Retail Roundup: Walgreens Slashes 1,000 Jobs, 500 Agree to Best Buy Buyout, More

Walgreens slashes 1,000 management jobs — Walgreen Co. announced Jan. 9 that it plans to cut 1,000 field-management employees, marking the largest corporate reduction in the retailer’s history. Although the company is eliminating 9 percent of its upper-level staff, the job cuts won’t include store employees. The layoffs play into the chain’s plan to attain $1 billion in savings for fiscal 2011, although the company said it hasn’t yet estimated the cost of the job cuts, which will be completed by the end of the company’s fiscal year on Aug. 31. [Source: Chicago Business]

500 agree to Best Buy buyout — About 500 employees at Best Buy’s headquarters in Richfield, Minnesota, agreed to accept voluntary buyouts as the company looked to trim staff while avoiding layoffs. With one-eighth of the retailer’s corporate workforce now gone, the company is analyzing whether it will be able to survive without a round of forced layoffs. Best Buy will release its December sales results Jan. 9, and Wall Street is not expecting good news; the electronics retailer spent a rocky holiday season fighting off competition from discounters such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp. [Source: StarTribune.com]

Macy’s could write down $3 billion of goodwill in Jan. — Macy’s Inc. may write down its goodwill by as much as $3 billion after-tax as early as this month, which might speed the stock’s spiral downward. The charge, to reduce the value on its 2005 acquisition of May Department Stores Co., would be the most significant hit to financial results in 18 years and wipe out a third of equity. “There is still a lot of pain to go” for the retailer, said Bill Dreher, an analyst with Deutsche Bank AG in New York, who recommends holding the stock. A goodwill charge ” is going to make some investors nervous.” [Source: Bloomberg]

QVC to sell Obama memorabilia at inauguration — Amid a downpour of dismal retail news, a few scrappy businesses are hoping to capitalize on one January event sparking excitement: Barack Obama’s inauguration. QVC is venturing to Washington, D.C., for the ceremony — and the retailer isn’t traveling light: It’s bringing along coins, stamps, jewelry, and even small handbags to sell. The retail network has already sold more than 100,000 items related to Obama’s election, and it sees the inauguration as another opportunity to reach consumers not typically interested in political collectibles. Retailers cashed in on Obama’s campaign, as well as the presidential election in general, for much as 2008, as BNET shows here. [Source: Specialty Retail Report]