The department store thread

A statement said, "Closing clubs is never easy." Yeah -- but they still did so.

Walmart abruptly closes 63 Sam's Club stores, lays off thousands of workers

http://www.businessinsider.com/walma...-stores-2018-1

"Stereotyping and racial profiling for fun and profit."

Woman infuriated after seeing only black hair products locked behind glass at Walmart
Atlanta Black Star, Jan 24 2018

A black woman in Lancaster, California expressed her outrage at her local Walmart for locking up the natural/black hair care products. Angered by the racial profiling, she says, "Everything pertaining to black hair care products is locked up. It makes absolutely no sense."

The California Walmart is not the only location accused of keeping black hair care products locked away. In December 2016, Virginia-based United Food & Commercial Workers Union created a video calling out Walmart’s discriminatory practice against its African-American shoppers. The union successfully pushed Walmart to make the products accessible at several locations except for one on Main Street in Suffolk, Virginia. Tiffany Beroid, who was featured in the video, continues the fight to get that last location to discontinue locking up the hair products. Walmart defended their actions in a statement, saying the measures taken were "normal" in order to combat shoplifters.

http://atlantablackstar.com/2018/01/...glass-walmart/

As I write this, Bon-Ton stock is selling for $0.085 per share, a 52-week low.

Regional department store chain Bon-Ton files for bankruptcy protection, will close more than 40 of its 260 stores

http://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/05/depar...rotection.html

In a Facebook post, the manager apologized. He wrote that "an Old Navy customer, James Conley III, had an unacceptable experience in our Jordan Creek, Iowa store." Gee.....ya think?

Old Navy fires three employees who accused a black customer of stealing his own jacket

https://www.bet.com/news/national/20...customer-.html

Jeff Bezos will be happy. Best Buy's loss will be Amazon's gain.

Best Buy will stop selling CDs July 1; Target could follow suit

http://www.businessinsider.com/best-...eaction-2018-2

Macy's will be the first US department store to sell hijabs -- and I bet most of the snooty people in management didn't even know what a hijab is until they looked it up in a dictionary.

Macy's to launch a women's clothing line geared toward Muslims

http://www.abc30.com/fashion/macys-t...slims/3049678/

I guess when sales are slumping, there isn't that much for the distribution center to distribute. I think most of the huge old-fashioned two-story department stores will eventually go out of business.

JC Penney to close distribution center in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, eliminating 670 jobs

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/compa...D=ansmsnnews11

Fourth-quarter sales at Sears dropped 18.1%. Most Sears stores are ugly. The buildings are drab-colored monstrosities with few windows. The flooring, the display cases, the clothing racks and other furnishings are very old-fashioned. Target and Walmart stores frequently modernize. Sears stores do not. Walk into a Sears store in 2018 and go to the clothing department and you'll swear you went through a time warp and you're in a Sears store in 1958!

Sears posts its biggest holiday sales drop in history

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/compa...D=ansmsnnews11

"Oh, forget Prada, Saks, Vera Wang and Dolce & Gabbana, darling -- I now buy all my clothes at Walmart."

Walmart is launching four new private-label apparel brands March 1
There's a men's collection, women's collection, plus-size women's collection and kid's collection. They look very similar to offerings from ModCloth and Bonobos, which Walmart acquired in 2017. The new brands come at a time when principal competitor Amazon is placing a focus on new private-label clothing brands.

https://www.aol.com/article/finance/...ring/23372401/

By frequently changing the locations of products and by having very few signs in the stores, Costco forces customers to wander around trying to find things. Then they're likely to buy things they hadn't intended to buy. Sneaky!

Costco infuriates customers by constantly moving things around the store — and employees say it's a brilliant strategy

https://www.aol.com/article/lifestyl...ound/23402101/

I wonder how much longer Sears will be around. Most of their stores are old and unattractive and most of their merchandise is old-fashioned and outdated.....and does anyone younger than 40 ever shop at Sears?

Sears is closing its last Chicago store after 80 years in business

http://www.businessinsider.com/sears...o-store-2018-4

I can repeat what I said in the previous post. Sears' sales have steadily fallen in 26 consecutive quarters. Yikes!

Sears to close 72 more stores amid plunging sales

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/compa...D=ansmsnnews11

The way things are going they'll soon end up like Carsons......Kaput.

Hudson's Bay Company, the parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor, was founded in 1670 and is the oldest commercial enterprise in North America. Of course in the 17th century they didn't have to worry about losing business to online sellers.

Hudson's Bay to close 10 Lord & Taylor stores, including flagship location on Fifth Avenue in New York City

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/...nue/672197002/

The store chain is Target -- and certain races of people seem to be targets as well. In February, a clerk at a Minnesota Target clerk accused a black shopper of planning to steal headphones. Now we have this incident:

Target store in Michigan fires security guard after black customer says she was racially profiled
Security guards forced Ashanae Davis, 20, to lift up her shirt and pull down her pants to prove she hadn't stolen a bikini.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/...cially-n879866

The inside of the card wished a happy Fathers Day to "a wonderful husband and father" but people were offended by the front of the card, which showed a black couple kissing and the words "Baby Daddy." Don't people have bigger issues to worry about?

Target pulls 'Baby Daddy' Fathers Day card from shelves; American Greetings apologizes

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/target-...gs-apologizes/

Show of hands: How many knew JCPenney owned three Gulfstream jets? Next question: Why?

New JCPenney CEO won't have one big perk his predecessors enjoyed
Three corporate jets are up for sale, expected to fetch $20 million.

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/...essors-enjoyed

JC Penney tried, and failed, to attract younger customers. Sears and JC Penney may eventually go out of business like Hecht's, Mervyn's, Toys Я Us, KB Toys, Tower Records, May Company, Montgomery Ward, Circuit City and other retailers.

JC Penney abandons millennials as it weathers an identity crisis

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/comp...9gU9?ocid=AMZN

James Cash Penney opened the first JC Penney store in 1902 in Kemmerer, Wyoming. There are now 860 JC Penney stores in the United States and Puerto Rico but I have a feeling they may not be around much longer.

JCPenney's latest results are absolutely dreadful
CNN, Aug 16 2018 11:37 AM

It's hard to imagine how the situation could get any worse at JCPenney, which was once a powerhouse of retail. Its stock plunged nearly 25% today to a new all-time low below $2 a share after the company's latest dismal results. JCPenney continues to lose money. It recently closed more than 100 stores. Sales are falling. It just cut its outlook for the year. And, oh yeah, it doesn't have a CEO. JCPenney now has just $182 million in cash left, a more than 40% drop from a year ago. and nearly $4 billion in long-term debt. And while other big retailers such as Walmart and Best Buy have invested heavily in digital operations to catch up with Amazon, JCPenney -- much like the equally floundering Sears -- is way behind.

https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/16/new...ail/index.html

In case you're wondering, O'Neal, who played for six NBA teams, 1992-2011, is 7-foot-1 and weighs 325. Will his new branded clothing line help boost JC Penney's fortunes? Well.....it couldn't hurt.


JC Penney launching big-and-tall brand with Shaquille O'Neal
MarketWatch, Aug 20 2018 11:19 AM

JC Penney said today it is launching an exclusive big-and-tall brand with Shaquille O'Neal that will feature men's clothing and accessories. Shaquille O'Neal XLG will including 60 styles including shirts, ties and belts at affordable prices with separates and sports coats to size 64 and belts to 4XL. O'Neal became a JC Penney big-and-tall brand ambassador in March.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/jc...eal-2018-08-20