After a good start to the 2018 holiday selling season, December sales fell flat. Year-over-year (YOY) sales improved just 1.1 percent from December 2017, and overall holiday sales finished just 2.6 percent above 2017. Retailers felt the impact to their gross margin line and now face potential inventory issues due to lower-than-expected December sales. Thus…
Clothing subscription company Rent the Runway has added drop boxes to four Nordstrom locations in Los Angeles. The deal, which CNBC announced on Thursday, is Rent the Runway’s second plan to expand its reach after agreeing last fall to put drop boxes in certain WeWork locations. The drop boxes will be at three of Nordstrom’s…
Retailers face a number of threats, some specific to their brand and merchandise, others based on their geographic location. Keeping employees and customers safe requires a two-pronged approach: establishing the right culture and providing a safe and secure physical environment. For employees, this means investing in security awareness training for staff, which is simply a…
In episode 202 of Total Retail Talks, Executive Editor Joe Keenan interviews Julia Babina, vice president of operations and customer service at Brooklinen, a direct-to-consumer brand selling luxury bed sheets, pillows, comforters and blankets. Listen in as Babina discusses the story of Brooklinen's growth, and why the launch of a pop-up shop was a test…
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…
In episode 201 of Total Retail Talks, Executive Editor Joe Keenan speaks with Mike Tamte, co-CEO and co-founder of EVEREVE, a national women's fashion brand that works to inspire joy in its customers. Listen in as Tamte discusses the growth of EVEREVE, including investments in brick-and-mortar stores; hiring the right talent, particularly for its technology…
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…
Apple announced that Best Buy now offers authorized repairs on its products at every one of the retailer’s stores. This gives consumers an important alternative to visiting their nearest Apple store — if there even is one — for service on an iPhone or Mac. Repairs are done with genuine Apple parts and are fully…
The so-called retail apocalypse that has taken the blame for shuttering brick-and-mortar stores isn't as detrimental as some may think. At first glance, the common notion that digital-native retailers would supplant traditional retailers with physical stores appeared to have some truth to it. Store closures and bankruptcies seemed to be rampant, which caused digital evangelists…
CVS will open 1,500 HealthHUB stores by the end of 2021, the company announced Tuesday ahead of its investor day. The HealthHUBs are remodeled drugstores that focus more on health services and products and less on candy and greeting cards. CVS opened its first three HealthHUB locations in Houston in February. It plans to open more in…
