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The nation's largest retailer has bounced Cosmopolitan from the coveted checkout aisle following a years-long campaign targeting the women's magazine for its "hyper-sexualized" covers and content. Walmart said Tuesday that it was removing the magazine from checkout lines at its 5,000 stores across the country. "Walmart will continue to offer Cosmopolitan to customers that wish to purchase the magazine, but it will no longer be in the checkout aisles," the company said in a statement. "While this was primarily a business decision, the concerns raised were heard." Those concerns were raised by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, which compares...

The chain — whose history traces back to a post-World War II baby furniture store — has spent many decades as the country's largest dedicated toy emporium. Today's parents are the millennial generation who grew up with the Internet and approach purchasing decisions and time they spend with children differently from baby boomers. Generally, foot traffic is falling at brick-and-mortar stores. And children are playing differently than they used to decades ago.

Toys "R" Us is going out of business in the U.S. The iconic chain announced early Thursday that it's seeking bankruptcy court approval to start closing its 735 U.S. stores and liquidating their inventory. Some 33,000 employees will lose their jobs as a result. Toys "R" Us Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dave Brandon said in a statement, "I am very disappointed with the result, but we no longer have the financial support to continue the Company's U.S. operations."

Tensions between Whole Foods Market and some of the most important brands it sells in its stores will come to head on March 19. The grocer notified certain vendors about the meeting last Saturday. A key issue discussed will be Whole Foods' efforts to centralize its merchandising. Tensions between Whole Foods Market and some of the most important brands it sells in its stores will come to a head on March 19, when they will congregate for a recently announced summit, sources familiar with the situation tell CNBC. The grocer notified certain vendors about the meeting by email last Saturday....

Dick's Sporting Goods on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter earnings that slightly topped analysts' estimates, but revenue and same-store sales fell short. Its shares were down 4.7 percent in premarket trading following the announcement. Net income totaled $116 million, or $1.11 a share, for the quarter ended Feb. 3, compared with $90.2 million, or 81 cents per share, a year ago. Excluding one-time items, the company earned $1.22 a share, 2 cents above analysts' estimates in a Thomson Reuters survey. Revenue was $2.66 billion, below analysts' expectations for $2.74 billion in sales.

Toys ‘R’ Us Inc is preparing for potential liquidation if its negotiations with creditors do not result in a deal that can help the struggling toy retailer to emerge from bankruptcy, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday. These talks are continuing and no decision has yet been taken. The company is also considering other options, including a potential sale in bankruptcy if possible, according to the source.

Dick's Sporting Goods told customers last week that it would no longer sell assault rifles or high capacity magazines at its Field and Stream stores, joining a number of companies taking some sort of public stance in the wake of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. A former student with mental health issues killed seventeen people with an AR-15, and lawmakers and gun control activists have quickly demanded the firearm again be placed on a ban list.While understanding that Dick's thinks it's doing the right thing, a South Carolina gun seller called Palmetto State...

Two employees of Dick’s Sporting Goods store resigned after the company caved to anti-Second Amendment rhetoric by raising the minimum age requirement to buy a long gun to 21 from 18. Alexander DeGarmo, 20, quit after he realized that under the new policy announced by CEO Edward Stack, he would not be able to purchase an item he sold as a sales associate. “Until Edward Stack came out with these absolutely arbitrary and insane rules I had no issue [working there],” DeGarmo told Fox News. Another employee, 20-year-old hunter Griffin McCullar, resigned from Dick’s Sporting Goods citing similar reasons. Dick’s...

A handful of large American retail companies are changing their gun sales policies in the wake of the Parkland, Fla., shooting that took the lives of 17 people. Dick’s Sporting Goods The nation’s largest outdoor sports retailer announced Wednesday that it will no longer sell AR-15 style rifles like the one Cruz used in the Florida shooting. The company also said it will not sell guns to anyone under the age of 21-years-old. “As we sat and talked about it with our management team, it was — to a person — that this is what we need to do,” Dick’s...

Kroger announced Thursday that it will not longer sell firearms or ammunition to persons under 21 years of age. The grocery chain sells guns and ammunition at its Fred Meyer stores in the western U.S. Those sales will continue but persons under the age of 21 will be prohibited from purchase. CNN Money reports that Kroger released a statement, saying, “In response to the tragic events in Parkland and elsewhere, we’ve taken a hard look at our policies and procedures for firearm sales. Recent events demonstrate the need for additional action on the part of responsible gun retailers.”

As students at the Florida school where 17 people were recently killed returned to classes, a major gun retailer has announced it will stop selling the kind of weapon used in the attack. Dick's Sporting Goods, which has more than 600 shops, said it would no longer sell assault-style rifles, and backed "common sense gun reform". The move came as pupils and teachers made an emotional return to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Grief counsellors were on hand. In the aftermath of the 14 February shooting, pressure has mounted on US politicians to act on gun control and for corporations...

Walmart Inc said on Wednesday that it was raising the minimum age at which customers could buy firearms and ammunition to 21 years. The U.S. retailer is also removing items from its website resembling assault-style rifles, including non-lethal airsoft guns and toys, it said in a statement.

Dick's CEO Edward Stack says the decision was a direct result of the high school shooting in Florida and the rallying cry from the kids at the school after witnessing the tragedy. "We don’t want to be a part of this any longer," says Stack.

Dick's Sporting Goods, one of the largest sports retailers in the U.S., has announced it is immediately ending its sales of assault-style rifles and requiring all customers to be older than 21 to buy a firearm at its stores. Additionally, the company will no longer sell high-capacity magazines. CEO Ed Stack announced the decision ABC's Good Morning America on Wednesday, the same day survivors of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are returning to class. Stack said the 19-year-old gunman allegedly behind that massacre, which claimed 17 lives and wounded many more in Parkland, Fla., had actually purchased...

L.L. Bean's outdoor gear — including its signature Bean Boots prized by campers and hipsters alike — is no longer guaranteed for life. In a letter to customers Friday morning, the company said it has updated its return policy to give customers one year to return purchases, with a receipt. The previous lifetime guarantee, which enabled customers to return products years — or even decades — after purchase, has long been a selling point for the company.

Macy's is launching a women's clothing line aimed at Muslim shoppers. The department store chain says it teamed up with a boutique called Verona Collection and plans to sell the collection of modest dresses, tops, cardigans and hijabs online. The clothing will launch on Macy's website on Feb. 15. The brand was developed by Lisa Vogl, a graduate of Macy's minority- and women-owned business development program, which aims to offer more fashion diversity.

“THEY want to build one every four miles,” says the cashier at Dollar General, a discount shop, in Lewisburg, a small town in the rolling hills of central Tennessee. Situated on a big parking lot, next to a provider of payday loans open 24 hours a day, a supermarket chain called Priceless and Dirt Cheap, another southern chain of discount shops flogging the unsold or returned merchandise of other retailers, the shop is one of three Dollar Generals in Lewisburg. Tennessee is the home state of Dollar General, which in recent years overtook its rivals to become the retailer of...

"[She] discovered that the cream and other hair products meant for African Americans had been locked away behind glass shelves and were segregated from products for non-African Americans,' . . . "I was angry, sad, frustrated, and humiliated all at the same time. It was so emotional it's hard to describe. I know there is a lot of racism out there, but I have never been faced with it up close."

Walmart (WMT) is closing hundreds of Sam's Club stores nationwide, according to numerous media reports. Jessica Buckner, an audit team lead at a Sam's Club location in Anchorage, told local TV station KTVA that all Alaska stores are closing as part of a larger downsizing across the U.S. "From what I heard, there's over 260 stores that have been closed down," she said. The wholesale clubs' official closure date is Jan. 26, Buckner said. The closures also affect stores in New Jersey, upstate New York, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. In some locations, per social...

Walmart is suddenly closing several Sam's Club stores across the US. Closures were reported by local media in Texas, New York, New Jersey, Indiana, Arizona, Alaska, and elsewhere. In some cases, employees were not informed of the closures prior to showing up to work on Thursday. Instead, they learned that their store would be closing when they found the store's doors locked and a notice announcing the closure, according to reports. Walmart and Sam's Club did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sam's Club offered an explanation on Twitter, however, saying, "After a thorough review of our existing...