Presidential candidate debates. Endless campaign commercials and discussions about those commercials. Fox News coverage. CNN coverage. Cartoon Network coverage. The past month or two has been almost as bad as that most horrible time of the year when it comes […]
Retailers As Presidential Candidates Read More »
A good friend of mine was talking about Costco recently, raving on and on about how she couldn’t resist shopping there at least two to three times a week. She said sometimes she doesn’t even plan on buying anything. She
“Costcoholics” Costco’s $113.7 Billion Addicts Read More »
As the Holiday shopping calendar moves into prime time, it seems only appropriate to provide a preview of what’s in store for the next three months as we count down to that most sacred, most important event in retailing: the
Home for the Holidays Read More »
Here is one more glaring example of the absurd and frankly, stupid “short-termism” of Wall Street and the investment community. Doug McMillon, Walmart’s relatively new CEO, its youngest ever at age 49 and its first merchant-chief since Sam Walton, recently
Walmart – “It’s The Right Thing To Do” Read More »
There’s a smell of desperation in the air and it seems to be coming from the direction of Bentonville, Arkansas. This malodorous scent is Walmart’s plan to hit as many as 10,000 suppliers with warehousing fees, product placement fees for
Walmart Bites the Hands That Feed It Read More »
Remember the old adage that “retail follows the rooftops”? If you do, then you probably have fond memories of the Eisenhower administration, the post World War II suburban building boom when Sears Roebuck and J.C. Penney ruled the retail roost,
Fiddling with the Roofs Read More »
In what has to be one of the biggest retailing fiascos of all time, mass merchandiser Target has closed its 133-store Canadian division less than two years after it opened. Billions of dollars were lost. Target’s misadventure in Canada holds
Target Canada’s Ill-Fated Adventure Read More »
I recently spent some time looking 25 years into the future of retailing. Coincidentally, I played this game almost 25 years ago, exactly. I think it was July of 1989 when I was an executive at the May Department Stores Company.
The Past as Prologue Read More »
‘Twas the day after Christmas, when all through the mall, Every shopping creature was stirring in a big free-for-all. The sale banners were hung in the windows with twine, In hopes that black ink would show up on the bottom
Generals huddle in their bunkers hammering out strategies for the next battle, while fighting by well-equipped opposition forces continues door to door, punctuated by brief and tentative ceasefires. No, this isn’t the latest dispatch from the war-torn Middle East or
State of the Union Read More »
