Latest Retail Headlines

All the headlines from our Retail Topic Page, ordered by recency.

From Insurers to Landlords, Retailers to Restaurants, COVID Reshapes Economies

Dec 18 2020 // It would be just a temporary precaution.When the viral pandemic erupted in March, employees of the small digital insurance firm Thimble fled their Manhattan offices. CEO Jay Bregman planned to call them back soon — as...

$17M Award for Woman Injured at Walmart OK’d by W. Virginia High Court

Nov 30 2020 // The West Virginia Supreme Court has affirmed a jury verdict of nearly $17 million for a woman who was injured when Walmart staffers tried to detain a shoplifter. The court rejected the retail giant’s appeal on Nov....

Indiana Retailer Says Limited-Edition Guitars Worth $95K Stolen at Truck Stop

Nov 9 2020 // An Indiana retailer of musical instruments is seeking the public’s help after a pallet of limited-edition guitars worth tens of thousands of dollars were stolen from a suburban Indianapolis truck stop.Sweetwater...

Retail Investors Placed Bids for Record $3 Trillion of Shares in Ant Group’s IPO

Nov 2 2020 // Retail investors placed bids for a record $3 trillion of shares in Ant Group Co. Ltd.’s dual listing in an unprecedented show of interest by mom-and-pop savers betting on demand for its financial services in...

Walmart Sues U.S. to Clarify Pharmacy Liability in Opioid Crisis

Oct 23 2020 // Walmart Inc. said on Thursday it had filed a lawsuit against the federal government, seeking clarity on the roles and legal responsibilities of pharmacists and pharmacies in filling opioid prescriptions.Walmart said...

Election Security: Retailers Board Up Stores Amid Fears Over More Civil Unrest

Oct 21 2020 // This time last year, shoppers on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile were waiting for Louis Vuitton to debut its whimsical holiday window decorations. Now those same windows are hidden behind a wall of wood panels painted...

Insurance Acquisition Completes Shift Auto Retailer Deal; IPO Launches

Oct 16 2020 // Shares of Shift Technologies Inc. fell 6.7% in their Nasdaq debut on Thursday after the online used-car seller went public through a reverse-merger deal with blank check firm Insurance Acquisition Corp.Shift shares were...

Department Store Blames Insurers As It Files Bankruptcy and Shuts Down

Sep 10 2020 // Century 21 Stores, an iconic New York off-price department store chain, filed for bankruptcy with plans to shut down, becoming the latest victim of the retail industry carnage that’s accelerated during the...

Pullback by Wary Credit Insurers Leaves Suppliers, Retailers in Bind

Sep 8 2020 // Gold Medal International is sitting on millions of dollars worth of socks at its North Carolina warehouse that it can’t ship to stores.The reason? The 66-year-old family-owned sock maker can’t get enough credit...

West Virginia AG Sues Walmart, CVS Over State Flooding of Opioids

Aug 21 2020 // West Virginia’s attorney general sued Walmart and drugstore chain CVS on Tuesday, saying they failed to monitor and report suspicious orders of prescription painkillers to their retail pharmacies in a state ravaged...

Calif. Court Rules Amazon Liable Like Other Retailers for Defective Products

Aug 14 2020 // Amazon.com can be held liable like other traditional retailers for injuries from defective products sold via its sprawling e-commerce marketplace, a California state appeals court ruled on Thursday.The decision overturned...

Reuters: Rite Aid Deployed China-Linked Facial Recognition in Poor Neighborhoods

Jul 30 2020 // Over about eight years, the American drugstore chain Rite Aid Corp quietly added facial recognition systems to 200 stores across the United States, in one of the largest rollouts of such technology among retailers in the...

South Africa Retailer Steinhoff Offers $1B to Settle Global Accounting Fraud Lawsuits

Jul 27 2020 // South Africa’s Steinhoff has proposed to pay around $1 billion to settle outstanding legal claims following a massive accounting fraud, a fraction of the over 9 billion euros ($10.5 billion) claimants are seeking.The...

Everest Insurance Hires DeBlasi to Retail Property Group in New York

Jul 21 2020 // Everest Insurance has hired Dean DeBlasi to its Retail Property group as vice president and East region manager.In this role, he will be responsible for overseeing the retail property portfolio and developing and...

Walmart in New Mexico Ordered to Close After 4 Workers Test Positive

Jul 13 2020 // New Mexico work safety regulators Saturday ordered Walmart to close a store in Las Cruces, after four employees tested positive for COVID-19 in the past three weeks, the New Mexico Environment Department said.A...

UK Supreme Court to Consider Landmark Equal-Pay Case Against Walmart’s Asda

Jul 13 2020 // A long-awaited equal pay lawsuit at the U.K. Supreme Court could see thousands of mostly female workers obtain better wages from the largest supermarkets and end up costing the chains as much as 8 billion pounds ($10.1...

Losses From Civil Protests May Cause Insurers to Rethink Property Coverage

Jul 8 2020 // The civil disturbance that started in Minneapolis after the killing by police of George Floyd spread to 20 other states, leading to an unprecedented property insurance catastrophe. The experience will likely impact policy...

Online Used Car Retailer Shift Talking Merger With Insurance Acquisition

Jun 22 2020 // Shift Technologies Inc., an online retailer for used cars, is in talks to merge with blank-check company Insurance Acquisition Corp., according to people familiar with the matter.The companies could announce a transaction...

Car Crashes into Closed Pennsylvania Convenience Store

May 19 2020 // A car slammed into a convenience store in western Pennsylvania, killing one woman and injuring two others, authorities said.The car was traveling down Dwellington Drive in Middlesex Township when it crashed into a closed...

California Retailer Sues Travelers for Denied COVID-19 Business Interruption Claims

May 12 2020 // San Francisco-based children’s clothing boutique Mudpie Inc. has filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of California-based retail stores against an insurance provider, saying the small businesses were wrongfully...