Retail Industry Archive

If Dollar Tree’s success indicates that consumer are still penny pinching and not ready to drive the economy out of recession, the latest earnings figures it released are not good news to anyone but shareholders. Conversely, if they are indicative of a consumer that is enjoying the freedom frugality brings – such as not having to worry about what the neighbors will think about shopping...

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While executive moves at Best Buy are topped by the appointment of a new chief information officer, what the electronics retailer really is doing with the leadership reshuffle is strengthening its international division. As is the case in the United States, the company has slowed the pace of international expansion, particularly as regards its namesake Best Buy stores in Canada and China, as a...

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It looks like Blockbuster is piggybacking on another company’s cool idea again. The Dallas-based retailer just released the details of its previously announced intention to get involved in online video game rentals. Well, like its foray into online movie rentals, when it went head to head with rival Netflix in 2004, Blockbuster is probably headed into this space a little late. This time...

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Neill Davis, chief financial officer of The Men’s Wearhouse, told analysts on the fourth-quarter 2008 earnings call that “promotional posture is resonating with customers-both new and existing — and is positively impacting gross profit dollars, due in large part to effective marketing and merchandising initiatives.” Despite management’s attempt to put a positive...

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The commercial real estate market will have to absorb price declines of at least 10 percent before it can begin to recover and may require slippage of more than 30 percent, according to a poll by LoopNet, an online commercial real estate marketplace. Two thirds of poll respondents said a market restart will require price declines of 10 percent or more from current levels with 37 percent...

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Drug chains are among those retailers who seem to understand best that changing demographics in the United States require changes in the way they do business, and Walgreens has been particularly active in ensuring it can respond institutionally. With Baby Boomers aging and minority consumers becoming a critical growth segment of the population, Walgreens is launching initiatives that take into...

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Wal-Mart considers electronics to be a big opportunity and it is using entertainment — including sales of CDs and DVDs — to help pursue that chance, yet it’s deeper involvement has led it into a new controversy and likely will lead to more in the future. The band Green Day released its new CD 21st Century Breakdown in mid May, and it sold over 215,000 copies in its first week out,...

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Looking back, retail observers and pundits will identify the current recession as a tipping point when private label products emerged from alternative status and into the mainstream, a development that already is reshaping business relationships. Price is critical to that emergence but so is innovation. Target, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods private label products have brought fresh flavors and...

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Aeropostale is looking for a strong back to school season after posting first quarter profits of 47 cents per diluted share versus 26 cents per diluted share in last year’s period. Results, excluding pre-tax charges of two cents per diluted share related to the closing of the company’s Jimmy’Z format, beat a consensus analyst estimate by a penny. Aeropostale, with a net sales...

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Wal-Mart will test a game and DVD rental kiosk system in 77 of its New York and southern New England stores, further advancing its expansion into automated electronic entertainment rentals. The deal also furthers a Wal-Mart electronics push designed to make it a dominant force in the category and to test new operations that it might apply in other store departments. The machines in the latest...

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