Free Republic

(WJET/WFXP) — Crafts retailer JOANN filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy early Monday morning. The company, with over 800 stores nationwide, is best known for selling craft supplies, home decor and sewing supplies. The filing allows JOANN to continue to operate while it repays its debts, meaning no stores or online shopping is expected to be affected by the filing, according to a press release. Additionally, any obligations to employees, vendors, landlords and other trade creditors will be paid or otherwise satisfied in full. According to court documents, JOANN cited increasing interest rates and decreasing sales after a spike in sales...

Williams-Sonoma, a retailer specializing in kitchen and home furnishings, confirmed Friday that it will leave its downtown San Francisco location next year, becoming the latest big retailer to leave the Union Square area. The San Francisco Standard reported (original links): The Williams-Sonoma Union Square store will close in 2024, the retailer confirmed Friday afternoon. … Williams-Sonoma is one of many stores that have left or plan to leave Union Square, with several of them blaming street conditions and reduced foot traffic. News of the retailer’s closure comes after Nordstrom announced it would close both of its Downtown San Francisco locations....

Another major retailer is leaving downtown San Francisco — this time Coco Republic, an Australian furniture store that is leaving the iconic Union Square less than a year after opening a flagship location there. The ongoing retail exodus from San Francisco follows years of worsening crime, drugs, and homelessness, plus a wave of “mass looting” events that have caused many other retail stores and chains to leave the city. Other reasons include a decline in foot traffic in downtown San Francisco as a result of pandemic restrictions that caused many workers to shift to work-from-home, and many residents to relocate...

FULL TITLE: Polish retailer caught off guard by pro-life protests after Christmas ads feature Satanist and pro-abort The slogan for retail giant Empik claims the company “inspires everybody differently.” The ads inspired one pro-life group to boycott its stores. Polish pro-lifers organized a boycott of Empik, whose 200 stores sell books, magazines, DVDs, video games and other products. Empik’s Christmas ad campaign seems a better fit for Halloween, featuring a famous Satanist and an author who has boasted of her own abortions. Empik’s controversial campaign consisted of TV spots and posters with famous entertainers advertising various Christmas gifts. Among the...

Overstock.com – the American internet retailer with over a billion dollars per year in sales – will accept Bitcoin starting in 2014. As Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne told the Financial Times: I think a healthy monetary system at the end of the day isn’t an upside down pyramid based on the whim of a government official, but is based on something that they can’t control. If there’s going to be some part of the population which adopts it… I think that we’ll get that business. And the people who switch to it will respect that we started adopting it. Europe...

Dollar stores are booming in a struggling economy, and one of the big boys of the industry is doing so well it's planning another period of explosive growth, reports Gail Hoffer and Drug Store News. It will open 625 stores and hire around 6,000 employees over the course of 2012. The discount chain already has about 9,800 stores spread across 38 states, and it's revamping 550 of those existing outlets, while building a new distribution center. Dollar General has adopted an aggressive growth strategy since the start of the recession. This marks the fourth straight year it has opened hundreds...

Overview Congress has directed DHS to establish regulations to prevent the misappropriation or use of ammonium nitrate in a terrorist attack. Ammonium nitrate is a chemical that exists in multiple concentrations and physical forms, and principally is used as an agricultural fertilizer, as a component in the manufacture of some first aid products (such as cold packs), and as a component of explosives often used in the mining and construction industries. In addition to its many legitimate uses, ammonium nitrate was the primary explosive used in the deadly Oklahoma City bombing in April 1995. As a result of Congressional direction,...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 4, 2008 – With mailing deadlines rapidly approaching, a “targeted” effort at the Van Nuys National Guard Armory on Nov. 1 and 2 ensured that 70,000 servicemembers would receive goodies from California this holiday season. Operation Gratitude was joined by employees of retail giant Target. At least 100 Target employees from southern California helped to pack boxes during the weekend initiative. “Not only did so many employees devote their weekend to assembling care packages, but their companies also made large donations of products to fill the packages and funds to pay for shipping,” said Carolyn Blashek, founder...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 30, 2005 – A family reading program and a retail giant have joined forces to help deployed military parents stay connected with their children. Thanks to a partnership by United Through Reading and the Minneapolis-based Target retail chain, the Family Literacy Foundation's read-aloud-by-videotape program -- previously available only to the Navy and Marines -- is opening to all branches of the armed forces. "United Through Reading enables military parents and their children to continue to share bonds of love," said Betty Mohlenbrock, program founder. "The program touches children's lives in ways a handwritten letter cannot," she said. "Hearing...

Because Wal-Mart is a behemoth, critics assume that it can change its wage and benefits policies on a whim. According to Furman, Wal-Mart earns $6,000 per employee. That’s below the national average of $9,000 per employee. Wal-Mart makes $288 billion of revenue on $277 billion of costs, a 3.7 percent profit margin on costs, which leaves little room for error. ¶ It is true, as the CEI paper notes, that Wal-Mart jobs are poorly paid compared to unionized jobs. Grocery clerks at unionized stores in California get paid nearly $18 an hour. But Wal-Mart passes its lower costs on to...

BENTONVILLE, Ar(Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. , the world's largest retailer, on Tuesday said quarterly profit rose more than 25 percent as consumers flocked to the discounter in the slow U.S. economy.