Retail Stores

The retail arm of CVS Health has launched four pilot stores featuring a new in-store beauty format called BeautyIRL, according to a report published by WWD. Currently, two BeautyIRL test stores are located in Florida, and the others are in Andover, Mass. and Stamford, Conn. The new stores offer brands not typically associated with mass market…

Sears Holdings said this week it's shuttering 46 more stores in November. The locations are spread across the United States. Liquidation sales at 33 Sears stores and 13 Kmart locations are expected to begin next week, according to Sears. The company also said that eligible workers will receive severance and be able to apply for openings…

This week, Lowe's announced it would close all Orchard Supply Hardware stores nationwide by Feb. 1. Lowe's is closing the stores to focus on its core home improvement business, the company said. USA Today reports employees were told about the decision Tuesday. Lowe's acquired Orchard Supply Hardware in 2013 out of bankruptcy. The brand had been…

Google is planning to open a two-level store in Chicago’s Fulton Market district, its first known location for a retail flagship, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune. According to the report, the technology giant is close to finalizing a lease for almost 14,000 square feet on the first and second floors of several connected,…

With Mattress Firm mulling a bankruptcy filing in order to get out of leases and shutter stores, online startup Casper is planning to open 200 locations within the next three years across the U.S. Casper opened its first permanent store, in New York, earlier this year. CEO Philip Krim told CNBC at the time that Casper's goal…

In a sign of the times, two more traditional brick-and-mortar retailers have recently filed for bankruptcy protection. National Stores, Inc., parent company of retail brands such as Fallas, Anna’s Linens, and Factory 2-U, announced that in addition to filing for bankruptcy reorganization, it will be closing 74 of its 344 stores. National Stores, which is headquartered in Gardena,…

Walmart is testing the use of storage and retrieval robotics, called Alphabot, to increase the speed of online grocery order pickup, according to a company blog post. The technology, which was developed in collaboration with retail automation company Alert Innovation, is being installed in a section of a Salem, N.H. supercenter, which will also be a dedicated…

In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Caitlin Sullivan and Joe Keenan discuss Nordstrom's inventory-free Local stores, and why experiential retail is integral to the future of brick-and-mortar.

Specialty goods retailer Brookstone, known for quirky products, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Thursday and plans to close all of its remaining mall-based stores. The company hired liquidators to close its roughly 100 remaining mall locations after declining foot traffic and management blunders crushed sales. The retailer has been bleeding cash as customers increasingly shop online…

A program Walmart announced last summer that lets store associates opt into delivering e-commerce ship-from-store orders quietly ended in January, according to company documents obtained by Reuters. The program was tested at three stores — two in New Jersey and one in Arkansas — and the idea was that store employees would bring online orders directly to…