Free Republic

U.S. retail sales increased more than expected in November as the holiday shopping season got off to a brisk start, pointing to sustained strength in the economy. The Commerce Department said on Thursday that retail sales rose 0.8 percent last month. Data for October was revised to show sales gaining 0.5 percent instead of the previously reported 0.2 percent rise.

An Indiana judge has taken an unusual step and temporarily barred Starbucks from closing 77 failing Teavana stores in Simon Property Group malls because the real estate giant was less able to handle the financial pain. Starbucks said in July it planned to shutter its 379-store Teavana operation — but Simon rushed to court to block 77 stores in its malls from going dark — claiming such a move by a high-profile tenant could spark other stores in its malls to close. Starbucks, after trying to turn around its stumbling tea chain, said last August it was pulling the plug...

‘Antifa’ clothing is no longer available on Walmart’s website as of Saturday afternoon. The clothing’s third-party manufacturer, TEE Bangers LLC, also appears to have pulled the line promoting the far-leftist group whose activities were “formally classified” by the Obama Administration “as domestic terrorist violence.” As recently as Saturday morning, Breitbart News reported that the mega-retailer was offering at least 13 different “made in Mexico” sweatshirts that would “[allow you to] express yourself inside the opposition to the ideology, organizations, governments and people from the far right (fascism).”

WASHINGTON - Walmart (WMT) has pulled a T-shirt offered by an outside seller from its online store after a journalist advocacy group told the retailer it found the shirt threatening. The shirt, listed on Walmart.com through third-party seller Teespring, said: "Rope. Tree. Journalist. SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED." "This item was sold by a third-party seller on our marketplace and clearly violates our policy," Walmart said. "We removed it as soon as it was brought to our attention, and are conducting a thorough review of the seller's assortment."

The Lenexa, Kansas police department confirmed to KCTV5 today that they are investigating a shooting at a local Costco involving an off-duty police officer and an armed man. On Sunday afternoon, police received emergency calls that a man was threatening the store, pointing a gun at customers. But, when they arrived on the scene, the man was found dead. An off-duty police officer had shot and killed the suspect. The police did not release the name of the officer nor the deceased man. Witnesses described the scene. "You could hear from the front of the store," said one witness. "Was a bunch...

Huge Black Friday brawl inside mall as 'shopper throws shoe which hits baby' and women wrestle on floor Footage shows women punching and kicking each other as police try to break them apart before the entire mall is shut down Black Friday shoppers got into a huge brawl at a shopping mall as wild footage shows women wrestling on the floor and being handcuffed by police. Women were seen punching and kicking each other, while one allegedly threw a shoe that hit a baby. There were scenes of chaos as the women brawled and police and staff struggled to break...

When you walk into the Madison Avenue Bonobos, don’t expect to walk out with anything. Sure, you can try on a pair of pants, or about a dozen different gingham work shirts, but when you pick your favorite, there’s no cashier to ring up your purchase, no line to stand in, nor shopping bags to haul it home. Instead, Joshua Jones—you call him Josh—swipes your card on his iPad and offers you a bottle of Perrier “for the road.” If you’re not in a rush, he’ll help you rank Jessica Alba movies, or chat about your upcoming vacation. Within a...

As part of its plans to deliver luxury fashion, United States retail giant Walmart is to launch a dedicated online Lord & Taylor flagship store next year, offering premium fashion brands to its customers. The initiative announced Monday will start next spring. "Our goal is to create a premium fashion destination on Walmart.com", said the Head of Fashion for Walmart's U.S. E-commerce Division Denise Incandela in a statement to NBC. "We see customers on our site searching for higher-end items, and we are expanding our business online to focus on adding specialized and premium shopping experiences, starting with fashion", Incandela...

He was buying a watermelon at Walmart when he fell. Now a jury in Alabama has awarded him more than $7 million. Henry Walker, a retired Army sergeant, got his foot caught in a wooden pallet as he was getting the watermelon at the Walmart store in Phenix City in July 2015, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reported. Walker fell and broke his foot and hip. The jury awarded him $2.5 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. “It was a fair verdict because Walmart just didn’t care,” said Charlie Gower, the lead attorney for Walker. “They should have...

The Gartner Hype Cycle shows a remarkably consistent pattern. A new technology is first ignored, then begins to show promise and expectations get inflated beyond any realistic assessment of value. That leads to disillusionment and the technology is almost forgotten until, some years later, it begins to make a true competitive impact.What makes the Hype Cycle so pervasive is that it is, essentially, a pattern based on our obsession with patterns and stories, which is so universal that there is a whole branch of mathematics devoted to it. Our love of patterns is so great, in fact, that once we...

The mayors doing their utmost to get Amazon's second headquarters for their cities are having a grand time informing Jeff Bezos of everything they have to offer. They should enjoy this part of the chase because what comes next won't be much fun. They are about to get some insight into how the search for talent goes in Major League Baseball. St. Louis Cardinals general manager Michael Girsch noted the crucial moment in pursuing a coveted free agent player. "We sometimes call it your 'puke point,'" he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "Sometimes you make an offer and you're not...

Walmart announced Friday that it will begin testing a new service that allows employees to enter a customer’s home and stock their fridge, to alleviate the stress of shopping. The retail corporation is targeting busy families looking for a more convenient option for food delivery

Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Target Corp and PepsiCo Inc on Wednesday joined an expanded group of nearly 800 companies calling in a letter for U.S. legislation to protect immigrants brought into the country illegally by their parents from deportation, according to organizer FWD.us. A group of businesses less than half the size and weighted toward technology companies sent a similar letter in August, before President Donald Trump said he would end the program. Both letters were spearheaded by FWD.us, a pro-immigration group co-founded by Facebook Inc Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg.

Toys ‘R’ Us Inc, the largest U.S. toy store chain, filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday. This is the latest sign of turmoil in the retail industry caught in a viselike grip of online shopping and discount chains. Toys ‘R’ Us said it received a commitment for over $3billion in debtor-in-possession financing from lenders including a JPMorgan-led bank syndicate and certain of the company’s existing lenders.

Solar panel units for the roofs of Norwegian homes are to be sold in-store for the first time by electronics retailer Elkjøp. The electronics chain has noticed a strong growth in demand for the solar units in its online stores, reports Dagens Næringsliv. Now the technology will be available in physical shops for the first time. Solar panel power in Norwegian homes has tripled in the last year in terms of overall effectivity, according to the report. […] The technology developer said that he wanted to take solar power from the “niche market to the mass market”. …

Toys 'R' Us is working to put together a loan to fund its operations in a potential bankruptcy filing that could come before the holiday sales season, according to people familiar with the matter. The toy merchant's move underscores the deep distress rippling through retailers of all sizes as consumers increasingly shop online at sellers such as Amazon.com Inc or go to discounters such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc . A spokeswoman for Toys 'R' Us did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The people could not be identified because the bankruptcy plans are not yet public. The Wall...

After settling allegations that it unlawfully detained black customers, Macy’s is now picking on Asians, according to a lawsuit filed by four former employees of the company’s flagship store in Herald Square. Managers in the cosmetics and fragrance department of Macy’s flagship store “repeatedly directed … sales associates to racially profile customers of Asian descent” out of fear that they were secretly black marketers, according to a Manhattan federal lawsuit.

Americans are starting to pile up more credit card debt than ever before. According to a new study released Monday, U.S. consumers added $33 billion in credit card debt during the second quarter of 2017, making it the second-highest point of debt since the end of 2008.

oys"R"Us Inc has hired law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP to help weigh restructuring options ranging from a bankruptcy filing to raising financing as bricks and mortar retail goes through a major downturn, according to a person familiar with the matter. The privately held toy retailer had previously said it was working with investment bank Lazard Ltd to help address its approximately $5 billion in debt, of which roughly $400 million comes due next year. The person could not be identified because the law firm's hiring is not yet public. In a statement, the company said it would provide an...

The retail landscape looks like it's about to get rougher for everyone — especially those on the lowest rung of the ladder. Retail is the largest employer in the US, employing an estimated 4.6 million people in full- or part-time jobs. But estimates also say that the sector has shed more than 89,000 jobs in general merchandise stores alone between last October and May of this year. At last count, over 6,375 stores have been announced for across the country this year. It's this shedding of jobs that's about to create what retail-industry consultant Doug Stephens is calling a "retail...