The Mark Wattles-engineered turnaround at Circuit City moved forward Monday with the departure of Philip Schoonover, the electronics chain’s chairman, CEO, and president. Replacing Schoonover as president and CEO: James Marcum, who was named non-executive chairman about a month ago. Marcum came to the Circuit City board in June as part of a slate nominated by Wattles, who holds a 6.5...
Retail Industry Archive
September 2008
Many of us thought Borders had missed the boat on e-commerce by hitching its Internet wagon to Amazon.com. CEO George Jones asked for that relationship to be severed when he arrived at Borders in 2006. Two years later, a fully independent Borders.com launched this summer, with multimedia features and a built-in loyalty program with 28 million customers. Jones spoke to Shop.org’s Vahe...
Shop.org, always a fount of useful news, has been an embarrassment of riches this week, as a crack team of bloggers covered sessions at the National Retail Federation’s Shop.org Annual Summit in Las Vegas. On Monday we’ll delve into the presentation by keynoter George Jones, CEO of Borders Books. But to wrap up the week, take a look at some of the highlights of a very busy couple of...
Steve & Barry’s – whose co-founder boasted last year that the chain could grow to 5,000 stores — will close 103 of its 276 locations. Final liquidation sales are already happening at 24 locations, although a flagship store under construction in Manhattan will still open at the site of the former Greenwich Village Tower Records. According to Newsday, the $163 million sale...
If you’ve spent any time thinking about the online vs. storefront debate, take a look at the discussion with Gap.com CEO Toby Lenk at blog.shop.org, where they’re blogging like crazy from Shop.org’s 2008 Annual Summit. His keynote focused on Gap Inc.’s decision to merge all four of its brands into a universal shopping site with a single checkout. Gap, Banana...
I always find something worthwhile to read in Advertising Age’s “CMO Strategy” section. In the Sept. 15 issue, Thinktopia CEO Patrick Hanlon exhorts product designers and marketers to move beyond yesterday’s store-centric “push” and media-driven “pull” strategies. Instead, he advises companies to embrace the “pick” economy, where...
I confess my first thought on hearing of Best Buy’s acquisition of Napster was, “Does Napster still exist?” So, without a strong opinion on the situation one way or another, let’s take a look at what’s being said about the $121 million deal, and then discuss. Hit the comment button and weigh in. Paid Content: Once you net out Napster’s cash and short-term...
Just in time for the critical fourth quarter, the current financial crisis hits retailers right where they live: access to capital. Speaking at the Reuters Autos Summit in Detroit on Monday, General Motors President Fritz Henderson predicted the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and turmoil at Merrill Lynch, AIG, and elsewhere, will close credit markets to all borrowers save those with triple-A...
According to its 10-Q filed with the SEC on Sept. 12, in the second quarter ended August 3, Williams-Sonoma took advantage of a bustling corporate aircraft market and sold its Bombardier Global Express airplane for approximately $47 million in cash, resulting in a pre-tax gain of about $16 million. How much the high-end kitchenware retailer will save in annual operating costs by selling the...
CVS Caremark thought it had Longs Drug Stores in the bag after announcing a $2.61 billion merger agreement Aug. 12. But Longs’ two biggest institutional owners pushed for a better offer, and on Friday they got one: Walgreens offered $3 billion for the West Coast chain. Walgreens’ unsolicited cash bid for $75 per Longs share may please Pershing Square Capital Management and Advisory...
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- CVS Retail Operations Power Forward
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- TheFind.com Give Bargain Hunters More Options Online
- Costco Challenges Coke and the Stakes Could Be High
- Wal-Mart, Target and Costco Shine as Private Labels Challenge National Brands
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- Booksellers Take On Walmart, Target, Amazon Over Discounts -- But It's Just Business as Usual
- Pizza and Cupcakes Keep 'em Coming to 7-Eleven as Cigarette Business Slides
- Gap Stands Behind Flailing Banana Republic
- Prediction Calls for Happy Black Friday
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- P&G Retail Push Makes Sense, Risks Aside
- Walmart Readies Smaller Stores for Smarter Growth
- Duckwall-ALCO Rights Itself Amidst Recession
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- Neil Cole Steps Out From Brother Kenneth's Shadow With Iconix -- Or Does He?
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- Target Fashions a Comeback from Recession with Carlos Falchi, Jean Paul Gaultier
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