Word: marte
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That great American retailing machine, Wal-Mart Stores, just keeps rolling along, doesn't it? Even in the current "challenging retail environment," Wal-Mart announced last week that sales in the fiscal year ending Jan. 31 increased a respectable 16% to $191.3 billion, while earnings hit a record $6.3 billion-a 17% jump. But hidden amid that thicket of good news is a thorny problem: Wal-Mart's European operations aren't reaching the levels of growth needed to make the company's expensive leap across the pond pay off. "Wal-Mart has not yet succeeded in markets that...
...Interactive Video Cafe is not much to look at from the outside. It sits in a sprawling lot of a large strip mall anchored by K Mart and a Kroger supermarket. Inside, however, a mostly upscale African-American clientele drinks margaritas or Cognac and dines on $17.95 entrees of blackened pork chops, charbroiled salmon and barbecued ribs. On different nights, the restaurant features live jazz, comedy or karaoke. The restaurant had set aside its plushly decorated VIP room for the Brown party. At one point during the evening, the hostess took an odd telephone call from two women who asked...
Still, retailers believe in Santa Claus. Some 60% of all holiday shopping takes place in the final two weeks, and merchants expect bargain-sniffing consumers to pounce at the last minute. "If the weather clears, the shoppers will be out," says Lee Scott, CEO of Wal-Mart. "They have shown they do have disposable income." Now they have to show they'll spend...
...were down nearly 10% from a year ago, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers. Sears has moved its after-Christmas sale to the week before, urging shoppers that this is "no time to fool around." Everyone from the Gap and Victoria's Secret to Circuit City, Wal-Mart and Home Depot is feeling the pain. Even online shopping isn't growing as fast as expected. Last week eToys announced its sales were lower than expected and it may run out of money in the spring. "For the consumer," says Richard Berner, chief U.S. economist at Morgan Stanley...
...dotcom world has gone to work for K Mart? It certainly looks that way. Refugees from Pets.com Eve.com Productopia, PlanetRX and just about every other recent flameout have landed here. Last Christmas, Bluelight.com (60% owned by K Mart; other investors include Martha Stewart) was an industry joke. Now it boasts an inventory of 30,000-plus items, more than 1 million unique visitors monthly and a massive, last-minute rollout of 3,600 Internet kiosks in 1,200 K Marts across America. CEO Mark Goldstein is blithely turning away job applicants--unheard of in employee-hungry Silicon Valley--and even...