Retail Stores

Foot Locker Teams With Nike to Open 'Power' Stores
August 9, 2019 at 11:29 am

Foot Locker is teaming with Nike as it rolls out bigger, more interactive stores. These so-called Power stores are four times as big as a typical Foot Locker store in malls. The newest will open Saturday in New York — in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. The retailer plans to open upwards of 50 Power stores over…

Back-to-School a Big Opportunity for Retailers to Impress
August 8, 2019 at 10:23 am

Back-to-school (BTS) is a critically important selling period — and an opportunity to connect with shoppers before the holiday season. In a recently completed shopper survey, BRG Retail found consumers consistent in their expectations for BTS shopping, presenting a golden opportunity for retailers to strengthen their connection to customers. In the survey, we asked how…

Walgreens to Close 200 Pharmacies Across the US
August 7, 2019 at 11:49 am

Walgreens announced plans to close 200 stores in the U.S. on Tuesday, reports CNBC. This comes after parent company Walgreens Boots Alliance announced plans to review its U.S footprint and close 200 U.K. stores earlier this year. The pharmacy operates roughly 10,000 locations nationwide, and closures will affect less than 3 percent of its current…

As the Summer Heats Up, So Does Competition for Back-to-School Spend
August 7, 2019 at 10:01 am

To many, it may feel as though summer still has a ways to go. But like it or not, retailers must face the fact that Amazon.com's first-ever 48-hour Prime Day ushered in the unofficial start of the 2019 back-to-school (BTS) shopping season, along with some heated competition for consumer spend. BTS is the second-largest shopping…

Barneys New York Files for Bankruptcy
August 6, 2019 at 9:56 am

Barneys New York, an icon of New York retail, filed for bankruptcy early Tuesday morning, with a plan to significantly reduce its physical footprint, as it looks for a buyer to stave off liquidation. The retailer said it will focus on running only five of its more than 10 namesake stores: on New York’s Madison…

The Primary Reasons Shoppers Don't Come Back to Stores
July 26, 2019 at 12:47 pm

In this week’s Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Joe Keenan and Kristina Stidham discuss the challenge brick-and-mortar retailers face in getting customers to come back to their stores to shop again. Specifically, they analyze a recent article published on myTotalRetail.com, The 4 Reasons Shoppers Don’t Come Back to Stores, which was authored by Tom Buiocchi, president…

GNC to Close Up to 900 Stores
July 23, 2019 at 11:44 am

Health and wellness retailer GNC plans to close up to 900 stores, with big cuts to mall locations expected. Officials with the Pittsburgh-based chain spoke of their continued "store optimization effort" during GNC's second-quarter earnings call with analysts Monday. In the first six months of 2019, GNC records show 192 company-owned and franchise locations have…

5 Trends Driving Experiential Retail, and Their Impact on Brick-and-Mortar Strategy
July 19, 2019 at 11:48 am

In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Joe Keenan and Kristina Stidham discuss the top trends driving experiential retail, as written in a recent article published on Total Retail by author Martin Kurpiel, senior vice president of technology solutions and IT at Valid. They focus on how experiential retail could impact businesses’ brick-and-mortar strategies going…

Charming Charlie Files for Bankruptcy, to Close All of its Stores
July 11, 2019 at 3:15 pm

Fashion accessory retailer Charming Charlie will close all of its stores after going bankrupt for the second time in less than two years. The company filed for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware with plans to close all of its 261 stores in 38 states, according to court documents via Bloomberg News. The chain expects the liquidation to take about…

How b8ta Provides Experiential Retail Spaces for Online Brands
July 10, 2019 at 2:33 pm

While attending the IRCE at RetailX conference in Chicago, Total Retail's Melissa Campanelli interviewed John Kennelly, general manager of partnerships at b8ta, a retail-as-a-service company. Kennelly discusses b8ta's 17 stores across the U.S., where online and direct-to-consumer brands can showcase products, and how the brand partners with retailers to help them reinvent their stores and business models though…