Managing

Report: Toys"R"Us to Open New US Stores in 2019
June 24, 2019 at 2:45 pm

Defunct children’s retail chain Toys"R"Us will open about a half dozen U.S. stores and an e-commerce site this holiday season, roughly a year after shuttering U.S. operations, according to a report in Bloomberg. Richard Barry, a former Toys"R"Us executive who is now CEO of new entity Tru Kids Inc., has been pitching his vision to reincarnate…

Lululemon Men's-Only Stores Quietly Close
June 21, 2019 at 11:45 am

Lululemon Athletica Inc. has quietly closed its men’s standalone stores in New York City and Toronto, even as it plans to more than double its men’s business in the next five years. The retailer found that guests respond better to Lululemon “as a dual-gender brand,” spokeswoman Erin Hankinson told Bloomberg News when asked about the locations. “We…

Glitch Preventing Target Customers From Making Purchases Has Been Fixed
June 17, 2019 at 1:38 pm

Target said a systemwide outage that prevented customers from making purchases at its stores on Saturday has been fixed. The two-hour outage, which affected its cash registers, was caused by an internal technology problem, the retail chain said, without giving further details. “After an initial but thorough review, we can confirm that this was not…

HBC Board Mulls Shareholders' Take-Private Bid
June 10, 2019 at 2:30 pm

Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) announced today that its board of directors has formed a committee of independent directors to review a proposal from a group of HBC shareholders who would like to take the company private at $9.45 per share. The shareholders, who collectively own 57 percent of the company, include HBC Governor and Executive…

Report: Walmart Appoints New Store No. 8 Head
June 5, 2019 at 2:15 pm

Walmart has hired Scott Eckert to run its investment arm and startup incubator, Store No. 8, according to an internal memo from Marc Lore, the retailer's head of e-commerce on Monday, and obtained by Reuters. Eckert is a former executive of Bain Capital Ventures, where he evaluated potential new investments and advised CEOs about existing…

Kohl's to Sell Fanatics’ Licensed Sports Gear Online
May 20, 2019 at 1:39 pm

Kohl’s announced that it has signed a long-term deal with Fanatics to sell the sports retailer's licensed gear exclusively on Kohls.com, starting this fall. Fanatics had already been a wholesale partner of Kohl’s. The new deal, however, will enable Kohl's online shoppers access to hundreds of thousands of items across team apparel, jerseys and additional merchandise for men,…

Sears’ New Logo Gets Mixed Reviews
May 10, 2019 at 2:14 pm

Sears unveiled a new logo earlier this month on its social media channels, and it's generating mixed reviews from consumers. In addition to the logo, Sears debuted a new slogan as well: "making moments matter." The new slogan was featured in a video the company published on Facebook in late April. Sears said the new logo was…

How DAVIDsTEA is Using Technology to Improve Store Associate Performance
May 6, 2019 at 12:18 pm

In episode 194 of Total Retail Talks, Executive Editor Joe Keenan interviews April Sabral, vice president of retail sales and operations at DAVIDsTEA, a Canadian specialty tea and tea accessory retailer. Listen in as they discuss DAVIDsTEA's use of an employee engagement app to communicate quickly and directly with store associates, how use of the…

The North Face to Close 113 Stores in U.S. and Canada on Earth Day
April 18, 2019 at 3:12 pm

The North Face said this week that it will close its global headquarters and its 113 stores in the U.S. and Canada on Earth Day, April 22. The action is part of a campaign to make Earth Day an officially recognized holiday. The VF Corp.-owned brand said closing its doors on Earth Day will provide its employees ample opportunity…

Signet Jewelers to Shutter 150 Stores
April 8, 2019 at 1:36 pm

Signet Jewelers Limited, the world's largest retailer of diamond jewelry, said last week that it's planning to close 150 underperforming stores during its current fiscal year and that by fiscal year's end it plans to reduce its store base by 13 percent over a three-year period, according to a company press release. Signet, which has 3,300 stores…