Retail

Bloomberg Walmart Inc jumped after reporting coronavirus-related stockpiling led to a surge in quarterly sales, underscoring the company’s strong position amid widespread carnage in the US retail sector. Comparable-store sales, a key retail metric, increased 10% for US Walmart stores in the period, compared with the 8.6% estimate compiled by Consensus Metrix. That’s the fastest pace of growth in almost …

Bloomberg From luxury boutiques to mom and pop stores, Hong Kong’s retailers are hurting. Unless landlords can offer more relief, one in four could disappear by December if sales don’t improve, putting an end to the city’s reputation as a shopping hotspot. That’s the gloomy prediction of Hong Kong Retail Management Association Chairman Annie Yau Tse, who says the rent …

Bloomberg JC Penney Co, the department-store chain that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, said it will close about 29% of its stores. The retailer will reduce its store count to about 604, down from the 846 it currently has across the US, according to a company filing. In fiscal 2019, those locations brought in $9.2 billion in net …

Bloomberg Pier 1 Imports Inc said it would seek bankruptcy court approval to wind down its retail operations after the coronavirus pandemic made it difficult for the US retailer to find a buyer. The company said in a statement on Tuesday it intends to sell its inventory and remaining assets, including its intellectual property and e-commerce business, through the court-supervised …

Bloomberg Italy’s shoppers may be digging out their wallets as retail businesses reopen on Monday, but many of the country’s 2.7 million merchants say there’s little to celebrate. “My creditors will be all over me as soon as I raise my portcullis,” said Giulio Anticoli, referring to the heavy medieval grates still used to protect some storefronts in Rome. “There’s …

Bloomberg For middle-class Americans in the 20th century, JC Penney was one of the first places to look when you needed work pants, toys or towels, chairs or china. Even if you didn’t live anywhere near one of its stores, the iconic mail-order catalog made its goods available to anyone. As Penney’s longtime slogan promised, “It’s All Inside.” But as …

Bloomberg Nike Inc has been among the chief beneficiaries of a “significant acceleration in athletic apparel/footwear trends” over the past couple of weeks as stores in several states began reopening after the Covid-19 pandemic closed all but essential businesses across the country, according to Credit Suisse Securities analyst Michael Binetti. “Athletic trends looked very bad” at the start of the …

Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc says the one- and two-day delivery times that shoppers have come to expect should gradually return in coming weeks as the online retailer catches up from a demand surge tied to the coronavirus outbreak. The company lifted restrictions on the amount of inventory its suppliers can send to Amazon warehouses and is shortening delivery times — which …

Bloomberg Stage Stores Inc, the owner of rural department and discount stores including Goody’s, Peebles and Gordmans, filed for bankruptcy protection, adding to the toll of traditional retailers felled by too much debt and the economic shocks of the coronavirus. The retailer will simultaneously seek buyers for parts or all of its business while it also begins to wind down …

Bloomberg Sephora USA Inc escalated its legal fight with partner JC Penney Co, saying the department-store chain’s response to the pandemic violates an agreement allowing it to operate about 650 in-house beauty boutiques. JC Penney, which closed all its stores in March as the virus spread, persuaded a Texas state court judge last week to temporarily bar Sephora from exiting …