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Amazing...Check this out on breitbart TV. My apologies in advance if this is already in circulation here. Sears apparently has a deal in the works to launch a line of clothing with the "Big Red One" patch on it. Amazingly stupid,not to mention a slap in the face to all who served with that patch on their uniform. Here's the link..... http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=171143

But says not telling employees how to vote. Presidential hopeful Obama backs a bill that would make it easier for workers to join a union Reuters Published: Saturday, August 02 Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said yesterday it has warned U.S. store managers in recent weeks about the possible consequences of a labour-friendly bill backed by Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama that would make it easier for workers to form unions.

The AFL-CIO and several union-friendly groups filed a formal complaint against Wal-Mart on Thursday, charging that the retail giant is pressuring employees to vote against Sen. Barack Obama. Citing a Wall Street Journal report, the complaint accuses Wal-Mart of pushing its workers to oppose Obama (D-Ill.), who supports a measure that would allow workers to form unions without a secret-ballot election. The complaint calls on the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to investigate whether Wal-Mart has broken federal election laws. Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) opposes the bill, called the Employee Free Choice Act. Among the groups filing the...

NEW YORK - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. posted a 17 percent increase in second-quarter profit Thursday and raised its full-year earnings forecast, helped by cost cuts and a renewed focus on low prices that is attracting financially squeezed shoppers around the world. But the world’s largest retailer predicted slower sales growth at its established stores for the current quarter, saying it is seeing some volatility as customers find it difficult to stretch their paycheck to the next payday. The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer said it earned $3.45 billion, or 87 cents per share, in the quarter ended July 31, up from $2.95...

Big-box, home-improvement stores in Los Angeles will have to set aside space for day laborers under an ordinance passed by the City Council on Wednesday... The shelters must be easily accessible and include drinking water, bathrooms, tables, seating and trashcans. The stores may be required to work with Los Angeles police in developing a security plan, according to the unanimous vote by the 15-member lawmaking body...

WASHINGTON - The government said Wednesday that U.S. retail sales fell in July, the weakest performance in five months. The Commerce Department reported retail sales dipped 0.1 percent last month, as a variety of economic woes combined to blunt the impact of billions of dollars in government stimulus payments to U.S. households. It’s the first decline since sales had fallen by 0.5 percent in February. And it’s a worse showing than the flat reading economists had been expecting.

(CNN) -- Eleven people were indicted Tuesday for allegedly stealing more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers, federal authorities said. The indictments, which alleged that at least nine major U.S. retailers were hacked, were unsealed Tuesday in Boston, Massachusetts, and San Diego, California, prosecutors said. It is believed to be the largest hacking case that the Justice Department has ever tried to prosecute. Three of the defendants are from the United States; three are from Estonia; three are from Ukraine, two are from China and one is from Belarus. The remaining individual is known only by an alias...

Lawyers for Mervyn's LLC are telling creditors that the regional department store chain will file for bankruptcy court protection in the next few days, barring a last-minute cash infusion, according to people familiar with the situation. Mervyn's, which operates 177 stores mostly in California, has been struggling in the face of sharp sales declines this year in California and Arizona, where the real estate markets have collapsed. Nervous factoring companies, which provide financing for apparel makers, have cut off funding, leaving Mervyn's with limited merchandise for the critical back-to-school season. A spokesman for Mervyn's declined to comment. A filing by...

The recent news that Wal-Mart is planning to buy more locally sourced food could be seen as a marketing ploy by the world's largest retailer. But Wal-Mart's decision to buy local will undoubtedly have an effect on American agriculture, just because of the scope of the giant corporation. The company expects to source about $400 million in locally grown produce from U.S. farmers in 2008. Wal-Mart officials announced July 1 that they intend to buy more local fruits and vegetables to keep produce prices down and provide affordable selections that are fresh and healthful. A news release said Wal-Mart's partnership...

US retail sales in surprise climb Consumers spending is the biggest driver of the US economy. US retail sales climbed by the largest amount in six months during May after spending was helped by tax rebates. Sales rose by a better-than-expected 1% in May, the Commerce Department said, the largest rise since November. It also said April's figure had been revised up to a rise of 0.4% against the previous estimate of a 0.2% fall. Economists said the rise indicated that the economy had been given a boost by the stimulus package under which millions of Americans got tax...

"But the pharmacist said not much has changed in the year since the behemoth from Bentonville, Ark., threw open its doors. His loyal clients have not strayed. They like the fact that he delivers for free and remembers most of his customers' names." "...But local proprietors and community leaders say the fears have not panned out."

The rising value of the Chinese yuan, higher pay for Chinese workers and $136-a-barrel oil may mean more factory jobs in North America, the Home Depot chief executive Frank Blake said. The world's largest home-improvement chain is looking for factories in the United States, Mexico and Canada to build some products that are getting too expensive to make in China, Blake said in an interview in New York. The Atlanta-based Home Depot imports about 13 percent of the goods it sells, and most of that is made in China, said a spokeswoman. A shift in production from China back to...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Exxon is getting out of retail gas business, according to the Dallas Morning News and Fox Business News. Exxon was not immediately available to comment on the news. The Dallas Morning News reported Exxon said it will sell the 2,220 service stations it still owns across the United States. There are 12,000 Exxon Mobil branded stations, the majority of which are already owned by families or companies outside of Exxon

Exxon Mobil is getting out of the retail gasoline business, a market where profits have gotten tougher because of high crude oil prices. The world's largest publicly traded oil company said Thursday it will sell its 820-company owned stations and another 1,400 outlets operated by dealers to gasoline distributors across the U.S. The Irving-based company didn't disclose financial details but said the transition will take place over a "multiyear period."

......The world's largest publicly traded oil company said Thursday it will sell its 820-company owned stations and another 1,400 outlets operated by dealers to gasoline distributors across the U.S.

Business reporter Michael Barbaro has long patrolled the Wal-Mart beat for the Times and has taken his journalistic night stick out on the retail giant on several occasions. Thursday's Business section story, "Wal-Mart’s Detractors Come In From the Cold," heralding the successes of two anti-Wal-Mart groups, Wal-Mart Watch and WakeUpWalMart.com, is both a coronation and at last, an investigation. Barbaro has been pumping up Wal-Mart Watch in particular for years, but only today, when it appears that the pressure group has gotten much of what it wanted, does he go into the full extent of the Service Employee's International Union...

A Home Depot store in Utah plans to celebrate Gay pride in the Store with decorations of Rainbows and employee Tee shirts announcing gay pride. Inside sources say that this is something that will be devastating to business as most of the customer base tends to be on the Right side of the issue as they are mostly religious people. I am actively involved in this business and i dont want to be a part of it bacuae this is contrary to my belief and would like advice from more experienced FReepers on how best to disrupt these outrageous plans...

We know Urban Outfitters sometimes makes shirts with stupid sayings, but this one really takes the cake - The mega-chain had to halt sales of a certain new tee after pretty much everybody reacted in outrage. The shirt features a Palestinian boy (which can be deduced by the Palestinian flag and map of Palestinian territories next to him), crouched, holding a large gun with a couple friends behind him doing the same, with the word "Victimized" beneath him, and "Fresh Jive" above him (the shirt was actually designed by Fresh Jive, a company out of LA), and a white dove...

Continuing Upward Pressure On Retail Gasoline Prices Expected ScienceDaily (May 22, 2008) — With the price of a barrel of oil hovering around $120, U.S. drivers can expect to pay more at the pump in the near future, according to a new study by Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. "There is room for retail gasoline prices to move up," said Kenneth Medlock III, a Baker Institute fellow in energy studies and one of the study's authors. While Medlock cautioned that seasonal variability and other factors could affect prices in the near term, he said gasoline could easily reach...

WARNING: this audio broadcast will contain offensive material.

What a Recession Looks Like Are we in a recession? Officially, that's up to a nonprofit group of economists at the National Bureau of Economic Research to decide. While their declaration is based on facts and figures, we took a more "average joe" approach to determine whether we are already in the midst of the big "R." Our bloggers spied more than 20 new trends in everyday life that seem to say we are. Click through our gallery to see what they're seeing. (SLIDESHOW AT LINK)

Wal-Mart Stores Inc on Thursday reported a stronger-than-expected 3.2 percent rise in sales at U.S. stores open at least a year in April. Analysts, on average, were expecting the company's same-store sales to rise 2.1 percent, according to Reuters Estimates, while Wal-Mart forecast a gain of 1 percent to 3 percent. The world's biggest retailer said net sales in the month, ended May 2, rose to $29.18 billion from $26.57 billion.

Wal-Mart recently announced that it will be video-taping its gun sales and creating a computerized log of purchases for reference when a firearm is used in a crime. Wal-Mart clerks would thus be alerted and could refuse to make another sale. The recorded images will also be made available to law enforcement as part of any investigation. The move seems to be an understandable, even commendable a step toward plugging any leaks in the system. And, in fact, it might have been universally heralded if it weren't tied to an organization called Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which was founded and...

How could job loss for 80 small-town residents be a "great story?"

So far, 2008 hasn't been a banner year for Home Depot. In January, the Atlanta-based home improvement retailer laid off 500 people from corporate headquarters. In February, it announced its first ever year over year sales decline. In April, it announced the net loss of 970 jobs from reorganizing its human resources staff. And today, it announced it is closing 15 stores, affecting 1,300 employees. Plus, the Home Depot is suspending the development of 50 stores. The 15 targeted stores are mostly in the Northeast and Midwest, from New Jersey to North Dakota. No Atlanta stores are scheduled to close....

Sears Holdings Corp., the retailer being reorganized by hedge fund investor Edward Lampert, said Bank of America Corp. refused to renew a $1-billion letter of credit under existing terms, sending the shares down 3.2% in after-hours trading Friday. Losing the credit probably won't affect Sears' access to cash, the Hoffman Estates, Ill., company said in a regulatory filing. The retailer had $1.62 billion in cash as of Feb. 2, a 58% decline from a year earlier. Retailers use letters of credit to assure vendors that they have money to pay for goods, and losing a bank's backing may mean having...

Largest seller of firearms will also videotape all transactions Changes at Wal-Mart will affect about 1,100 stores that sell firearms. WASHINGTON - Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest seller of firearms, announced Monday it will toughen rules for gun sales, from storing video of purchases to creating an internal log of which guns they sell that are later used in crimes. J.P. Suarez, the chief compliance officer for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., appeared with outspoken gun control advocate Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York to announce the changes at a gathering of Bloomberg’s group Mayors Against Illegal Guns. Changes to come at about...

Blockbuster Inc, the No. 1 U.S. movie rental chain, said on Monday it has offered to buy electronics retailer Circuit City Stores Inc in an all-cash offer in the range of $6 per share to $8 per share Blockbuster said it made the offer in a February 17 letter to Circuit City's Chief Executive Philip Schoonover on behalf of Blockbuster's board, but that Circuit City had so far failed to provide due diligence. Blockbuster said it was making its proposal public, "because it believes the shareholders of Circuit City should have the opportunity to participate in determining the destiny of...

Blockbuster Plans to Take $1 Billion-Plus Cash Takeover Bid to Circuit City Shareholders DALLAS (AP) -- Blockbuster Inc. said Monday it will take an unsolicited $1 billion-plus bid for Circuit City Stores Inc. directly to the consumer electronics chain's shareholders, saying Circuit City has not responded to repeated offers.......

U.S. retail sales took a surprising turn upward during March, a promising sign for the economy given the punishment consumers have absorbed. Retail sales increased by 0.2%, the Commerce Department said Monday. Sales went down a revised 0.4% in February. Sales that month were originally seen 0.6% lower. Excluding sales of gasoline stations, which were helped by high energy prices, retail sales didn't budge in March. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires estimated a 0.1% decrease in overall March retail sales. The actual, 0.2% increase could be seen as bright news, considering many analysts argue the U.S. has gone into...

Wal-Mart, the nation's largest seller of firearms, which Azi notes has been unsuccessful to date at getting a toehold in the city, agreed today a 10-point "responsible firearms" code championed by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the group fronted and funded by prominent anti-illegal gun activist, Mayor Bloomberg. The deal, announced at the Mayors Against Illegal Guns National Summit underway in Washington, D.C., calls for Wal-Mart to implement the following standards "over time" (no exact schedule was given): 1. Videotaping the Point of Sale for All Firearms Transactions. Participating retailers will videotape the point-of-sale of all firearms transactions and maintain videos...

Linens 'n Things Inc., a home-furnishings retailer caught by an increasing debt load and shrinking housing market, is expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy-court protection by Tuesday, several people familiar with the matter said. A Linens 'n Things filing would mark one of the first major retailers to seek bankruptcy protection in this economic downturn. The New Jersey retailer, which sells home products like towels, bath rugs and kitchen appliances, has about 590 stores in 46 states and employs 17,000 people. Linens would be one of the largest buyouts to go bust since the credit crisis took hold last...

BROOKLYN, Ohio -- Have you ever put a case of water or something heavy under your shopping cart and then forgotten about it? A Cleveland man did, and it landed him in jail, television station WEWS reported. Tom Sturgis has a long receipt showing the $157.20 worth of two grocery carts full of groceries that he bought at a Brooklyn supermarket Saturday night. After going through the self checkout, Sturgis said he forgot a $4 case of pop under the cart.

Walk into the Circuit City in my town, and you'll suddenly get a strange sensation. Look around...you're the only person there. Wait, someone must work here. Hello? Anyone? Then head over to Best Buy, which is packed with customers and ringing up sales.

There comes a time when it is neccessary to replace those little rugs that surround the toilet bowl. This is NOT a light undertaking !!

The Retailer's Initiative To Offer Fair-Trade Coffee Is Pleasing Environmentalists But Reheating A Debate Over Treatment Of Its Workers. With a simple cup of coffee, Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) finds itself back in the charged debate over how it treats workers. The world's largest retailer is introducing three house-brand coffees that are certified as fair trade. And that, of course, renews the prolonged discussion about just what sort of treatment the world's largest retailer offers its own workers. After all, fair trade, in essence, is about paying a fair wage -- and much of the criticism heaped upon Wal-Mart in recent...

Faten Saad knew she wasn't in a typical Wal-Mart when she saw an end-of-the-aisle display featuring Mamool. Boxes of the date-filled, whole wheat cookie from the Middle East welcomed the 21-year-old Lebanon native into the international aisle of the new Wal-Mart store in this Detroit suburb known as the capital of Arab America. Aisle 3, which also features Eastern European and Hispanic food, represents many of the 550 items geared toward Arab-American shoppers in the store that opened last week.

(GOLETA, California) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc will meet with its thousands of Chinese suppliers this fall as part of a big push to reduce waste and emissions at factories that make its products, Chief Executive Lee Scott said on Thursday. "We started a very aggressive program in China that is not only going to deal with environmental sustainability, but is also going to deal more aggressively with the issues of sourcing in China," Scott said during an appearance at the Wall Street Journal ECO:nomics conference in Goleta, California. As the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart is considered one of the few...

Wal-Mart Does Homework to Lure Middle Eastern Shoppers in Detroit-Area Store DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) -- Faten Saad knew she wasn't in a typical Wal-Mart when she saw an end-of-the-aisle display featuring Mamool. Boxes of the date-filled, whole wheat cookie from the Middle East welcomed the 21-year-old Lebanon native into the international aisle of the new Wal-Mart store in this Detroit suburb known as the capital of Arab America. Aisle 3, which also features Eastern European and Hispanic food, represents many of the 550 items geared toward Arab-American shoppers in the store that opened last week. It might be statistically tiny...

NEW YORK I wish to say at the outset that I hold no grudges against Wal-Mart. In fact, my family and I are rather fond of that giant retail chain, where we often find the best prices, especially on pharmaceuticals. It is an odd thing to admit. Many in our clan, including yours truly, hold union memberships. Politically, with me being the sore-thumb exception, we run from left to leftist. Yet, regardless of politics or union affiliation, when it comes to searching for the best quality at the most reasonable prices, Wal-Mart is one of the places we look first....

Lousy economy? It may be bad news for consumers, but it's great news for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. The retail behemoth posted a better-than-expected 2.6% gain in February same-store sales results on Thursday, a welcome showing after a_weak January and a disappointing holiday season. In recent years Wal-Mart has struggled with slowing U.S. growth, high-profile international setbacks, a frumpy image and criticism that it underpaid its workers and offered sub-par health care benefits. Now, the discounter is the American shopper's best friend. Read related story. The company said it saw February strength in grocery, entertainment and health and wellness businesses. Sales...

MERRIMACK, N.H., Feb 27, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Brookstone today announced that customers affected by the recent action to suspend acceptance of Sharper Image gift cards and gift certificates could exchange them at any Brookstone Store for an instant 25 percent savings off a Brookstone purchase. Brookstone, an innovative product developer and specialty retailer of gifts and lifestyle merchandise, said it made the decision after Sharper Image announced on its website it was suspending acceptance of Sharper Image gift cards, rewards cards, gift certificates and merchandising certificates related to Chapter 11 Bankruptcy proceedings. Brookstone said it would exchange...

You know that Sharper Image gift card you got for Christmas? Right now, it's worthless. And other gift cards in your wallet could lose their value, too. As more retailers file for bankruptcy or go out of business, more than $75 million in gift cards are at risk of becoming worthless pieces of plastic this year. [snip] The number of retail bankruptcies or liquidations this year is expected to reach the highest levels since the 1991 recession. Brian Riley, senior analyst at The TowerGroup, estimates that shoppers could lose more than $75 million just from stores and restaurant closings in...

BEIJING -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., a major buyer of Chinese-made shoes, toys and other goods, expects procurement in China to hold steady this year at about $9 billion despite a rising exchange rate and product safety concerns, the retailing giant's vice chairman Michael Duke said Monday. "I wouldn't see any major variation" in procurement from the 2007 total of $9 billion, Duke told reporters. "China will continue to be a major production portion of direct purchases by Wal-Mart for a long time." Duke said relations with the communist government are good despite a high-profile campaign to form unions at Wal-Mart...

Jimmy Deignan's first time was with a $500 portable DVD player. He bought it a few years ago at Best Buy for a Boston-to-Los Angeles flight, knowing he would return it for a full refund when he got back. More recently, in November, rather than spending $600 to rent a LCD projector for a business presentation, the Holden resident purchased one at Staples, then returned it a few days later and got his money back. The way Deignan sees it, he is just a smart shopper: He gets the things he needs, uses them for as long as he wants,...

U.S. retail sales rose a better-than-expected 0.3% in January, the Commerce Department estimated Thursday. The consensus forecast of Wall Street economists was for retail sales to fall 0.3%. Auto sales rose in January, a surprise given the weak domestic unit sales reported earlier in the month.

If you buy books, movies or other items from Amazon.com, be prepared to pay more soon. The online retail giant isn't raising prices. Gov. Eliot Spitzer is raising taxes - at least he hopes to. Spitzer has proposed closing a loophole in state tax law that allows out-of-state Internet retailers - Amazon.com being the biggest by far - to avoid charging sales tax to New Yorkers for online purchases. Rather than pay tax when they buy online, New York residents are supposed to account for the sales tax on their personal income tax returns. Few do, and the state loses...

IT was a retail juggernaut that swept through America’s shopping malls and bedroom closets, rewriting the rules of class and consumption. But affordable luxury is not looking so affordable — or sustainable — anymore. During the 2007 holiday shopping season, the middle-class consumers who spent the last decade splurging on $300 saucepans and $600 scarves, tightened their purse strings in the face of slipping home prices and rising energy costs. As a result, an entire economy built around aspiration is starting to collapse. Affordable luxury purveyors like Tiffany & Company, Nordstrom and Coach have experienced slowing sales and plunging stock...

NEW YORK - The economic outlook became more uncertain Thursday after many of the nation's big retailers reported weaker than expected holiday sales, the result of consumers cutting their spending due to higher energy prices and the ongoing housing slump. Many merchants failed to meet their already lowered sales projections during December, and their performance during this critical sales period led some stores to reduce earnings outlooks for the fourth quarter. The weak results crossed all retail categories. Particularly hard hit were apparel sellers including Limited Brands Inc. and AnnTaylor Stores Corp., as well as department stores including Macy's Inc....

If you've signed up to receive e-mails from Sears, and then clicked on to join the retailer's "My SHC Community," it's likely you've been providing more information to more people than you thought. Even more troubling, it turns out that you're not just sharing information with Sears, but also with a company called comScore, which tracks and aggregates Internet browsing habits. Installing the software from Sears results in the installation of software called VoiceFive, which provides data to comScore. It's essentially spyware. comScore is the company behind the (disputed) numbers that indicated more people were stealing Radiohead's latest album than...