Amazon.com is planning to publish a holiday toy catalog in an effort win the toy business that has come up for grabs after the demise of Toys“R”Us, according to a report in Bloomberg. People familiar with the strategy told Bloomberg that the catalog will be mailed to millions of U.S. households and handed out at Whole Foods locations, the grocery…
Party City will open about 50 Toy City pop-up stores this year as Toys"R"Us finishes closing its last stores this week following its September bankruptcy. Party City said yesterday it will roll out the temporary locations alongside its Halloween City pop-up shops in "optimal" markets where it found "attractive leasing opportunities." Many retailers have been able…
Pet Supplies Plus opened 33 new franchise stores and 12 new corporate stores in 2017, with plans to add 50 new store this year. In episode 151 of Total Retail Talks, Chris Rowland, CEO of Pet Supplies Plus, details the brand's brick-and-mortar growth strategy. In addition, Rowland addresses Pet Supplies Plus’ approach to integrating its digital and physical businesses on a local level.
Starbucks will close 150 poorly performing company-operated stores next year, about three times as many as it typically closes. The affected stores are located in mostly urban areas that are densely populated with Starbucks locations. The company told investors late Tuesday that it expects same-store sales to grow just 1 percent for the quarter that…
Some in the retail industry believe that millennials have contributed to the decline of brick-and-mortar stores. These young digital natives are constantly tethered to devices and buy products online at the expense of physical stores, or so goes popular belief. That’s a myth, according to our recent survey of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers. We…
In this week's episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Caitlin Sullivan and Joe Keenan discuss consumer spending for Father's Day. Topics addressed in this video include the product categories forecast to see the biggest boost in sales from Father's Day, the important role gift cards will play, consumers increasing preference for purchasing experiences rather…
Lands’ End is distancing itself from struggling Sears Holdings Co. by shuttering more of its in-store shops and instead opening more smaller standalone locations. Since the apparel company split from Sears in 2014, it has been phasing out its sites in the department store chain.It's planning to decrease its number of Sears shops to 132…
J.C. Penney announced last week that it has launched Fanatics shops inside 325 of its stores, with plans to introduce another 325 additional Fanatics destinations by the back-to-school season. Since 2014, sports apparel brand Fanatics has sold its merchandise online at jcpenney.com. Like the online store, the shops-in-shops will house Fanatics shops with local collegiate…
The Hudson’s Bay Co., continuing to suffer same-store sales declines across most of its divisions, is trimming costs by closing 10 Lord & Taylor stores, including its flagship location on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. HBC revealed the planned closures as it reported a net loss of 400 million Canadian dollars, or $308 million, for the…
Nearly 130,000 Costco employees are poised to get a pay raise starting on June 11. According to the Seattle Times, in a May 31 call with investors, CFO Richard Galanti said that the starting wage for Costco employees would go up $1 to $14 or $14.50 per hour, while other warehouse employees would see hourly raises…