How Toys R Us workers got the retailer's private equity owners to pay severance

Nov 23, 2018
The private equity firms Bain and KKR announced this week that they will contribute $20 million to a compensation fund for former employees of Toys R Us. The retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2017, laying off tens of thousands of workers without severance packages. And for months, those former employees have been […]
Tim Boyle/Getty Images

Why retailers love it when you order online and pickup in store

Nov 23, 2018
Big box and department stores have invested heavily on making it easy for customers to pick up stuff they order online at the store. That’s because research shows that most of those pick-ups actually become shopping trips, where the customer buys more than just what was in the online cart. That’s a growing Black Friday […]
Visitors check HTC mobile phones on the second day of the event at the Fira Gran Via Complex on day 2 of the Mobile World Congress on February 23, 2016 in Barcelona, Spain.
David Ramos/Getty Images

Retailers want more than your cash this holiday season

Nov 22, 2018
Stores and websites want your data too
The billions of dollars spent on holiday shopping each year leaves out one big piece of the gift-giving puzzle.
Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Feeling pressured? Americans pushed to overspend this holiday season

Nov 20, 2018
New survey finds nearly half of Americans feel pressured to overspend on gifts.
Sean Gallup/Getty Images

How the day after Thanksgiving came to be known as Black Friday

Nov 19, 2018
This Friday, the Friday after Thanksgiving, is ubiquitously referred to as “Black Friday” by retailers, consumers and the media. We wondered: What does the term mean? And where’d it come from? Click the audio player above to hear the full story. 
The 24th of September 1869: Panic on 'Black Friday' in the New York Gold Room.
Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images

How two New York bodegas explain a glut of shopfronts for rent

Nov 16, 2018
One couldn't afford rent in a hip neighborhood; the other survives on pricey specialties.
American Deli Market in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn recently closed after about 20 years in business.
Janet Babin/Marketplace

For public good, not for profit.

Weathering the hard times by selling chocolate

Nov 15, 2018
"People don't stop buying a few small luxuries" in a recession, one couple found.
Two holiday-themed chocolates from Dean's Sweets, Kristin Thalheimer Bingham's store in Portland, Maine.
Melissa Mullen

Attention holiday shoppers! Deals are pretty much everywhere

Nov 15, 2018
Why is your in-box already overflowing with sale alerts and discount codes?
People walk past a shop advertising 'Black Friday' discounts.
Rob Stothard/Getty Images

Dollar stores might not be selling items for a dollar for much longer

About 70 percent of these products come from China, and with an ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China, this could mean higher prices will be passed down to consumers before long.
Ken Garduno