Retail Stores

With $1 billion in costs to cut as part of its merger with Alliance Boots, Walgreen Co. is preparing for potential store design changes and new retail locations to reduce expenses and boost under-performing operations. The largest drugstore chain in the U.S. earlier this week hinted at

With all the talk of Amazon.com crushing brick-and-mortar chains, can the online giant, or any pure-play e-commerce merchant, ever really compete with physical stores when it comes to the instant gratification of leaving a store with a purchase in hand? Amazon's launch last week of Prime Now, a speedy delivery service on tens of thousands of daily essentials to parts of New York City, revived that question.

Minimum wage increases across the United States will prompt Wal-Mart Stores to adjust base salaries at 1,434 stores, impacting about a third of its U.S. locations, according to an internal memo reviewed by Reuters. The memo, which was sent to store managers earlier this month, offers insight into the impact of minimum wage hikes in 21 states due to come into effect on or around Jan. 1, 2015.

Is giving to others the greatest gift of all? Even the sourest Scrooge might admit the idea has merit after checking out J.C. Penney's #JustGotJingled campaign from EVB and Victors & Spoils. J.C. Penney staffers approach customers and offer them the chance to "buy" presents for their fellow shoppers. The givers get to choose the lucky recipients (who must be strangers) and tell them they can pick out gifts for themselves from any department in the store. J.C. Penney picks up the tab, and there are no price limits or any other restrictions. 

To walk into an Anthropologie store is to experience another state of consciousness. You've never been the type to own a Peruvian-style poncho, and yet, once you spot one artfully displayed on a mannequin, you suddenly imagine yourself swaddled in it while frolicking with alpacas on a hazy hilltop. You don't typically purchase girly kitchen gear, but one look at the brand's collection of ruffled aprons, whimsical doorknobs, and mismatched teacups

Aeropostale is picking up its pace of store closings, just in time for the holiday shopping season. The troubled clothing retailer announced late Wednesday that it plans to close 75 of its stores in its fiscal fourth quarter, which runs from November through January. Even stores slated for January closings are likely to go through store closing sales with limited inventories rather than the typical holiday promotions before Christmas. The company didn't say how many jobs would be lost with this next round of closings.

What do you do with an empty 32-story glass-and-steel monument that was supposed to be Memphis’ answer to the Eiffel Tower or the Gateway Arch? That riddle has now been solved: The Pyramid, once a troubled arena for basketball and concerts, will be reborn as a hunting and fishing superstore. The much-maligned building, which once served as the home of the Memphis Grizzlies of the N.B.A. and the University of Memphis basketball program, is scheduled to officially reopen in late April or early May as an outpost of the Bass Pro Shops empire.

All bulked up with cavernous stores and an expanded merchandise assortment, Restoration Hardware is building muscle in the hotly competitive home furnishings space. The retailer is undergoing what CEO Gary Friedman calls a "real estate transformation" as it ditches small-format stores and goes in for larger ones, including Full Line Design galleries ranging from around 14,000 square feet to roughly 45,000 square feet of interior space. Restoration Hardware is also upping its game on the merchandising front by expanding assortments, raising the page count of its catalogs and adding catalogs in new categories such as rugs.

Billabong, the surfwear brand that lost 99 percent of its market value after taking on debt to build a store network, plans to start opening new outlets again as it tries to reignite profits. Billabong is ready to open new stores "right now," CEO Neil Fiske said. The company based in Gold Coast, Australia, closed or sold about 34 percent of its locations over the past three years as it slashed debt by A$394 million ($333 million). "Stores are key to a brand's health over time," Fiske said in an interview in Sydney.

Holiday shopping in the U.S. kicked off earlier than ever this year, leaving some customers who didn't want to skip out on their Thanksgiving celebrations without the bargains they were seeking.