The news swirling around Toys R Us these past few weeks is grim. The likelihood of all U.S. stores closing is nearing inevitability as the chain faces liquidation in the U.S. and other global markets, seeking buyers for its more sustainable operations in Canada, Asia and…
After the Parkland school shooting, the students unified for “Enough is Enough” with demonstrations and a call to action. Dick’s Sporting Goods took initiative in response to this, making headlines by stating that they would no longer sell assault style rifles, high capacity magazines or…
McMillanDoolittle, a retail consulting firm focused on converting customer insights into strategies, will be a sponsor and participant at Northwestern University’s Retail Robotics and AI Conference. The conference is organized and hosted jointly by Northwestern’s Retail Analytics Council and the Platt Retail Institute. It will…
Just as the retailers of “basics” were fundamentally ill-equipped to deal with fast fashion, fast-fashion is fundamentally ill-equipped to respond to sustainable initiatives. This leaves an opportunity for the legacy brands to regain relevance. After a year of struggling sales and a forecast of challenged…
We had the opportunity to moderate a panel on innovation at the Innovation Stage at NRF. This was an exciting new addition to the show—a stage right off the Innovation Lab, an area dedicated to cutting edge innovation ideas. But, an idea is only good…
Walmart recently announced it would be using some of the benefits from the recent tax reform to increase worker wages and benefits. While no doubt welcomed by Walmart workers, and many in the administration as a sign that tax reform is working, is there more…
In July, I wrote about Starbucks announcement that they were shuttering all 379 Teavana units by the end of 2018. The roots of that story were more firmly centered on Starbucks dubious success in acquiring companies with Teavana costing them $620 million in 2012. An…
Children of the 80s and 90s will remember Sharper Image as that decade’s cutting-edge leader of gadgets. They may remember testing out high-end massage chairs in one of the 200 or so Sharper Image stores sprinkled at malls across America or owning one of the…
A few weeks back, I wrote about a significant retrenching of the eatsa business, which involved the closing of their New York restaurants and retrenching back to their San Francisco units. At the same time, the company announced that technology would begin to appear as…
On Friday, Apple opened “the first in a new generation of Apple’s most significant worldwide retail locations” (Angela Ahrendts) on Chicago’s Riverwalk. Designed by London-based Foster & Partners, the exterior features a thin Macbook inspired roof, and floor-to-ceiling glass walls that blur the line between…
