Word: retailing
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When Emma Mitts, an alderwoman in West Chicago, was appointed in 2000, retail in her 37th Ward consisted of corner stores. Mitts vowed to upgrade the options. In 2003, at a conference sponsored by the International Council of Shopping Centers, Mitts met with Wal-Mart officials who informed her that they had tried once before to put a store in Chicago but had been stiff-armed. "The unions stopped them," said Mitts. "But the unions weren't an issue...
...began looking at Chicago's West Side, the company went searching for contractors to build stores in the city. Wal-Mart was looking for someone who could lay down a solid foundation, both on site and in the surrounding West Side community of Austin, where high unemployment and high retail prices prevail and the labor supply, while plentiful, has a few dents in it. "The community aspect is not something Wal-Mart has typically had to deal with," says Garner. "Coming to a city and having to deal with ex-offenders, for instance. These aren't the sorts of problems...
...keeping a grip on jobs. While 37% of Chicago is black, only 10% of all new apprentices in the construction trades between 2000 and 2003 were black, according to the Chicago Tribune. The unions that most vociferously oppose Wal-Mart are not in the building trades but represent retail workers, such as the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), which has long welcomed blacks. Still, Mitts and many in the 37th Ward conflated the two and had no problem allying themselves with Wal-Mart...
...Or?al, instrumental in transforming it from a 25-employee company into a global cosmetics giant; in Geneva. In the 1950s, before taking the company's helm, he expanded marketing into the U.S. and Japan, in part by taking the then-radical step of selling products in retail stores, rather than just hair salons. Later he signed licensing deals with designers like Guy Laroche and oversaw the acquisition of such prestige brands as Lanc?me, Garnier and Biotherm...
...already clear, at least anecdotally, that the oil virus is finally beginning to have an impact on spending by U.S. consumers, who drive much of the world's demand. Wal-Mart, for example, has warned that its profits are already getting hit by high gasoline prices. And the retail giant may not be alone. According to the University of Michigan's monthly survey, released last Friday, consumer confidence in the U.S. dropped sharply in August, due mainly to oil. "If growth in the U.S. slows significantly, all of Asia's exporters will feel it," says Xie. The good news...