost contagious positive attitude — and that’s just for starters. After all, if we don’t like the person we're doing business with, we'll very rarely buy from that person. This salesperson was likeable. She had mastered the skills of listening attentively and gave strategic compliments in the most sincere of ways.

There’s no arguing that banks, potential investors and creditors look heavily to a company’s financial statements to determine its value. However, past financials often aren’t the whole story. Below are five additional factors to consider as you seek to maximize your company’s value, whether you plan to sell soon or simply want to be ready when that day comes.

Steven P. Jobs, the visionary co-founder of Apple who helped usher in the era of personal computers and then led a cultural transformation in the way music, movies and mobile communications were experienced in the digital age, died Oct. 5. He was 56.

It seems the Australian chain store GASP may be shuttering the location where a salesperson yelled at a shopper for failing to grasp the genius of a garment that resembles a "dead flamingo."