Author: Anne D’Innocenzio
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Brands born on the internet embrace physical stores
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SHORT HILLS, N.J. • Online retailers are getting physical. A growing number of brands born on the internet are now opening brick-and-mortar stores and moving into the suburban malls once considered doomed as more Americans shopped online. But they’re taking it even further by doubling-down on the tactile experience. Online mattress retailer Casper, for instance,…
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A holiday miracle? Stores try to cut down on long lines
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NEW YORK • Retailers will once again offer big deals and early hours to lure shoppers into their stores for the start of the holiday season. But they’ll also try to get shoppers out of their stores faster than ever by minimizing the thing they hate most: long lines. Walmart, Target and other large retailers…
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Retailers up their game after Toys R Us closures
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NEW YORK • When Toys R Us closed its doors, customers mourned the loss of a beloved brand that conjured memories of their own childhood. Retailers, on the other hand, saw an opportunity. Rather than cede any more ground to online behemoth Amazon, companies like Target, Walmart and Party City ramped up their offerings. Now, ahead…
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Scramble for holiday season workers already near fever pitch
WASHINGTON — Companies that depend on holiday season sales will need more workers at a time when the ranks of the unemployed have dwindled to their lowest level since the recession. Envisioning an even tougher struggle than in recent years, many are taking steps they’ve not tried before to recruit seasonal workers like offering higher…
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Walmart offers employees new perk: cheap access to college
NEW YORK — Walmart is offering its employees a new perk: affordable access to a college degree. America’s largest private employer, which in the past has helped its workers get their high school or equivalency degrees, hopes the new benefit will help it recruit and retain higher quality entry-level employees in a tight U.S. labor…
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Without Toys R Us, 30,000 jobs, a black hole for toy makers
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save NEW YORK — The demise of Toys R Us will have a ripple effect on everything from toy makers to consumers to landlords. The 70-year-old retailer is headed toward shuttering its U.S. operations, jeopardizing the jobs of some 30,000 employees while spelling the end for…
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Stores make push in scan and go tech, hope shoppers adopt it
NEW YORK — Shoppers at self-checkout lanes scanning all their groceries after they’re done shopping? Old school. More stores are letting customer tally their choices with a phone app or store device as they roam the aisles. For customers, scanning as they go can be faster and make it simpler to keep track of spending.…
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Even in the Amazon era, Black Friday shows stores are alive
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NEW YORK — Retailers worked hard to attract shoppers to stores on Black Friday, offering in-person deals meant to counter the ease of shopping by phone on Amazon. A better economy and colder weather helped, to be sure. But stores have also tried to improve the store experience and offer better service. They’ve also made…
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After weeks of deals, stores aim to draw Black Friday crowds
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NEW YORK — Shoppers were out before dawn in the U.S. for fun and for deals, as retailers that have had a tough year were hoping to bring customers to their stores and websites for Black Friday, one of the biggest shopping days of the year. Black Friday has morphed from a single day when…
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Toys ‘R’ Us files for bankruptcy, but keeps stores open
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NEW YORK — Toys ‘R’ Us, the big box toy retailer struggling with $5 billion in debt and intense online competition, has filed for bankruptcy protection ahead of the key holiday shopping season — and says its stores will remain open for business as usual. The company said the proceedings are a way for Toys…