No Turn On Red

This week we saw record heat on the East Coast and a mixed bag of retail results for July. Some retailers are already enjoying the BTS season while some mall retailers can’t catch a break.

Are Wal-Mart employees in for a shock tomorrow? Rumors are that various levels of management, including store, district, and regionals, were tied up in meetings last week discussing new HR policies. Details are few, due to strict measures meant to clog up leaks, but one of the rumors is that Wal-Mart will be announcing new policies regarding the maximum pay employees can make within various pay scales. Is a possible severage package for long term employees also in the works? Rumors are rampant, but expect more to be known tomorrow.

The Lord & Taylor sale has been approved by the Federal Trade Commission. With that, Macy’s has re-opened the former Lord & Taylor in Center City Phildelphia as a new flagship store. The Philadelphia Daily News offers some insight into ways that Macy’s, and other retailers, can look towards the future of retail and customer satisfaction (see: Macy’s: Want to Know The Real Way to Shop?).

In case you blinked, as of the end of July, Hollister now has 355 stores nationally, compared to the 351 that Abercrombie & Fitch has. The younger brother now has more stores than the (much) older sibling.

Finn over at Lightheavyweight took a good look at Gap and some other retailers this week (see: Retail Sightings, July 30, 2006). He comes from a design background, similar to me, and approaches the retail industry looking for good design and ways to increase customer satisfaction. I really enjoyed this post and look for more like it in the future.

In local (to me) retail news, there’s something interesting brewing along Route 36 at the site of a former Bradlees and Food Town, in Hazlet, NJ, that has been vacant since the early part of this century. It appears that the local planning board has heard an application from Stop & Shop Supermarkets to rennovate the building. For years, Wal-Mart has been rumored to be interested in the property, but due to enviromental concerns, the property is not large enough for what they require.

This application is interesting for a few reasons - one, because Stop & Shop owned the Bradlees chain at one point, so they are reaquiring property they divested 15 years ago. Second, Stop & Shop already has a location less than a mile away from this property. I’m interested to know what they plan on doing with this vacant parcel and the existing store. Could they really be moving locations, down the highway?

Also locally, PetSmart is building their sixth location in this part of the Jersey Shore, due to open next year.

This week will see the start of Q2 earnings results, with the balance of the results due in after next weekend. We’ll see how the BTS season is shaping up for retailers across the country and start to get some indications where retailers are planning on going as we head into the Fall.

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