Retail News

With the recent health crisis originating in Wuhan, China, now spreading across the world as a global health epidemic has been declared by the World Health Organization (WHO), residents in the United States are taking extra precautions to avoid catching this deadly virus. One immediate outcome as a result of Coronavirus hysteria has been stores throughout the nation reporting that they are running out of simple protective masks.

The Starbucks Roastery Reserve will feature an assortment of Starbucks Reserve specialty coffee, boutique Milanses Princi bakery and Arriviamo Bar that features coffee cocktails. Additionally the reserve will pay tribute to Chicago artists and feature locally inspired cocktails available for purchase. This is the sixth reserve roastery the company has opened with other locations in Seattle, Shanghai, Milan, New York and Tokyo.

Now, shoppers can create a voice order to add items to their cart through Siri. The Siri Shortcut for Online Grocery allows customers with iOS devices to ask digital voice assistant Siri to add items to their cart by saying “Add to Walmart.” The new feature works for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac, HomePod or CarPlay.

Walmart, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based grocery chain announced online that customers could choose from a variety of wine and beers — in accordance with state and local regulations — and pick them up with no hassle.

In February of this year, Target Circle was launched in six pilot markets - Dallas, Charlotte, Denver, Indianapolis, Kansas City and Phoenix. Now, the company is spreading the savings nationwide. The company rolled out its new program Oct. 6, offering incentives to provide help to local nonprofits nationwide.

After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy at the end of September, clothing store Forever 21 announced its plans to close more than 350 location Oct. 31. The Los Angeles-based retailer, founded in 1984, had some financial woes before it filed for bankruptcy.

The console that was introduced in 2017 has hit another sales milestone, surpassing 15 million units in North America alone since its release, according to NPD group, which tracks video game sales. Nintendo Switch has even hit a bigger success: being the top selling console for 10 consecutive months.

After Amazon acquired Whole Foods, the company has been promoting its products and services as well as deals available through Amazon Prime. Recently, Amazon got Whole Foods Market experts to predict some new food trends coming up for the new decade. The experts include a range of Whole Foods team members, buyers for Whole Foods, and others. As the world moves into 2020, here’s some of the food trends Whole Foods predicts will take hold of consumers.

On Oct. 7, Walmart and Kroger announced that they would no longer sell e-cigarette products. Recent concerns over vaping come after the CDC linked approximately 1,299 cases of lung injury associated with e-cigarette or vaping products in the U.S. Additionally, the CDC found that 26 deaths occurred across 21 states with patients reporting a history of using e-cigarettes or vaping products.

It seems that GameStop will soon go the way of Blockbuster: no one needs physical copies of their entertainment anymore. Digital purchases and downloads are simply more convenient and more efficient. GameStop has a slight advantage in the fact that they sell things you do need physical copies of, like controllers and consoles themselves. But there’s no denying that video games were the main source of income for GameStop, and they just aren’t making that money like they used to.

Amazon Fresh is a grocery delivery and pickup service only in select cities worldwide. Currently, Prime Members can get a subscription to AmazonFresh for an additional $14.99 per month. Amazon started this service in 2017 in the United Kingdom and has expanded the service to more than 300 postcodes across the U.K. The service even offers delivery in less than one-hour from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. all week.

Back on Aug. 25, Target CEO Brian Cornell and Chairman of Disney Parks Bob Chapek announced the partnership at the D23 Expo in Anaheim,...

The chain, with more than 222 stores across 33 states, adds to the nearly 8,000 store closures for 2019, surpassing 2018’s total store closures. According to Business Insider, the store will drop prices by 30-50 percent on all of its items. Avenue offered brands and clothing in women’s sizes 14-32.

With many of the awful shootings lately taking place inside Walmart stores around the country, it’s not hard to guess why guns and ammo are big issues being discussed in relation to the retailer. It’s no secret that Walmart has long sold different firearms and ammo for them, and lots of people were displeased about this reality as the recent shootings took place in Walmart stores. Despite the fact that the shootings were not facilitated by guns and ammo acquired in the store at the time of the shootings themselves, people were displeased that Walmart was continuing to sell guns and ammo following the incidents, equating the decision to do so as not caring if they were contributing to the problem.

Getting online to watch one-to-two minute videos posted to Buzzfeed’s ever-popular Tasty page on Facebook seems to be a past time of most who are looking for an easy way to eat at home. Walmart saw the potential in the brand’s popularity and started selling Tasty merchandise in March 2018. The inexpensive line offers 90 products. Now to further expand on their partnership, Walmart is collaborating with Tasty for easy, shoppable recipes. According to Walmart, customers can now get the entire ingredients lists from more than 4,000 recipes featured on Tasty right to an online grocery cart with one click.

The fast food retail chain, Pizza Hut, decided to reduce and change its current store models from dine in to “modern express stores” over the next two years, according to National Restaurant News. The chain will look into more than 500 low-performing stores and replace them with newer carryout stores that will better serve its customer base nationwide.

Huge cuts made within GameStop Corporation have affected approximately 14% of the associate base at the company’s headquarters, as well as many of its subsidiaries, such as Game Informer. GameStop Corporation is the parent company of both video game retail chain GameStop and video game magazine Game Informer. Recently, they laid off over 120 of their employees, which constitutes the aforementioned 14% of their associate base at both their headquarters and some of their other offices.

Every man needs to have a razor in their arsenal, even if you plan on keeping your beard for a while. You never know when you’ll need to shave, so having a good electric razor on hand is just good foresight. On the other hand, electric razors can be very expensive, especially if you are looking at high quality razors that you can trust. That’s why you would generally want to take advantage of discounts on quality razors when they crop up. At the moment, Walmart is offering one such discount on a very good razor, the Phillips Norelco Electric Shaver 5750. It’s $40 off, which is a pretty sweet discount for a pretty valuable razor.

Ever since Amazon helped initiate the retail apocalypse, classic stores have been going bankrupt left and right. Many of those that haven’t are still on the verge of collapse. And yet, among the ruthless demise of a dozen retailers, both Target and Walmart managed to not only survive, but adapt and grow. As far as retail was concerned, those two were the only ones managing to compete with Amazon at all, even if they were still behind the e-commerce giant by a significant extent.

As research analyst Coresight Research predicted Aug. 2 that more than 12,000 stores would close before 2019 ends, another retailer announced hundreds of store closures nationwide. According to an Aug. 6 SEC filing, Walgreens undertook plans to close 200 locations in the U.K. at the end of its second fiscal quarter.