As we relive American retailing history, which we occasionally do, we’re reminded that Kmart, once the largest general merchandise retailer in the United States, has dwindled a bit in size. The current store count for the former Troy, Mich., dynamo is … five. Five? That’s correct. In mid-January, Kmart’s holding company announced that it plans
Later this year, 60 years will have passed since the first Walmart opened its doors in Rogers, Ark., the town that borders the retailer’s Bentonville headquarters. Put another way, most Americans don’t remember the United States without a Walmart at which to shop or peruse or merely gossip about or await the day when the
Once upon a time, the term Black Friday was coined, and loosely accepted, as the day that the U.S. retail community slid into the black, turning a profit for the year. It was a loose interpretation of an otherwise impossible number to gauge; it was equally loosely adhered to by the retail community. After all,
Helena Foulkes is running for governor of Rhode Island. For those among you — very few, I’m certain — who don’t know Helena by name, reputation or both, she has been, over the past two decades, one of the significant contributors to the mass retailing community. For a time, she held the No. 2 position
Late last month, the editors of Mass Market Retailers hosted a reception and dinner in Chicago. The occasion was to recognize several of the growing number of women who are starting to lead and shape mass market retailing in America. The event was noteworthy for several reasons. For openers, there were the women themselves, leaders
The New York Times, an otherwise very reputable and trustworthy newspaper — indeed, here in the Northeast it is rightly viewed as the newspaper of record — appears to this observer to be inordinately fond of finding fault with Walmart. (It should be added here that this same journalist, and the newspaper he represents, is
How important, as a gauge of success in retailing, is volume? Not sales, in the traditional sense, but volume, as in annual volume or quarterly volume or weekly volume. To those who follow retail performance, it can be extremely important as a barometer of success. Certainly a retailer whose annual volume is counted in the
In the global retailing community, one U.S. retailer has exerted a stronger impact than any other. That impact has not been determined by size or reach or number of stores or by any of the traditional barometers by which retailing impact or influence is measured. Rather, it is reckoned by knowledge of the retail community,
Mass retailing has long been a gregarious profession. In the main, the people engaged in the mass retailing community, on both sides of the desk, are genuinely fond of each other. With very few exceptions. This truism holds not only for retailers who vigorously compete with each other. It equally effectively describes the relationship between
Perhaps the most startling development to emerge from the pandemic — now that we’re being assured that the worst is behind us — is the emergence, or reemergence, of the regional grocery retailer. It is reasonably safe to say that the local or regional supermarket retailer is stronger and more clearly dominant today than at
Our critics have occasionally pointed out that MMR, a supposedly objective business publication, unduly praises the accomplishments of Walmart, giving that extraordinary mass retailer credit for real or imagined successes out of proportion to any semblance of reality. This is true. But it is a truth heavily supported by the facts. The facts, in this
On a recent Monday in May, The New York Times ran a story in the paper’s Business section appropriately titled “Will the Future of Therapy Be at the Drugstore?” The article dealt primarily with CVS’ apparent decision to test the availability of mental health specialists within the retailer’s MinuteClinic nonemergency health care facilities in 13