Retail

Bloomberg Lululemon Athletica Inc — whose founder once body-shamed women on live television — is finding that offering larger sizes can pay off. Sales of women’s garments rose 22% last quarter, reaching pre-pandemic growth levels, the company said on a call with investors after reporting third-quarter results that beat estimates. Executives didn’t specifically attribute the surge to the more inclusive ...

Bloomberg Walmart Inc says it’s preparing its more than 5,000 pharmacies across the US to receive Covid-19 vaccine doses, including adding freezers and dry ice to handle any cold-storage demands. The preparations underway at Walmart and Sam’s Club pharmacies also include creating processes to tell customers when to get their first and second doses and entering agreements with states about ...

Bloomberg Costco Wholesale Corp topped Wall Street’s profit expectations during the first quarter amid continued high demand for food and supplies, even as the warehouse chain said pandemic-related costs remain elevated. Profit climbed to $2.62 a share in the period ended on November 22, the company said. Analysts had expected $2.06 on average, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Costco ...

Bloomberg Live streaming by Chinese influencers like Wei Ya and “lipstick king” Li Jiaqi, peddling everything from skincare products to toilet paper, lured millions to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s biggest binge-shopping day last month, posting a record $75 billion in sales. In Europe, the event barely made a ripple. While Alibaba’s Tmall platform in China logged 583,000 orders in one ...

Bloomberg Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group Plc is in last-ditch talks to buy the ailing Debenhams department store in a move which could save thousands of jobs. The owner of the Sports Direct brand confirmed it was in negotiations in an emailed statement and said “we hope to be able to save as many jobs as possible” at Debenhams, one of ...

Bloomberg Boutique women’s clothing chain Francesca’s Holdings Corp filed for bankruptcy after the pandemic eroded the company’s already flagging sales. The Houston-based company sought Chapter 11 protection in US Bankruptcy Court in Delaware with plans to sell the business, according to a statement. TerraMar Capital LLC or an affiliate has agreed to become the stalking-horse bidder in a court-supervised auction, ...

Bloomberg UK retail landlords are facing a hard reality: the rapid approval of a vaccine has come too late for thousands of their stores. The collapse of department store chain Debenhams Plc and Philip Green’s Arcadia Group this week caps an unremittingly brutal year for the owners of brick and mortar stores. The demise of these retailers alone threatens 16.6 ...

Bloomberg Black Friday — once the ultimate US shopping day — is being disrupted like so much else in these Covid-19 times, with consumers largely avoiding malls and instead flocking online. What that means for overall sales for the holiday season remains to be seen, but it’s becoming clearer that the pandemic has only accelerated the move away from big ...

Bloomberg South African retailers including The Foschini Group (TFG) Ltd and Woolworths Holdings Ltd are increasing investment in local clothing manufacturers — both to reduce a dependency on Chinese imports and secure a supply chain thrown into disarray by Covid-19 restrictions. The companies have signed up to an industry plan that includes a target to source 65% of their goods ...

Bloomberg Mike Ashley, the founder of the Sports Direct sportswear chain, is prepared to offer a 50 million-pound ($66.5 million) loan to Philip Green’s Arcadia Group, which is teetering on the brink of administration, Sky News reported. The board of Frasers Group Plc, run by Ashley, has drawn up plans for an emergency loan to Arcadia, Sky reported, citing Chris ...