Managing

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to create challenges for retailers, entrepreneurs are re-examining their business models to see where they can better control costs while continuing to drive operational efficiencies. From my personal experience as a Yahoo Small Business advisor and brick-and-mortar store co-owner, I’d like to share my top tips for how retail owners…

Holiday retail sales rose a stronger-than-expected 8.3 percent from 2019, or $789.4 billion, according to data released by the National Retail Federation on Friday. Consumers apparently embraced the gift-giving season as a way to cheer themselves up during the pandemic. The numbers include online and other non-stores sales, which were up 23.9 percent at $209 billion. The NRF had forecast that sales during…

Walgreens expects to get its first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 21, and will start giving shots to nursing home residents and workers at nearly 35,000 long-term care facilities nationwide in the days leading up to Christmas. To administer the vaccine, Walgreens plans to hire 25,000 people across the U.S., including 9,000 pharmacists and other healthcare workers.…

Guitar Center said last week that it expects to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after negotiating a debt-cutting deal with key investors and lenders. The country’s largest music instrument seller plans to emerge from protection before year’s-end with nearly $800 million less debt. By filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Guitar Center would be able to continue…

Neiman Marcus Group announced last week that it expects to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy by Sept. 30 under a restructuring plan that's likely to eliminate more than $4 billion of its debt and more than $200 million of interest expense. The upscale retail chain said certain institutional investors will fund a $750 million exit financing package. The…

Lord + Taylor, one of America's oldest department stores, has filed for bankruptcy, joining a growing list of stores slammed by the coronavirus pandemic. In addition, Tailored Brands, the parent company of Men's Wearhouse and JoS. A. Bank, also filed for bankruptcy. Lord + Taylor, which was sold to rental clothing company Le Tote last…

In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Joe Keenan and Kristina Stidham discuss the July installment of the Women in Retail and Total Retail Virtual Exchange, which occurred earlier this week. This Virtual Exchange featured exclusive interviews with leading retail executives, including Rachel Shechtman, founder, STORY; Ben Kaufman, CEO, CAMP; Rodney Hutton, chief…

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, diversity and inclusion, and some fun stuff, too. As always, if there's anything you would like me to share in a future post, let…

We all wish we had more time. But the problem with time is that we can’t just make more hours appear from thin air. We each get 24 hours a day, so it’s vital we use those hours to our advantage. However, the busier you are, the less time you seem to have. And in…

J.C. Penney filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday with plans to permanently close some stores and also explore a possible sale. The department store chain, known for selling family apparel, cosmetics and jewelry at 850 locations, said it reached an agreement with existing lenders for $900 million of debtor-in-possession financing to aid operations while it navigates…