Retail

Bloomberg Modell’s Sporting Goods halted its going-out-of-business sales as customers shelter at home and states order most merchants to close. The bankrupt retailer stopped liquidation sales and closed all stores as of March 21, CEO Mitchell Modell said. It plans to resume once the bans are lifted, he said. Retailers are pausing store-closing sales as a growing number of states and ...

Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc’s delivery delays of non-essential goods will extend for at least another month for many customers in the US and Europe, stirring panic among online merchants who rely on the web retailer for business. The lengthening delivery times come on top of confusion over how the company identifies essential products, a task that appears to be performed by ...

Bloomberg Primark, the budget fashion chain owned by Associated British (AB) Foods Plc, has closed every store it operates due to the spread of the coronavirus, which will lead to a loss of 650 million pounds ($760 million) for each month the shops are shut. Primark had closed 20% of its selling space as of March 16, and on March ...

Bloomberg Simon Wolfson, chief executive officer of clothing chain Next Plc, said that the coronavirus pandemic presents the global retail industry with its biggest threat in nearly half a century. The oil price shock of 1973 — when Wolfson was five years old — triggered a stock market crash, soaring inflation and high unemployment. The viral contagion could become just ...

Bloomberg As most Britons were clearing the shops of pasta, toilet paper and painkillers to weather the coronavirus outbreak, Jenny Yeo’s thoughts were elsewhere: her daughter’s room, which she’d been planning to decorate. The barrister from Penarth, south Wales, headed to her local branch of home improvement store B&Q and spent 200 pounds ($240) on paint, wallpaper and wood paneling. ...

Bloomberg Walmart Inc is hiring 150,000 temporary workers to meet surging demand for everyday goods, as the US retail giant prepares to start coronavirus tests in store parking lots over the weekend. The new employees will largely work in distribution centres and many will become permanent staff over time, Walmart said in a statement. The company is also slated to ...

Bloomberg Target Corp is boosting hourly wages, expanding its paid-leave policy and delivering bonuses to thousands of store employees, the latest move by a major retailer to reward rank-and-file staff for coping with the coronavirus. The cheap-chic retailer said it’s raising hourly pay by $2 until at least May 2, and offering paid sick leave of up to 30 days ...

Bloomberg A trade group representing shopping-centre owners is urging the Trump administration to provide relief to retailers, restaurants and landlords as the coronavirus pandemic shuts down commerce around the US. The government should guarantee or pay for business-interruption coverage, the International Council of Shopping Centers said in a letter to President Donald Trump. Store closures “are placing an insurmountable strain ...

Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc suffered a technical glitch affecting online grocery orders through its Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh delivery services, which have become lifelines for household essentials for people looking to avoid stores due to the coronavirus outbreak. “As Covid-19 has spread, we’ve seen a significant increase in people shopping online for groceries,” an Amazon spokeswoman said in a statement. ...

Bloomberg Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) and Primark are bracing for an unprecedented slump in European sales as the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak shifts from China. Primark has closed shops that generate 30% of its total revenue as governments ordered shutdowns. H&M is shutting stores in 13 European countries, including Italy, which has more than 24,000 cases of Covid-19. The ...