Retail

Bloomberg Chinese consumers are back to binging on luxury handbags, cosmetics and cars. But this shopping enthusiasm is not extending to mass consumption in sporting goods and restaurants. An uneven recovery is under way in China as the world’s biggest consumer market also becomes one of the first nations to rebound from the coronavirus pandemic that continues to ravage the ...

Bloomberg Whole Foods Market opened a location in Brooklyn that it’s calling a store — except shoppers won’t be welcome to walk the aisles. Instead, the Amazon.com Inc-owned organic grocer will use the facility, located in the New York borough’s Sunset Park neighbourhood, as a warehouse to fulfill online grocery orders, the company said in a blog post. Amazon bought ...

Bloomberg Pret a Manger Ltd cut 2,800 jobs in UK shops, about a third of its store employees there, in the latest sign that the pandemic is hurting the retail industry. Sales at British stores are down about 60% from a year earlier and are now roughly the same level as in August 2010, Pret said in a statement. A ...

Bloomberg Walmart Inc’s answer to Amazon Prime finally has a launch date. The new subscription programme, dubbed Walmart+, will be available from September 15, the world’s largest retailer said in a statement. The program costs $98 a year, a discount to rival Amazon’s $119 annual Prime membership, and includes unlimited free delivery — including on groceries — plus gasoline discounts. ...

Bloomberg JC Penney Co’s lenders are preparing to take ownership of the retailer as talks with potential outside buyers reach an impasse, an attorney for the company said in a bankruptcy court hearing. “We’ve hit a stalemate,” the attorney, Joshua Sussberg of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, said in the hearing. “Our lenders will no longer be held hostage” by outside ...

Bloomberg An upscale Miami-area shopping mall is moving to evict Saks Fifth Avenue, saying the retailer hasn’t paid rent since March 16 and owes about $1.9 million. Saks told its landlord, Bal Harbour Shops LLC, in August that it couldn’t make lease payments on its three-level retail store due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a lawsuit ...

Bloomberg Steinhoff International Holdings shareholders voiced their frustration with scandal-hit retailer by voting against proposed changes to director pay policies and rejecting financial statements for last year. Investors logged into the South African company’s virtual annual meeting and protested against the extent of fees paid to various advisers, some related to a deal the retailer reached with creditors to skip ...

Bloomberg Cosmetics maker Coty Inc reported worse-than-expected results in its fourth quarter, posting a $1.2 billion drop in sales year on year as consumers stuck at home during the pandemic skipped beauty-product purchases. Sales of $922.1 million in the company’s fiscal fourth quarter were down 56% year on year and worse than analysts’ estimate of $1.34 billion. After a brutal ...

Bloomberg Gap Inc tempered the pace of its sales decline in the second quarter, outpacing analysts’ estimates by picking up e-commerce customers. Sales for the period, which ended on August 1, fell 18% from a year earlier to $3.3 billion, higher than analysts’ projection of $2.9 billion. The company, which owns the Old Navy and Banana Republic brands, increased comparable-store ...

Bloomberg Grocery stores are booming as the coronavirus pandemic drives Americans to stock up their pantries. But the nation’s biggest grocer is largely missing out. Walmart Inc, which has sat at the top of the food chain for years, has lost market share to companies like Kroger Co and Albertsons Cos, whose quarterly sales have risen by double-digit percentages. While ...