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The United States lost 29,000 manufacturing jobs in March while gaining jobs in retail trade, food services and drinking establishments, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. During the month, jobs in the retail industry in the United States outnumbered jobs in manufacturing by 3,651,100. In February, according to seasonally adjusted data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in the manufacturing sector was 12,320,000. In March, that dropped to 12,291,000. …

Come close. They won't bite though some have been gnawed upon, chewed, and bitten themselves (mostly by labs and golden retrievers, if social media is the source). Weirdly, the weathered boots piled into a bin, located in a far-off corner of the factory, don't smell so bad either. It's hard not to want to touch them, to trace their wrinkles. Each boot carries its own landscape of dings and dust, faded in its own peculiar shade, with its own particular history.

When two suspects tried robbing a Maryland CVS on Friday, Army veteran Joe Morici sprang into action. And it cost him his job. Morici, who served seven years in the Army, including a stint in Afghanistan, was fired from his management job at a Beltsville CVS because he intervened and tried to catch the men, FOX5 reported. But Morici said his reactions were purely based on instinct when two men tried robbing the CVS pharmacy during his shift. He quickly told cashiers to call 911 and helped an elderly man out of the store before locking the doors, preventing the...

Barack Obama recently stated that anyone that is claiming that America's economy is in decline is "peddling fiction". Well, if the economy is in such great shape, why are major retailers shutting down hundreds of stores all over the country? Last month, I wrote about the "retail apocalypse" that is sweeping the nation, but since then it has gotten even worse. Closing stores has become the "hot new trend" in the retail world, and "space available" signs are going up in mall windows all over the United States. Barack Obama can continue huffing and puffing about how well the middle...

The clothing company Lands’ End has apologized for recently featuring longtime pro-abortion activist Gloria Steinem on its website and catalog as a “legend” for her work on women’s equality. The profile centered around Steinem’s work for the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and 80s, not abortion. However, more recent versions of the ERA have been interpreted as potentially invalidating various pro-life state laws. “One reason we need an Equal Rights Amendment is because nowhere in the Constitution does the word ‘women’ appear,” Steinem told Lands’ End. “We need a constitutional principle of female equality.” “We understand that some of...

The women's clothing company Land's End just launched a year-long campaign to honor pro-abortion feminist Gloria Steinem by donating to one of her organizations. Earlier this month, the company published an interview and photo-shoot with Steinem on its website to announce the campaign, centered around Steinem's work to pass an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Steinem is a well-known abortion activist who once said women "need" abortion. Land's End highlighted Steinem as one of its "Legends," individuals who have made a difference in both their respective industries and the world at large and have paved the way for others to follow....

Sports Authority employees were told last week that the big box chain is closing its Texas stores. ... Store employees in Dallas Wednesday said they weren’t sure when stores will close. A lot of merchandise is on clearance. But the staff was also packing up goods into boxes. A large truck arrived to the Caruth Plaza store today around lunchtime to take away merchandise. ... The Denver Post is reporting that three stores are closing in its market and quoted a source saying there are a total of 140 stores closing.

Unmanageable deadlines and disastrous IT wrecked this top US retailer's attempt at international expansion. The moral of the story: IT drives the enterprise. Business school case studies tend to fall into two categories: epic wins and oh-my-gosh-how-could-they-possibly-have-been-so-stupid epic failures. This article discusses a real-world billion dollar story that falls into the second category. As epic failures go, this one is worthy of the history books. . . EVERYTHING WENT TERRIBLY, TERRIBLY WRONG . . .

For those curious where the big jump in earnings came from, the answer appears rather simple: the reason, according to the BLS' breakdown of jobs added in January (per the Establishment survey), of the 151,000 jobs added in the past month, retail trade added 58,000 jobs in January, while employment in food services and drinking places, aka waiters and bartenders, rose by 47,000 in January.In other words, 70% of the job gains in January went to minimum wage workers. So how does one explain the snap higher in January wages? Simple: state regulations demanding higher wages for minimum wage...

Major retailers in the United States are shutting down hundreds of stores, and shoppers are reporting alarmingly bare shelves in many retail locations that are still open all over the country. It appears that the retail apocalypse that made so many headlines in 2015 has gone to an entirely new level as we enter 2016. As economic activity slows down and Internet retailers capture more of the market, brick and mortar retailers are cutting their losses. This is especially true in areas that are on the lower portion of the income scale. In impoverished urban centers all over the nation,...

Last week, Walmart dropped a bombshell on the retail world with the announcement it was closing 269 stores worldwide, including 154 in the U.S. The vast majority being shuttered in the U.S. are Walmart Express stores -- the company's tiniest retail locations, which ultimately proved unprofitable for the big box-focused giant. Walmart isn't wasting any time in shutting the stores down. The full list of where and when stores are being closed can be found here, and it shows that the vast majority will close their doors on Thursday, Jan. 28.

The retailer sees a big opportunity in the appliance business, and in Sears' problems. For the first time in 33 years, the department store will be selling home appliances like refrigerators and washing machines by General Electric, Hotpoint, LG and Samsung, at 22 of its roughly 1,000 stores. If all goes well with the pilot, which begins Feb. 1 in stores in the San Antonio, San Diego and Tampa metro areas, Penney could roll out the home appliance offerings to hundreds more stores by October. The return to home appliances is the first major new initiative by former Home Depot...

Los Angeles residents of impoverished Chinatown were shocked to learn on January 17 that the Walmart they pleaded for years to get would be shut down at 7 p.m. Sunday evening due to the city’s new $15 minimum wage ordinance, and union harassment. (Update: The closure was described by the company as one of 154 closures “that took into account a number of factors, including financial performance as well as strategic alignment with long-term plans.”) Immigrant Hispanic and Asian residents of central Los Angeles campaigned for years for a “big box” retailer to locate in their economically depressed neighborhood to...

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Friday that it will close 269 of its stores globally, including 154 in the U.S., nine of them in California, as the company looks to reposition itself in a difficult retail climate. The retailer does not necessarily appear to be shrinking its U.S. footprint, however. The retailer said that in the next year, it plans to open more than 140 new stores nationwide. Plans include opening or expanding nine stores in California. Two Wal-Mart stores in Los Angeles -- one on Crenshaw Boulevard and one on West Cesar E. Chavez Avenue -- as well as one...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Wal-Mart is closing 269 stores, more than half of them in the U.S. and another big chunk in its challenging Brazilian market. The stores being shuttered account for a fraction of the company's 11,000 stores worldwide and less than 1 percent of its global revenue. More than 95 percent of the stores set to be closed in the U.S. are within 10 miles of another Wal-Mart. The Bentonville, Arkansas, company said it is working to ensure that workers are placed in nearby locations. The store closures will start at the end of the month.

Wal-Mart said Friday it will close 269 stores across the globe, including 154 in the U.S. The world's largest retailer also will open as many as 405 stores globally in the coming fiscal year, as it shifts its focus toward Supercenters and Neighborhood Markets in profitable locations. In all, 16,000 employees will be impacted by the store closings, about 10,000 of whom are in the U.S. Also domestically, Wal-Mart will also close 23 Neighborhood Market stores, 12 Supercenters, seven stores in Puerto Rico, six discount centers and four Sam's Clubs.

Directors of Kohl's Corp., which has been struggling to regain at least some of the growth that once made the company a retailing star, are weighing the possibility of going private, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. Citing a person familiar with the situation, the paper said directors are debating whether to hire an investment bank to explore alternatives that could include sale to a private equity firm. The discussions are preliminary and may not lead to such action, the paper reported. But New York-based retail consultant Howard Davidowitz said the considerable cash flow Kohl's generates makes it attractive to...

Trump had a high-profile feud with Macy's shortly after he launched his presidential campaign in June with a fiery campaign speech in which he accused the Mexican government of sending rapists and murderers across the border. Macy's was among several corporations to sever financial ties with Trump amid the resulting firestorm. The store said it would phase out its Trump-branded ties, dress shirts, and "Success" fragrance. Trump responded by calling for a boycott of the store and retweeted his supporters who said they were cutting up their Macy's credit cards.

For decades, excited children visiting New York begged their parents for a visit to a toy store unlike any other - complete with 60-foot indoor Ferris wheel, 20-foot animated T Rex and a life-size Barbie dollhouse. For hundreds of thousands of youngsters, the Toys R Us store in Times Square, the brand's flagship property, held a special place in the imagination as a store where dreams really did become reality. However, that dream sadly came to an end after 14 years yesterday as the store closed its doors to shoppers - following on the heels of fellow toy shop F.A.O...

If you’re a person in the USA, you probably get ads in the mail all the time from gun and outdoor stores advertising firearms, especially during November and December, or whenever Obama says anything about more gun laws. Sometimes these ads come in the Wednesday flyer pile in the newspaper, as was the case this week when a Cabela’s ad featuring an AR 15 was circulated in the Oregonian ads. Most people either chuck the ad or save it and head to whatever gun shop it is. Unless you’re Willamette Week author Coby Hutzler or reader Doug Menely, then you...