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COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) - Officials say nearly 300 Columbus jobs will be lost with the closing of the Apogee Retail call center. The Columbus Telegram reports (http://bit.ly/1Ikppdx ) that the company announced the closing on Tuesday, after workers were informed. The closing is planned for Oct. 4. Apogee is a subsidiary of Savers LLC and operates more than 330 thrift stores in the U.S., Canada and Australia. The Columbus operation employs 176 full-time and 120 part-time workers....

For a gun writer, it sounded almost too unbelievable to be true. The Pasco County Board of Commissioners declares a state-of-emergency Saturday because of severe rains and flooding, and then an unknown county official supposedly orders the Walmart Supercenter in Wesley Chapel to suspend firearms and ammunition sales because of the emergency. Aaron Mullins, Walmart's corporate spokesman, confirmed the story Monday, at least at first. "A county official reached out to the store and said they weren't allowed to sell firearms or ammo," Mullins said Monday morning. "The store did not give me the person's name, but said they were...

Amazon overtook Walmart as the largest US retailer by market capitalisation on Thursday, after posting an unexpected quarterly profit and revenues that easily beat Wall Street expectations. The online retail pioneer, which has been aggressively expanding its Amazon Prime membership service with one-day sales events and same-day free delivery options, was valued as high as $267bn after a 19 per cent share price surge in after-hours trading. Walmart, with its network of physical stores around the US, had a market capitalisation of $235bn on Thursday. Amazon said its second-quarter revenues hit $23.2bn, up 20 per cent on the same period...

Macy's is paying the price for sacking Donald Trump, because we've learned thousands of customers are cutting up their Macy's credit card in protest. Sources connected to the department store tell TMZ, Macy's has received complaints from approximately 30,000 customers since ending its relationship with Trump nearly 2 weeks ago. We're told the store has been "inundated with complaints" from customers who believe the department store is unfairly punishing Trump for his views on immigration.

Macy's is paying the price for sacking Donald Trump, because we've learned thousands of customers are cutting up their Macy's credit card in protest. Sources connected to the department store tell TMZ, Macy's has received complaints from approximately 30,000 customers since ending its relationship with Trump nearly 2 weeks ago. We're told the store has been "inundated with complaints" from customers who believe the department store is unfairly punishing Trump for his views on immigration. Our sources say thousands of customers have vowed never to shop at Macy's again and many of them say they're cutting up their Macy's credit...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) - When Americans line up for salad, you know there must be something special about it. That's exactly what's happening at the hot new restaurant chain Sweetgreen. It is already being dubbed the "next Chipotle." Sweetgreen was founded in 2007 by three Georgetown University friends who had a simple vision: make healthy food yummy, affordable and fun. "Healthy food shouldn't just be for the top 1%," Jonathan Neman, one of the co-founders, told CNNMoney. He studied abroad in Australia and was frustrated when he returned to the U.S. and felt his affordable meal options were limited. Just...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Billionaire presidential hopeful says it’s a protest against immigration.When you’re Donald Trump, another rescinded corporate partnership is nothing if not an opportunity to galvanize your supposedly growing base of political supporters. The billionaire real estate mogul, reality-television personality, and Republican presidential hopeful has spent the past week taking Twitter pot-shots at Macy’s after the department store chain severed ties with Trump and his line of menswear amid the uproar over Trump’s recent derogatory comments about Mexican immigrants. On Monday, Trump — who, last week, gleefully pointed out on Twitter when Macy’s stock had fallen by less than 0.5% — tweeted...

Real-estate mogul and GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump called for a boycott of Macy's on Wednesday after the retail company said it would drop Trump's products. Earlier in the day, Macy's said it was snubbing Trump because of the "disparaging characterizations" he made about Mexican immigrants during his campaign launch. Among other things, Trump accused Mexico of sending its "rapists" and drug dealers to the US. In addition to blasting Macy's in an official statement, Trump attacked Macy's in a series of tweets for being "weak on border security" Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-boycott-macys-2015-7#ixzz3ergFOT2w

“Homo is Healthy” was one of the signs on the official gay pride website for the big march celebrating the Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage on Sunday, June 28, in New York City. It was brought to you, in part, by Walmart, a high-level Platinum sponsor that happens to be America’s largest private sector employer. The giant retailer was among a “Who’s Who” of corporate America that also included sponsors Coke, Netflix, Hilton, PBS, Macy’s and Comcast Universal (NBC). Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth covered the event, publishing photos of nearly naked men and a “leather” contingent on...

Macy's is pulling Donald Trump brand merchandise from its stores after the Republican presidential candidate's recent controversial remarks created a public uproar. The department store has come under intense pressure to cut ties with the real estate magnate and businessman after he referred to immigrants from Mexico and other countries "killers and rapists." In a statement Wednesday morning, Macy's said the company "stands for diversity" and that it had no tolerance for discrimination. "We are disappointed and distressed by recent remarks about immigrants from Mexico. We do not believe the disparaging characterizations portray an accurate picture of the many Mexicans,...

Mega-retailers have confirmed their loyal membership in the liberal Establishment and their willingness to join in an ideological war of annihilation against the very concept of the South by refusing to sell Confederate flag merchandise. This confirms that like Big Advertising, Big Retail is far more concerned with advancing the liberal agenda than with making money, because thanks to the authorities’ big push to suppress it, the rebel flag is selling better than ever:

Major retailers are halting sales of the Confederate flag after the shooting deaths of nine black church members in South Carolina. Sears Holding Corp. says it is removing Confederate flag merchandise from its website, and a spokesman says that no Confederate flag merchandise is sold inside Sears or Kmart stores. On Monday, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it would remove all items from its store shelves and website that feature the flag after the shooting suspect, Dylann Storm Roof, appeared in photos holding the flag. However, the companies that make Confederate flags and confederate-themed products, as well as smaller operators that...

After days of dancing around the matter, a score of South Carolina legislators (including the governor and both of its senators) stood united to say the Confederate flag should be removed from the state capitol.The controversy over the flag renewed after pictures were uncovered of the Charleston church shooter having a Confederate flag license plate. People have argued the kind of hate the flag represents has no place in modern America.Well, now Walmart is taking action too. According to CNN, the retail giant will no longer sell any merchandise with Confederate flags on them.A spokesperson explained, “We never want to...

Big apparel brands are grappling with shoppers who increasingly want deeply discounted clothes over classic logos and status. Gap is closing one-quarter of its stores and laying off hundreds of workers after disappointing sales. J. Crew just fired 10% of the workers at its corporate headquarters as sales and profits continue to plunge. The teen-apparel market is also struggling as a whole, with big-name players like Abercrombie & Fitch and Aeropostale closing stores. Sears, Macy's, and JCPenney have also shuttered hundreds of store locations in recent years. More than two dozen malls have shut down in the last four years...

CVS Health Corp. will acquire, rebrand and operate the pharmacies and clinics inside all of the nation's Target stores in a landmark deal worth $1.9 billion, the two retailers announced in a news release Monday morning. That will give CVS (NYSE: CVS) 1,660 new locations in 47 states, operating a store-within-a-store inside Target's upscale discount stores. Those stores will be rebranded CVS/pharmacy. Target's 80 in-store clinics will be rebranded MinuteClinic, and CVS reports it will add 20 more of those in other Target (NYSE: TGT) stores in three years or so. “This strategic relationship with Target supports the highly complementary...

German discounter Aldi on Thursday detailed a plan to grow in the U.S., saying it would invest billions of dollars and create thousands of jobs as it works to ramp up its footprint. Aldi is opening its first stores in Southern California in March of next year, and will open about 25 stores by July. The company plans to employ 1,100 people across its stores and at its regional headquarters and warehouse in Moreno Valley, CA. The retailer, which described its U.S. expansion plans as “aggressive,” said it would put more than $3 billion behind a five-year plan to open...

NEW YORK — Dollar Tree said Friday that it has agreed to sell 330 of its stores to the private equity firm Sycamore Partners in order to get regulatory approval for its $8.5 billion purchase of Family Dollar. The Chesapeake, Virginia-based company said earlier this month that it would sell the stores, but it had not disclosed the buyer. It didn’t say how much Sycamore Partners will pay for the stores, which bring in about $500 million in annual revenue. It also didn’t disclose which stores are being sold....

In French, a man (or woman) who is particularly resourceful is called a débrouillard (débrouillarde). In the former French colonies of West Africa, people have used this word to form a phrase, “l’economie de la débrouillardise,” which refers to the vast network of “inventive, self-starting, entrepreneurial merchants who are doing business on their own, without registering or being regulated by the bureaucracy and, for the most part, without paying taxes.” Systeme D for short. The concept and the quote are from a nifty and fairly new book I’m reading just now, Stealth of Nations by Robert Neuwirth. He claims that...

If Wal-Mart, the world’s largest bricks-and-mortar retailer, is serious about competing more directly with Amazon - as it has suggested by testing a free shipping club - then it may have to spend well beyond a previously announced investment target on big distribution centers and other costs for its plan. Wal-Mart’s sluggish quarterly results that were released on Tuesday highlighted the importance of growing its online business. Online revenues grew 17 percent globally in the first quarter ended April 30, against a slight drop in overall sales. However, investments in e-commerce shaved 2 cents off the retailer’s earnings per share,...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: The Washington Post, however, has a story with the headline: "Whole Foods is Learning that Millennials Aren't Who it Thought They Are." I think a lot of people are starting to figure this out. "For years, Whole Foods has thrived by selling pricey food with a promise that it is better for you, better for the planet, and better overall. The mantra has proved so successful that it has helped the high-end supermarket chain to expand from its flagship store in Austin, Texas, to more than 400 locations. But lately, Whole Foods' model hasn't looked quite as...