Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters is picketing Ross and Nordstrom Rack in downtown Portland. I received a leaflet in front of both stores today. The Council of Carpenters believes Ross and Nordstrom have "an obligation to the community to see that area labor standards are met for construction work performed on their projects." The union claims that the contractors employed by Ross and Nordstrom …
Bone Conduction: You Heard It Here Third
Will Robison of text-to-buy startup Subports was interviewed on Open Forum by Miles Klee of The Awl. Klee asked Robison if he has any retail experiments in mind that he can't quite pull off just yet? His answer is interesting, to say the least. Text-to-buy and helping our sellers sell anywhere is our focus right now, and most of our time is spent to make that an excellent product. But we have played with and …
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Bargain Hunters Emerge From Their Food Comas
Looks like readers of the Chicago Tribune know what day it is. The media frequently refers to Black Friday as the busiest retail shopping day of the year, but this is not always the case. While it has been one of the busiest days in terms of pedestrian traffic at shopping centers, in terms of actual sales volume, from 1993 through 2001 Black Friday was the fifth to tenth busiest day. In 2002 and 2004, however, it …
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From Content To Retail And Back
Everyone's dabbling in media these days. Meanwhile, smart media companies are getting into retail. Wired Magazine, for instance, will sell merchandise like Jack Spade messenger bags, "The El" bike, headphones and iPad cases in a pop-up store that opens on Friday in the three-story Tower Records building in NoHo. "The gloves are off here at Condé [Nast]," said Wired publisher Howard Mittman, whose magazine will end …
Come See The Creepy Side Of Sears
I gotta admit, I don't think about Sears much. Haven't bought anything there in years and yes, I'll always remember it as the place where my grandfather would park the car when he took us to the mall. But Sears is still alive. Sort of. You can see more of Sears' Sears' pursuit of the zombie shopper here, and befriend Zombie Shopper on Twitter. I appreciate the whimsy, but I wonder if this'll help resurrect Sears' …
A Good Day To Say “I Do”
We went to a wedding yesterday. Apparently it's something a lot of people will be doing today, as well. Brides magazine estimates that 31,050 couples will be married today -- almost 10 times as many as marry on a typical Sunday -- to take advantage of the perceived benefits of writing one's wedding date as 10/10/10. To capitalize on the ardor of the numerologists, Brides is operating a "pop-up" store in the SoHo …
Powell’s Books: A Textbook Retailer Since 1971
Portland agency ID Branding has come up with a winning idea for the city's most famous retailer, Powell's Books. According to Doug Lowell of IDB: The idea is fairly simple on paper (execution was not quite so simple): we create a photobooth-type experience inside the store that lets customers have their picture taken in front of a green screen, and then we fill the background with a shot of the Powells City of Books …
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Nordstrom.com Clicking Video, Mobile And Social Boxes
Seattle-based retailer, Nordstrom, which operates 193 stores in 28 states, is investing in its online store. Seattle Times reports that Nordstrom's new site--three years in the making--promises easier navigation, bigger photos and a prominent place where people can express their thoughts about the latest trends. Executive Vice President Jamie Nordstrom, who oversees the company's direct division, believes the …
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