Too Big for a Box
Feb 1, 2007, By Riccardo A. Davis
During the holiday season the ads were inescapable and the content a bit befuddling. There was Staples, not just hawking its office wares, but imploring people to come in for all their holiday shopping needs, including digital cameras, televisions and other products that would be hard to classify as office supplies...
2007 Forecasts More of the Same
Jan 3, 2007
The 2006 holiday sales numbers, which posted the weakest growth in four years last week, are a sign of what’s ahead for the United States’ retail market in 2007 ...
Retailers Look to Gift Cards, Post-Christmas Sales to Save the Season
Dec 28, 2006
The holiday shopping season limped across the finish line last week. When the final numbers are tallied, it looks like retailers will rack up about a 2.75 percent gain in same-store sales—far off the 3 to 7.5 percent many experts predicted ...
Housing Bubble Taking Toll on Home Improvement Chains
Dec 20, 2006, Riccardo A. Davis
The aisles at home improvement giants Home Depot and Lowe’s are featuring a lot of items you probably wouldn’t expect. This year, they’re stocking shelves with plasma televisions, digital cameras, and even Christmas CDs...
Theater Traffic
Dec 1, 2006, Riccardo A. Davis
Movie theaters are returning to regional malls. Movie theaters are making a big comeback at malls. A few years ago the industry got hit with problems in overbuilding and lackluster seasons for summer blockbusters....
The Day the Music Died
Dec 1, 2006, By Elaine Misonzhnik
When 46-year-old Tower Records opted to close its doors in October, it marked the end of an era. More significantly, it marked another blow to traditional record store chains, which are dropping off the map one by one...
Unlikely Couples
Dec 1, 2006, Riccardo A. Davis
Traditional stand-alone franchises are sharing space. Starbucks and Subway are courting each other. At least they are each other's customers in Dallas....
Mixed forecast for holiday shopping season
Nov 15, 2006
The turkey dinners are being planned, Macy’s is getting ready to deploy a giant Pikachu for its 80th Thanksgiving Day parade, and America’s shoppers are plotting their strategies for the grueling ritual of Black Friday. All the pieces are falling into place for a traditional Thanksgiving weekend. But among the oracles of retail—the analysts and consultants who have their own annual Thanksgiving rite, involving bold predictions of how the crucial holiday season will go—all is not well. This, it turns out, is a tough one to call. ...
Easy Being Green
Nov 1, 2006
The Pantry Inc., has become the first convenience store operator to attain Leadership in Energy and Environment Design certification by the U.S. Green Building Council...
Sixtysomething
Nov 1, 2006, By Elaine Misonzhnik
The oldest Baby Boomers are turning 60 this year. But if you want to succeed in retail and keep them coming to your properties don't treat these folks like has-beens...
