Free Republic

BRANDON FL (WFLA) - Walmart customers can't understand what's plaguing the "plumbing problems" of Walmart stores from Brandon to California. "Must be a major plumbing problem is all I can say," would-be customer Dale White said as security guards turned him away from the Supercenter on Brandon Boulevard in Brandon. The retail chain announced Monday that five stores are shutting down - one in Brandon, two in Texas, one in Oklahoma and one in California - due to clogging and drainage problems. ... The shutdown blindsided about 400 Brandon Walmart workers who must now find another store to transfer to...

Walmart's right to sell firearms and ammunition is being threatened by a lawsuit. Fox Business Network reporter Adam Shapiro reported on "Fox and Friends First" this morning that a court decision could stop the retail giant from selling guns, which could change the way publicly traded companies do business in the United States. Shapiro said that Trinity Wall Street Church in New York City owns stock in Walmart. "The church sued the Walmart when they refused to place a proposal on the shareholder ballot at the annual company meeting," he explained. "That proposal could be interpreted to force Walmart's board...

A manager at a Forever 21 in New York told Alexia Daskalakis, a transgender employee, that she was a “hot mess” and “disgusting,” that she looked “offensive,” and that “in my eyes and in the company’s eyes, you’re still a male.” Those are the allegations in a lawsuit Daskalakis filed against Forever 21 in Brooklyn federal court on Wednesday. The lawsuit accuses the fast fashion retailer of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. Forever 21 did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Daskalakis started working as a sales associate at a Forever 21 store in Brooklyn in May 2011 and...

The chief executive officer of Wal-Mart Stores Inc on Tuesday asked the governor of Arkansas to veto a religious freedom measure, saying the bill approved by lawmakers earlier in the day undermines "the spirit of inclusion" in the state.

In an open letter to his employer, Home Depot employee Timothy Noffsinger, expressed loud and clear how he feels about the company’s promotion of homosexual behavior.Besides going against his deeply held religious convictions, Noffsinger, a member of Denver Bible Church, expressed in his letter how its aggressive endorsement of homosexuality in the workplace is detrimental to productivity. "What would happen if Craig Menear, Chairman and CEO of The Home Depot (THD), were to appear at the next board meeting in lipstick and a wig wearing a skirt and pantyhose?” Noffsinger asked. “In the midst of such absurdity, could the Board...

Associated Wholesale Grocers plans to convert five of seven Dahl’s Foods stores in Iowa to the Price Chopper banner in early April and two others, in the Des Moines market, to a new, unspecified format, according to published reports. Kansas City, Kansas-based AWG acquired the stores in January following Dahl’s bankruptcy filing in November. Price Chopper is an AWG-licensed name used by 51 members in Kansas.

Target's chief executive, Brian Cornell, said Tuesday the retailer will cut several thousand jobs within the next two years as part of a $2 billion cost savings plan. The company also announced 2015 guidance of $4.45 to $4.65 adjusted earnings per share. Wall Street expected Target's guidance at $4.50 adjusted earnings per share. Target also expects digital sales to increase 40 percent and same-store sales between 1.5 percent and 2.5 percent, with modest improvement in gross margins and expense rates. It also expects sales to grow between 2 and 3 percent during the year. The company's stock closed at $78.02,...

A new video from Al Shabaab purportedly shows the terror group calling for an attack on Mall of America, in Bloomington, Minn. According to Fox 9, the mall is one of three similar targets the terror group specifically names, including West Edmonton Mall in Canada and the Oxford Street shopping area in London. The video purportedly shows 6 minutes of graphic images and the terrorists celebrating the 2013 Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya, that killed more than 60 people.

U.S. retail sales fell sharply last month as gas prices plummeted and auto sales slowed. But excluding those volatile categories, Americans stepped up their spending a bit. Retail sales dropped 0.8 percent in January, the Commerce Department said Thursday, following a 0.9 percent decline in December. The dollar value of gas station sales plunged 9.3 percent, the largest drop in six years. Auto dealer sales also fell for the second straight month. Outside those categories, sales ticked up 0.2 percent after a flat reading in December. The modest gain suggests Americans are still cautious about spending their windfall from lower...

This is an obituary for Guitar Center, a chain of big box musical instrument stores that was captured and infected by private equity during a national trend of greed and reckless expansionism in the late-1990s and early-2000s. The company started as a Los Angeles organ store, became a successful purveyor of guitars after the Beatles arrived in the United States, evolved into a national competitor over a period of decades, and shall finish, with sad poetry, as the symbol of everything dysfunctional about American corporate finance, management, and retail in the modern age.

Electronics retailer RadioShack Corp filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and said shareholder Standard General LP would buy 1,500 to 2,400 of its stores. RadioShack listed assets of $1.2 billion and liabilities of $1.39 billion in its bankruptcy petition in a Delaware court.

DENVER — Nobody in the Colorado marijuana industry is panicking, but those involved are sweating a little over the hard line taken by Loretta Lynch, President Obama’s pick to be the next attorney general, on legalization during this week’s Senate confirmation hearing. “Quite a few of my members were expressing concern and nervousness,” said Michael Elliott, executive director of the Colorado Marijuana Industry Group. “But I’m not sure we could have expected much more than we just heard. Even the president, who came out saying that marijuana is no more dangerous as alcohol, is also on the record as being...

Radio Shack has been selling communication equipment since 1921, but according to Bloomberg, the retail chain will not be celebrating a 100th birthday. As part of a bankruptcy deal, RadioShack Corp. will be shutting down their entire chain of 7,000 tech stores, half of which will be reportedly sold to Sprint. According to the report, RadioShack locations that are sold to Sprint would operate under the wireless carrier’s name, meaning RadioShack would cease to exist as a stand-alone retailer. RadioShack received a rescue financing package from Standard General LP in October, and the hedge fund would serve as the lead...

The world’s first robotized sales assistants were rolled out last month in California. They are nifty, cute — and terrifying. Nicknamed OSHbots, the two machines cost $50,000 apiece, are five feet of plastic on wheels and carry built-in natural language processors, computers, product scanners and navigation tools. Named after the Orchard Supply Hardware store where they work in San Jose, they greet customers, ask if they need help, identify items, then offer to guide them to the appropriate aisle without bumping into anyone or anything. At night, they do inventory by cruising the store to identify missing products and update...

BRANDON — Clarence Daniels had just crossed the threshold of Walmart's front doors on Tuesday, in search of coffee creamer for his wife, when the gun in hip holster gave a well-intentioned vigilante the idea he was up to something more sinister.

half-decade after killing off its hefty catalog to focus on the Web, J.C. Penney Co. is bringing it back, armed with data showing that many of its online sales came from shoppers inspired by what they saw in print. The new, 120-page book will feature items from Penney's home department and will be sent to select customers in March, the first time the struggling department store chain has sent out a catalog since 2010. The move highlights an oddity of the digital age. While shoppers are increasingly buying everything from shoes to sofas to cars over the Internet, they still...

On a recent busy evening in one of the Philippines’ top malls, shoppers wandered through luxury brand shops while prostitutes sat expectantly at a bar and a priest gave a sermon at a chapel. The scene may appear an unlikely combination but in the Philippines the Catholic Church has successfully set up shop where millions increasingly spend their leisure time. As a visit by Pope Francis to the Philippines this week shines a spotlight on the nation’s vibrant brand of Catholicism, local Church leaders said he would endorse the mixing of faith with consumerism. “It was Jesus who went to...

Struggling to raise enough cash and credit to stay alive, RadioShack is reportedly preparing to file for bankruptcy as soon as next month. The filing could come the first week of February, according to the Wall Street Journal. RadioShack declined to comment for this story. The company had a deadline of Jan. 15 to come up with $100 million in combined cash and available credit, or its major creditors can pull the plug on the long-term financing it needs to survive. RadioShack only had $63 million available heading into the Christmas shopping season. The struggling electronics retailer has been trying...

Target says it plans to discontinue all operations in Canada and seek protection from creditors, less than two years after opening to much fanfare. In a release early Thursday, the U.S. retail chain said it will close all its locations in Canada. There are 133 stores across the country with about 17,600 employees. The company launched in Canada in the spring of 2013. But after high expectations, the chain failed to deliver as customers faced higher-than-expected prices, and empty shelves as the retailer had problems with its distribution chain. Executives repeatedly promised they would get it right, but ultimately decided...

Women's fashion discount retailer Deb Shops is closing all of its stores in Michigan and nationwide. After more than 80 years in business, the Philadelphia-based retailer, which specializes in junior- and plus-size apparel, filed for Chapter 11 protection on Dec. 4, according to a news release. On Jan. 7, the bankruptcy court awarded Gordon Brothers Group and Hilco Merchant Resources the store closing process for all locations. Officials with Gordon Brothers Group and Hilco Merchant Resources began going-out-of-business sales at approximately 287 Deb Shops retail locations Friday, Jan. 9, the release states. The company's website gob.debshops.com now is simply an...