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‘The Daily Wrap:’ Staples, B&N, Costco
Staples Launches B2B Site
Staples Advantage, the business-to-business division of office supply retailer Staples, Inc., has launched a new web site, StaplesAdvantage.com, to address what the company calls customers’ growing demands for supplier consolidation and reduced procurement costs. Current and prospective customers can view the full scale of Staples Advantage’s products and services....
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Williams-Sonoma Seeks Store Closures in Large Markets
Specialty retailer Williams-Sonoma intends to shutter an undisclosed number of stores in large, multi-store markets. According to the Wall Street Journal, Williams-Sonoma CFO Sharon McCollam told attendees of an investor conference the retailer’s goal is optimizing cost per square foot rather than simply reducing store footprint.
During the next three years, 25% of Williams-Sonoma’s leases,...
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Pier 1 Net Losses Deepen
Specialty retailer Pier 1 Imports Inc. saw Q4 2008 net income turn into Q4 2009 net loss, and also saw year-over-year net losses grow. Pier 1 ended its Q4 and fiscal year 2009 on February 28, 2009. These and other highlights from Pier 1’s annual report follow.
Net Loss a RealityDuring Q4 2009, Pier 1 reported a net loss of $29 million, compared to net income of $14 million during Q4 2008....
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‘Friday Clearance’: News We Didn’t Cover, Week Ended March 27, 2009
Below, some recent articles from the stock of news items that Retailer Daily just didn’t get to writing this week, but still might be worth your while to check out.
Finish Line Appoints Edward W. Wilhelm Chief Financial Officer
Finish Line
Consumer Price Index Summary
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Sleepy’s to Acquire 1800mattress.com Through Chapter 11 Process
1-800-Mattress.com
Pier 1 Job Cuts Could Reach 850, May Close Stores
Pier 1 Imports Inc. said late Tuesday it would close some of its 125 underperforming stores if it’s unable to renegotiate leases and may have to lay off as many 850 workers, reports Dallas News.
The home furnishings chain plans to cut up to 10% of its 8,500 full-time equivalent positions.
Cuts at Pier 1’s Ft. Worth, TX, headquarters have already begun. Field-administration jobs will also be...
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Williams-Sonoma to Lay off 1,400 Full-Time Workers, Cut Costs by $75 Million
Williams-Sonoma announced (pdf) plans to cut 18% of its full-time work force and close a distribution facility and call center—all by January 31, or the end of its fiscal year 2008 fourth quarter—in an effort to help reduce its fiscal year 2009 fixed and semi-fixed overhead costs by approximately $75 million.
A 38,000-square-foot call center in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, and a 500,000-square-foot...
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Williams Sonoma Posts $11 Million Net Loss
Williams-Sonoma Inc., operator of Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma stores, posted an $11 million net loss on total sales of $752.1 million in the third quarter (ended Nov. 2), which is a 16% decline from 3Q07’s revenue.
Diluted loss per share was $0.10 versus $0.25 earnings per diluted share last year from net income of $27 million, the company said (pdf).
Overall retail sales dropped 14.1%...
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Retail Sales Marred by Web-Performance Issues, Browser Wars
With the market and retailers nervous about sales and shoppers scouring the web for bargains, it’s no time for website outages or slowdowns—but many of the largest brands disappointed potential shoppers on Cyber Monday.
The websites of Dell, Victoria’s Secret and Williams-Sonoma, among others, had performance issues during the morning of Cyber Monday, causing them to lose sales opportunities...
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Scholastic, QVC Fastest on the Wild, Wild Web
Response time for Scholastic.com in October averaged 1.09 seconds, bumping it up from its No. 2 position in September to lead the 50 largest e-retailers, according to website performance data from Gomez (via Internet Retailer).
QVC.com followed closely with a response time of 1.13 seconds. Avon.com averaged 1.19 seconds, and Dell came in fourth at 1.27 seconds.
ColdwaterCreek.com,...
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Williams-Sonoma Cuts Second-Half Outlook
Share of home furnishings retailer Williams-Sonoma fell 29% in pre-market trading on Wed., Oct. 29, after it reported a worse-than-expected sales drop and slashed its second-half outlook.
Jones Apparel Group and Office Depot also reported Q3 losses, leading a drop in retail sector shares, writes MarketWatch.
Williams-Sonoma, which runs its namesake chain and Pottery Barn stores, forecast an...
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