Articles written by Anne Dinnocenzio
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Virus keeps Black Friday crowds thin, shoppers shift online
NEW YORK (AP) — The raging coronavirus pandemic kept crowds thin at malls and stores across the country on Black Friday, but a surge in online shopping offered a beacon of hope for struggling retailers after months of slumping sales and businesses t...
Retailers brace as virus bears down on consumers and economy
WASHINGTON (AP) — LaTonya Story is every retailer's worst fear. With the viral pandemic re-surging through the country and the economy under threat, Story has decided to slash her holiday shopping budget. She'll spend less than $2,000 this season, d...
Toilet paper limits, empty shelves are back as virus surges
NEW YORK (AP) — Looking for toilet paper? Good luck. A surge of new coronavirus cases in the U.S. is sending people back to stores to stockpile again, leaving shelves bare and forcing retailers to put limits on purchases. Walmart said Tuesday it's h...
U.S. bankruptcy court approves sale of J.C. Penney
NEW YORK (AP) — J.C. Penney is on course to emerge from bankruptcy by Thanksgiving, after a U.S. bankruptcy court approved the sale of the ailing 118-year-old retailer to its two largest landlords and its primary lenders. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court f...
Suppliers reluctant to ship goods without credit insurance
NEW YORK (AP) — Gold Medal International is sitting on millions of dollars’ worth of socks at its North Carolina warehouse that it can't ship to stores. The reason? The 66-year-old family-owned sock maker can't get enough credit insurance to cov...
Virus-induced spending spurs sales at Home Depot, Walmart
NEW YORK (AP) — Americans turned to Walmart and Home Depot for supplies and do-it-yourself projects as they stayed close to home at a time when new cases of virus surged, resulting in soaring sales for their fiscal second quarter. Walmart's online s...
Health officials link US salmonella outbreak to red onions
Federal health officials say an outbreak of salmonella infecting nearly 400 people in more than 30 states has been linked to red onions, and identified a California company as the likely source. The Food and Drug Administration said in a statement...
Q&A: What would a US ban on Chinese-owned app TikTok mean?
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump says he wants to take action to ban TikTok, a popular Chinese-owned video app that has been a source of national security and censorship concerns. The threat comes as Microsoft Corp. is in advanced talks to b...
As tide turns, retailers that resisted masks relent
NEW YORK (AP) — When the parent of Southern grocery chain Winn-Dixie said that it wasn't going to require customers to wear masks to protect against the spread of the coronavirus, the response was brutal, with some loyal patrons vowing on social m...
Scholastic CEO talks civil unrest, pandemic
NEW YORK (AP) — When the pandemic shut down schools nationwide in March, Scholastic Corp. immediately pivoted, offering a free online learning hub for millions of families with kids. Two months later, civil unrest caused the company to quickly j...
Owner of Eskimo Pie to change its 'derogatory' name
NEW YORK (AP) — The owner of Eskimo Pie is changing its name and marketing of the nearly century-old chocolate-covered ice cream bar, the latest brand to reckon with racially charged logos and marketing. "We are committed to being a part of the s...
Stores try to stay relevant while their doors are closed
NEW YORK (AP) — Long before there was a global coronavirus pandemic, brick-and-mortar retailers struggled to get people to walk through their doors instead of shopping online. Now those retailers are faced with an even more Herculean task: how to s...
A diminished Victoria's Secret is sold
NEW YORK (AP) — Victoria's Secret, which once defined sexy with its leggy supermodels prancing around in their bras and oversized angel wings, is being sold as women increasingly look for styles that more realistically fit their body type. The compan...
Macy's to close 125 stores, shed 2,000 corporate jobs
NEW YORK (AP) — Macy's said Tuesday it is closing 125 of its least productive stores and cutting 2,000 corporate jobs as the struggling department store tries to reinvent itself in the age of online shopping. The store closures represent about one f...
Best Buy sees growth in health care technology for elderly
NEW YORK (AP) — The nation's largest consumer electronics chain, known for selling TV sets, cellphones and laptops, is looking to health care as a big source of its future growth. Best Buy Co. said Wednesday that in five years it hopes to provide 5...
Honest Co.'s CFO shares lessons learned and his vision ahead
NEW YORK (AP) — The Honest Company, known for its eco-friendly diapers, wipes and cleaning products, is back on the upswing after a series of stumbling blocks. The digital native company was founded by actress Jessica Alba in 2012. It attained u...
Once a retail shrine , flagship stores lose their shine
NEW YORK (AP) — It used to be considered the retailer's crown jewel — a large format store on a swank corridor that showed off the best of what a brand had to offer. But now the so-called flagship store is disappearing from high-profile shopping tho...
Retail rivals crash Amazon's Prime Day party
NEW YORK (AP) — The gravitational pull of Amazon Prime Day is so strong on shoppers it's benefiting other retailers as well, according to an early analysis from a key data group. On Monday, the first day of its 48-hour sales event, large r...
Threat of Mexican tariffs, US companies in the crossfire
The surprise announcement by President Donald Trump of an escalating tariff regime against Mexico is sending ripples through almost every economic sector in the U.S., hammering American companies that sell automobiles or run railroads, grow...
Humbug holidays: US retail sales drop 1.2 pct in December
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. retail sales fell in December, posting the biggest drop since September 2009 and delivering more evidence that last year's holiday sales fizzled unexpectedly. Even e-commerce suffered a big setback. The Commerce Department s...
Payless ShoeSource to shutter all of its remaining US stores
NEW YORK (AP) — Payless ShoeSource is shuttering all of its 2,100 remaining stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, joining a list of iconic names like Toys R Us and Bon-Ton that have closed down in the last year. The Topeka, Kansas-based chain said F...
Shoppers spend freely heading into the holidays
NEW YORK (AP) — Shoppers are spending freely heading into the holidays, but heavy investments and incentives like free shipping by retailers are giving Wall Street pause. Target Inc., Kohl's Corp., Best Buy Co. and TJX Cos. all reported strong s...
Tech firm: Holiday spending up 9.2 percent so far
NEW YORK (AP) — A payment technology firm says that holiday spending is surging in the days before Christmas. First Data said Friday that overall spending, excluding gas, rose 9.2 percent from Nov. 1 through Monday, outpacing the 3.7 percent pace f...
Holiday shopping: Desire for deals, but some impulse buying
NEW YORK (AP) — As shoppers have bought TVs and toys so far this holiday season, they've shown a desire for deals but also an inclination for some impulse spending, retail experts say. Shoppers were on track to spend more compared to last year. T...
Target joins other retailers in offering voice shopping
NEW YORK (AP) — Target is jumping into voice-activated shopping as it deepens its relationship with Google, offering thousands of items found in the store except for perishables like fruit and milk. The move is happening as Google says shopping w...
