Dept. Toys & Games

  1. Shopper & Customer
While retailers typically put a significant emphasis on post-holiday sales, they didn’t resonate with shoppers after the 2023 holiday season. During the week after Christmas, year-over-year sales were down across the board, with only computer software sales seeing an increase from 2022. Department stores, cosmetics stores and clothing stores saw some of the largest declines, […]
  1. Data & Insights
Successful leaders, teams and companies that endure over the long run seek to find ways to balance, unite and integrate opposing dualities into a harmonic and flexible approach that leverage opposing tendencies without merging or averaging them. Here are three key dualities we should all become masters of managing whether it be personally or for […]
  1. Department: Nonfood
Ron Coughlin, who led Petco for five years as the pet retailer’s CEO, announced Wednesday he was stepping down from the company and would remain as an advisor to the board. Petco named Michael Mohan, the former Best Buy president and COO, interim CEO while the board conducts a search for a permanent chief executive. […]
  1. Stores & Formats
Kohl’s said Tuesday that it’s teaming up with the owner of Babies R Us to bring baby gear, furniture and more to approximately 200 of its stores across the country, reports CNBC. The department store chain struck a licensing deal with WHP Global, a brand management firm with a portfolio that includes Bonobos, Joe’s Jeans, […]
  1. Stores & Formats
WHP Global is following a familiar playbook for its relaunch of Babies ‘R’ Us. After opening the brand’s first brick-and-mortar location since its 2018 bankruptcy in July 2023, the company has now announced plans to bring Babies ‘R’ Us shop-in-shops to 200 Kohl’s locations this year. After filing for bankruptcy and shuttering all its U.S. stores, Babies […]
  1. Media & Marketing
  Don’t want to cook, don’t want to do dishes, well according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® your kids don’t want you hear you complain about cooking dinner either. Chuck E. Cheese has a new program for that has a great chance to make the entire family happy according […]
  1. Shopper & Customer
For small businesses with brick-and-mortar stores, foot traffic is (almost) everything. That’s bad news for both rural towns and small business hubs like San Francisco or New York, which haven’t yet recovered to pre-pandemic foot traffic levels. With fewer people walking along city streets and a seasonal dip in sales after the holidays, small retailers […]
  1. Technology & Innovation
Gen Alpha is poised to reach 2 billion people by 2025, making it the largest generation in history, according to Matt Smith, Trends Manager at GWI. However, the influence and impact of this consumer base already are significant, considering the heightened role they’ve played in household decision-making processes since the start of the pandemic. “Families […]
  1. Stores & Formats
Party City will accelerate remodels to expand a new store format that features a dedicated service area for the retailer’s extensive balloon assortment along with “birthday worlds,” designed to be one-stop shops for both kids’ and adults’ celebrations. The retailer, which emerged from bankruptcy in October 2023 with a fleet of more than 750 stores, […]
  1. Channel: Ecommerce & Digital
Books-A-Million is celebrating National Read Across America Day by offering same-day delivery to locations nationwide. Powered by Walmart GoLocal, the service was initially launched last year and is part of the retailer’s broader focus on creating a frictionless ecommerce fulfillment experience for customers across the U.S.  To place an order, customers can visit booksamillion.com and […]
  1. Channel: Club
The Street reports that Costco “plans to open a store solely dedicated to furniture and appliances.” The story notes that “most of Costco’s 850 global locations are its classic warehouse model that sells food, household goods, and lots of other things. The chain has opened a handful of ‘Business Centers,’ in recent years, locations that […]
  1. Corporate Strategy
I got several reactions to yesterday’s breaking news about the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filing suit to block Kroger’s proposed $24.6 billion acquisition of Albertsons. MNB fave Glen Terbeek wrote: So much mass marketing mentality.  We are past the 1960’s.   What about maximizing market performance of each local store and its shoppers through creating […]
  1. Trends & External Forces
Amazon.com U.S. retail sales will total $641.3 billion in 2024, an increase of 19.9 percent or $106.6 billion from 2023, according to a new report from digital retail consultancy Momentum Commerce that tracks Amazon’s U.S. retail sales as well as hundreds of Amazon product categories. According to the report, the following top-level, physical goods categories […]
  1. Channel: Restaurants
  Retail foodservice operators and restaurants specifically are operating at the intersection of yesterdays branding templates, and tomorrows customer focused interactive, participatory experiences according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® who stated, “The Vision Pro Headset has elevated every brands relationship with every customer making it a one-on-one immersive personalization […]
  1. Media & Marketing
Audiences stream a record 40.8 billion viewing minutes on Jan. 13, 2024 Chilly weather, coupled with the excitement of the NFL playoffs, helped boost total TV viewership 3.7% in January. While historically characteristic for the month, the uptick was perhaps more noteworthy because it was 1.4% above its level last year—a reporting period that was […]
  1. Technology & Innovation
Strap in for a glimpse into the not-too-distant future where our retail escapades are getting an android-assisted upgrade! From precision shelf stocking to whizzing through checkouts, let’s wheel through six ways in which robots are already revolutionizing the entire shopping experience. Stockroom Sorting Shenanigans There’s now a wide variety of different types of robots for […]
  1. Data & Insights
Earlier this month: “Meta Platforms Inc. tripled its profit and posted sharply higher revenue in the final quarter of 2023, boosted by a rebound in digital advertising as well cost cutting and layoffs in what CEO Mark Zuckerberg called the “year of efficiency.”” Meta increased revenue by over 25 percent from year ago with nearly […]
  1. Technology & Innovation
You’ve just sat down. VR Headset on. What now? This article aims to get you inside the head of your consumer. As a gaming brand, it can be tough to keep up with the constantly changing landscape of what the video gaming industry is doing. What do gamers want from brands? How can non-gamers become […]
  1. Acquisitions, Divestitures & Mergers
Guess? has partnered with the global brand management firm WHP Global — which owns the Toys ‘R’ Us and Babies ‘R’ Us brands as well as a stake in Express — to acquire the New York-based fashion brand Rag & Bone. The deal is expected to close during Q1 of the Guess? 2025 fiscal year, […]
  1. Media & Marketing
The Stanley X Starbucks Valentine’s Day Quencher H2.0 Tumbler is the latest example of a viral retail phenomenon. The 40-ounce tumbler joins the likes of the Cabbage Patch Doll, Tickle Me Elmo and Furbies, which all generated long lines — even stampedes — of consumers clamoring to get their hands on these coveted goods. And […]
  1. Partnerships & Alt Profit
Amid declining sales, apparel retailer Express has hired restructuring adviser M3 and law firm Kirkland & Ellis to help restructure nearly $280 million of debt, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited people with knowledge of the matter. If the company is unable to successfully restructure its debt, a bankruptcy filing could be imminent. Express’ […]
  1. Technology & Innovation
In an age where everyday goods cost more than ever, is our appetite for the finer things subsiding? According to Bank of America card data, credit card spending for luxury fashion is down 16 percent year-over-year, the product of a six-quarter-long decline. In October, one of the world’s top luxury retailers saw its stock drop […]
  1. Trends & External Forces
Warren Buffett is taking on Build-A-Bear, and he’s not backing down. His Jazwares company, which produces the wildly popular Squishmallows plush toys, has sued Build-A-Bear Workshop, saying its Skoosherz line of toys is a “knockoff” of their idea.
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Editor’s Choice

  1. Media & Marketing
  2. Channel: Restaurants
  3. Department & Category
  4. Department: Consumer Durables
  5. Department: Food
  6. Department: Nonfood
  7. ESG
  8. Media & Marketing
  9. Data & Insights
  10. Shopper & Customer
  11. Technology & Innovation
  12. Trends & External Forces
  13. Merchandising
  Don’t want to cook, don’t want to do dishes, well according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® your kids don’t want you hear you complain about cooking dinner either. Chuck E. Cheese has a new program for that has a great chance to make the entire family happy according […]
  1. Channel: Mass
  2. Corporate Finance
  3. Media & Marketing
  4. Agencies & Vendors
  5. Data & Insights
  6. Trends & External Forces
Target reported Q4 and 2023 financial results at its annual investor day on March 5, 2024. Quarterly comp performance improved sequentially from Q2 to Q4, but 2023 ended with comps down -3.7%. Profitability outperformed expectations as the company realized $2B of operating income growth in 2023 and reported notable gross margin improvements. The stock was […]
  1. Trends & External Forces
  2. CPG: Food
  3. Channel: Ecommerce & Digital
  4. Channel: Grocery
  5. Channel: Mass
  6. Department & Category
  7. Department: Beverage
  8. Department: Food
  9. Department: HBC
  10. Acquisitions, Divestitures & Mergers
  11. Corporate Strategy
  12. Corporate Finance
  13. ESG
  14. Partnerships & Alt Profit
  15. Media & Marketing
  16. Data & Insights
  17. Shopper & Customer
  18. Technology & Innovation
  19. Trends & External Forces
  20. Retail Operations
  21. Associates & Employees
  22. Operations & Supply Chain
  23. Owned Brands (Private Label)
  24. Stores & Formats
Comments from Chairman and CEO Rodney McMullen. "Kroger achieved strong 2023 results, in line with our long-term growth model and built upon three consecutive years of historic growth.

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