Retail

Bloomberg Macy’s Inc, in the middle of navigating a broad US shutdown of nonessential businesses, said that Chief Financial Officer Paula Price is leaving her role. Price, who has been in the position for less than two years, “has made the decision to leave the company as of May 31,” the department-store operator said in a statement. She will remain ...

Bloomberg Struggling UK retailer Debenhams Plc moved to protect itself from creditors after closing its stores because of the coronavirus. The department-store chain filed a notice of intent to appoint administrators under UK insolvency procedures. The company said the goal was to avoid being pushed into liquidation as it eyes reopening after virus-related restrictions are eased. Debenhams envisions what it ...

Bloomberg Retailers have a new tool to use in the scuffle between landlords and tenants: a court ruling that could help them withhold rent. Pier 1 Imports Inc is the latest retailer to seize on the precedent, asking a judge to let it skip rent payments amid the coronavirus outbreak that has shuttered stores across the US. The judge overseeing ...

Bloomberg DoorDash Inc, the biggest food delivery app in the US, will start delivering goods from 7-Eleven, Wawa and other convenience stores to Americans who are mostly stuck at home for the foreseeable future. The San Francisco-based startup said it began testing the sale of paper towels and other packaged goods this year and decided to accelerate the rollout due ...

Bloomberg Stuck-at-home Americans are nowadays way more interested in buying toilet paper and hand soap than handbags and evening gowns. That’s forcing luxury retailers, like Neiman Marcus Group Inc and Nordstrom Inc, to resort to a tactic they rarely use: discounts. Neiman Marcus has Tom Ford glasses, which usually sell for about $400, at 50% off on its website. Customers ...

Bloomberg Shoppers in Vermont hoping to wander the aisles of their local big-box store in search of an exercise mat or a video game are out of luck. The state ordered Walmart Inc and other big-box retailers to halt the sale of “non-essential” products in their brick-and-mortar locations to reduce the potential spread of the coronavirus. A spokesman for Vermont’s ...

Bloomberg Amazon.com is planning to open a new grocery store in Irvine, California, the second confirmed location for an as-yet-unnamed retail concept separate from the company’s Whole Foods Market chain. Amazon job postings show the retailer is hiring for managers and grocery staffers for a store in the city, located southeast of Los Angeles in Orange County. An Amazon spokeswoman ...

Bloomberg Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc is well positioned to ride out the Covid-19 storm that’s ravaging the US restaurant industry, according to its chief financial officer. “We can get through for many months or even a year at these kind of depressed sales levels,” CFO Jack Hartung said in an interview, declining to provide sales figures. He said the disease ...

Bloomberg Retailers and landlords are locked in an awkward dance as April rent comes due. Major chains including Mattress Firm and Subway have told landlords they will postpone or slash payments in coming months. Mall operators say they expect to be paid. Best Buy, meanwhile, plans to pay rent, with the possible exception of locations it was forced to close. ...

Bloomberg Coronavirus-driven stockpiling by Britons girding for a nationwide lockdown lifted UK grocery sales to a record in March, according to research firm Kantar. Supermarket sales grew by 7.6% in the past 12 weeks, the fastest pace in more than a decade. That rate of increase nearly tripled over the past four weeks, making March the biggest month of grocery ...