Management

Amazon to Pay $500M in Employee Bonuses
July 1, 2020 at 6:51 pm

Amazon.com announced earlier this week that it will provide pandemic bonuses totaling more than $500 million to front-line workers, Progressive Grocer reported. These bonuses are to show appreciation for employees meeting boosts in demand from online shoppers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Only employees who worked for Amazon through the month of June are eligible. Full-time…

Leadership, Interesting Data and Fun Stuff
June 28, 2020 at 9:20 am

Welcome to this week's Retail Resources, which features a curated list of the best content and resources I've found over the past week. This week, I offer information and resources about leadership, data related to COVID-19, and some fun stuff, too. As always, if there's anything you would like me to share in a future post,…

Macy's to Cut Nearly 4,000 Jobs in Corporate Restructuring
June 25, 2020 at 10:10 pm

Macy's announced yesterday that it is cutting 3,900 corporate jobs — 3 percent of its total workforce — to reduce costs as it struggles with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The cuts represent about a fourth of Macy’s corporate workforce. The department store chain said it expects to save about $365 million through the layoffs…

GNC is Closing Up to 1,200 Stores After Filing for Bankruptcy
June 24, 2020 at 5:58 pm

The 85-year-old vitamin and dietary supplement company GNC has announced it's filing for bankruptcy and closing up to a quarter of its stores, CNN reported. The retailer has nearly $1 billion in debt, and is looking for a buyer. GNC has faced declining sales at its brick-and-mortar locations since before the coronavirus pandemic. However, CNN…

Bed Bath & Beyond to Sell Christmas Tree Shops, Cost Plus Stores
June 22, 2020 at 3:26 pm

Bed Bath & Beyond (BB&B) wants to sell its Christmas Tree Shops and Cost Plus World Market chains. BB&B bought Christmas Tree Shops in 2003 and Cost Plus in 2012. Christmas Tree Shops operates 80 stores across the country, according to its website. Cost Plus operates about 260. Separately, BB&B laid off hundreds of employees in New Jersey…

Leadership, COVID-19 Recovery Readiness and Wellness
June 20, 2020 at 10:37 am

Welcome to this week's Retail Resources, which features a curated list of the best content and resources I've found for you over the past week. This week, I offer information and resources about leadership, COVID-19 recovery readiness as stores and offices begin to slowly open, and wellness. As always, if there's anything you would like me…

The Children’s Place to Reduce Store Footprint by One-Third
June 12, 2020 at 4:49 pm

The Children’s Place plans to reduce its store footprint by one-third by the end of fiscal year 2021 as part of an ongoing effort to shift its core business online. Three hundred of the company’s 920 stores in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico are slated to be closed, with 200 closures planned for…

Gap Inc. Closing Men's Athletic Wear Brand Hill City
June 11, 2020 at 7:29 pm

Gap Inc. is closing its trendy athleticwear brand Hill City less than two years after it launched. The apparel retailer said in a blog post on Thursday that it made the decision to close Hill City in order to dedicate its resources to its larger brands — Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy. Hill City was launched…

Be Kind to the Frontline
June 4, 2020 at 7:16 pm

Dreamr, a specialized, full-service brand box firm founded by Women in Retail Leadership Circle (WIRLC) partner Patti Hester, has launched the Gratitude Box project, a nonprofit program that enables consumers to gift care boxes to frontline healthcare heroes, first responders, and essential workers who are risking their lives with selfless acts during the COVID-19 crisis.

Welcome to the Values Economy: Why Brands Can’t Afford to Stay Put Post-COVID-19
June 3, 2020 at 5:21 pm

Well before the COVID-19 crisis began, a shift was taking place in consumerism, away from the value economy we've grown up with — where price over quality was the standard formula for how customers evaluated what constituted good value for money — toward a more complex set of considerations, toward a values economy. Who made…