Retail Roundup: Rite Aid to Close More Stores, Retailers Get Creative, Target vs. Wal-Mart, More

Rite Aid plans to close additional stores — Pennsylvania-based drugstore-chain Rite Aid is looking at its 4,900 locations under a microscope as it ponders closing more stores next year on top of the 181 units shuttered year-to-date. “I do think there will be some additional store closures,” said John Standley, president and COO of the retail behemoth. “You’ll see some clumps here and there as we work our way through it.” Store closures contributed to the chain’s $243.1 million net loss in the quarter, while total revenues were down from $6.5 billion in 2007’s third quarter to $6.47 billion for the same period in 2008. [Source: GlobeSt.com]

Retailers get crafty, creative instead of slashing prices — While the nation’s largest chains have the luxury of being able to hack away at prices and increase discounts this holiday season, smaller retailers that can’t afford to slap “70 percent off” stickers on their merchandise are getting creative. Karan Dannenberg, for example, is spending extra funds on decorations — not discounts — for her namesake store in Seattle. Her window display twinkles with $2,000 worth of ornaments (twice as much as she spent on the display last year), and she’s pulled out all the stops with her complimentary gift-wrapping service; she spends up to $10 on each custom-wrapped box. Meanwhile, other experimental retailers are spending funds on gift giveaways and holiday parties thrown especially for patrons. Retailers, what other creative efforts are you undertaking to attract shoppers this holiday season? [Source: The Seattle Times]

Frustrated Target hoping to rival Wal-Mart — Target Inc. has been shopping for a new marketing strategy in recent months as it aims to unleash a new, more aggressive pricing message to combat Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Target “remains frustrated with customer misconceptions that [its] prices are much higher than its main competitor,” says Dan Binder, a Jefferies retail analyst. “Expect the ‘pay less’ message to be amplified” this spring. BNET first reported the possibility of a shift in Target’s strategy Nov. 18. [Source: CNNMoney.com]

Unsuccessful Plastinina stores closing — Russian fashion designer Kira Plastinina, the 16-year-old who turned her dress-sketching hobby into a retail company thanks to $80 million in backing from her father, will close nearly all of her 12 U.S. outlets less than a year after they opened. U.S. demand for garments designed by the teen has continued to drop, said her father, Sergei Plastinin, adding that the global financial crisis dampens his daughter’s plans to expand throughout India and China in 2009. The company will focus instead on its 70 locations in Russia: “We just have to live through the crisis and see what happens next before making any decisions,” Sergei Plastinin says. [Source: Bloomberg.com]