Retailers have to figure out how to handle all our online returns

Dec 14, 2020
One challenge for those managing "reverse logistics"? Not enough room to store everything we want to send back, one study says.
Packages are processed at a U.S. Postal Service distribution center in Oakland, California.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

How a Seattle retailer hopes to navigate an uncertain holiday season

Dec 3, 2020
Sales estimates are all over the place. Small business owners are hoping to ride out the uncertainty.
 Tom Butcher, right, and Cindy Reichel, left, co-owners of Patchwerks in Seattle. The four-year-old store and online business specializes in synthesizers and other electronic music instruments.
Image provided by Tom Butcher

How small stores are cutting through the noise from the big-box stores this season

Nov 26, 2020
Personal touches, virtual community events and free shipping can go a long way.
Gabriel Bouys/AFP via Getty Images

For retailers this year, a holiday decorating dilemma

Nov 24, 2020
Go big with displays even though COVID is reducing foot traffic? Or dial back the decorations and shore up e-commerce?
A festive window display at Macy's Herald Square in New York on Thursday. Will retailers direct more resources to e-commerce this holiday season?
Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Macy's

Cardboard boxes in high demand this holiday season

Nov 16, 2020
Online sales are expected to surge this year because of the pandemic. And that means retailers need a lot more boxes.
A postal worker monitors packages at a processing and distribution center in April in Oakland, California.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Ahead of the holidays, retailers compete on store safety

Nov 12, 2020
Because, yes, the pandemic is still raging, and a lot of customers are still hesitant to go shopping.
Signs are placed to direct traffic inside the Westfield Santa Anita shopping mall in Arcadia, California, in October.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

How a new shop owner is navigating the pandemic

Oct 9, 2020
After opening her children's clothing store in May, this first-time entrepreneur is seeing a profit. Now if she can just figure out why her customers shop when they do.
Maris Johansson, above, has hired her first employee for her shop, Broomtail, in Denver.
Credit: Joslyn Griffin

For public good, not for profit.

As sales boom, Black business owner juggles two jobs

Sep 17, 2020
The push to support Black-owned businesses has meant exponential growth for Aliya Wanek's clothing line.
Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images

Retailers go "conservative"

Sep 8, 2020
Going into the fall and the holidays, retailers are being cautious about what they buy.
A reopened Urban Outfitters store in Santa Monica, California. Heading into fall, retailers are being cautious about having too much inventory.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Lord & Taylor's final sale: Who will buy all that real estate?

Aug 28, 2020
The venerable department store is closing all 38 of its brick-and-mortar locations after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Pedestrians walk past a shuttered Lord & Taylor department store in Garden City, New York. on May 12.
Bruce Bennett/Getty Images