Retail Stores

A record 196.7 million consumers shopped over Thanksgiving weekend in 2022, and Black Friday sales are expected to reach $9.8 billion this year. For small businesses, this presents a significant opportunity to bolster sales and attract new customers to their brick-and-mortar stores. That is, if they have the necessary tools to handle a serious influx…

buybuy BABY announced its return on Tuesday with store celebration events set for Sat., Nov. 18, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. EST at 11 retail stores across the Northeast. The in-store celebrations will include a fun day for consumers to interact with their favorite brands while enjoying treats, giveaways and surprises in time for the holiday gift-giving season, according…

There's an unpredictability of winter weather that makes the upcoming season especially interesting for meteorologists, and far less enjoyable for anyone who has experienced the shock of a significantly higher energy bill thanks to extreme weather events like those that experienced Texas’ February 2021 storms. When we look ahead to the colder months, there’s some…

Walmart is investing more than $9 billion over a two-year period to upgrade and modernize some U.S. stores with improved layouts, expanded product selections and new tech additions. On Friday, 117 stores in 30 states will be re-launched showcasing the enhancements, representing investments of more than $500 million, Walmart said in a statement. In total,…

Just about any retailer or brand marketer is going to like the idea of using technology to better understand how consumers shop a store. But what they don’t tend to like is any possibility that the technology being used will upset and even alienate those shoppers. Stories regularly find their way into mainstream media about…

As store shelves fill with fall favorites, it’s hard to ignore the beginning of the U.S. winter holiday shopping season — and the uptick in American spending that typically goes with it. The frenzy from late September through the new year is a well-established critical time for retailers, which count on the “Golden Quarter” for a…

Consumers showed surprising strength in September, boosting retail sales well above expectations despite high interest rates and worries over a weakening economy. Retail sales rose 0.7 percent on the month, well above the 0.3 percent Dow Jones estimate, according to the advance report the Commerce Department released Tuesday. Excluding autos, sales were up 0.6 percent, also well…

Macy's announced on Tuesday that it will open up to 30 smaller stores in strip malls over the next two years, as the retailer chases customers out of shopping malls and into bustling suburbs. The expansion marks an inflection point for the department store operator, which has looked for ways to refresh its legacy brand, cope with…

Consumer desire for convenience, speed and the resultant increase in online shopping has dramatically altered the retail landscape. With greatly diminished foot traffic in stores and retail spending now strapped by inflationary pressure on consumer pocketbooks, we've seen record numbers of retail bankruptcies, restructurings, and associated store closures in 2023. When a retail operator goes…

Toys R Us is plotting a bold comeback in the U.S., as it plans to expand its brick-and-mortar presence with as many as 24 new flagship stores and a separate rollout at airports and on cruise ships starting this holiday season. The toy retailer’s parent company, WHP Global, announced what it called the “Air, Land and…