Results tagged “retail”

    

Back when we visited Half Acre's Lincoln Square brewery in April, one of the construction projects still in progress was the buildout of a retail space. Gabriel Magliaro's plans were to have an in-wall draft system featuring Half Acre selections, special brews and guest beers; bottles and merchandise.

Crain's reports that Kraft is in talks to sell its Maxwell House brand coffee to Sara Lee. This is part of Kraft CEO Irene Rosenfeld's ongoing efforts to raise enough capital to increase its bid to purchase confectioner Cadbury. That bid now stands at over $16 billion. Kraft has until November 9 to raise $9 billion in financing and make a formal offer for Cadbury to the British Takeover Panel. [Crain's]

Like most, our personal budgets have tightened significantly over the past year or so. Not that cash burned a hole in our pocket before. It's just that we're being even more cognizant of closeouts and deep discounts at the wine shop than ever before. Rare is the wine that we'll buy at retail.

According to an article in today's Trib it looks like beer, wine and other alcoholic packaged goods could be coming soon to a Walgreen's near you. After Prohibition the drugstore began selling alcohol at many of their locations, but that was phased out in early 90's because it was deemed too costly. Now, according to company spokeswoman Tiffani Washington, new computer systems will make it easier to manage. Profits at the chain have been slipping recently. Perhaps booze can pump them back up. We're completely in favor of the change, as it would mean another way we'd be able to avoid CVS, not to mention it's easier to find a Walgreens.

Since their opening last year, the South Loop Wine Cellar has become a fixture of the neighborhood. Owner Amy Garman holds regular tastings that draw large crowds, and the store is gaining a reputation for stocking really excellent wines at prices that won’t break the bank.

Mars Inc. is closing five of its six Illinois Ethel's Chocolate locations by the end of the month. Fans of Mars's haute chocolate salon will have to travel to Skokie to get their fix. [Crain's]

When it comes to liquor stores we tend to be equal opportunity. We'll search high and low, near and far, for the best deals at stores large and small. While the boxy superstores like Sam's, Binny's and Armanetti's have their merits, the smaller stores are noted for their more personal touch. The LUSH Wine & Spirits locations in University and Roscoe Villages are wonderful for customers because they can sample practically everything LUSH has to offer and will work with customers to acquire hard-to-find wine, beer and spirits.

Monica Eng vented about the long lines at Garrett Popcorn's Randolph Street location in the Stew today, and also expressed gratitude that they've opened a temporary "Holiday Express" location on Boul Mich (625 N. Michigan) for pre-packaged popcorn only. So those of you wanting to buy Garrett for gifts now know where to go so the rest of us don't have to wait in line waiting for you to decide on a tin.

Mattel, Inc. has announced that - as of an undisclosed future date - the "Samantha" doll will be moved into the American Girl archives. What, is Samantha not good enough to compete with the Julie doll and her hip hair and roller skates!? Booooo! To appease your sense of loss, run over to the new American Girl Place store and meander past Samantha's display one last time.

The new American Girl Place store opened Wednesday at Watertower Place, positioned to cash in on its proximity to mall traffic. Five store entrances lead shoppers into a space that is 30 percent larger, newly festooned with a doll T-shirt design shop, personal shopping rooms and a “streetscape” of doll service shops (shoppes?) like an ear piercing store and a beauty salon. Already the largest of the retailer’s flagship stores, Chicago’s American Girl Place has generated nearly half the cumulative traffic of the nation’s five retail stores since 1998 – 13 million visits. The move across the street will create 50 new full time positions and 120 part-time holiday positions.

Good news for commuters. Finally. After 7 years of “now leasing” signs in Metra’s Ogilvie Transportation Center, the concourse under the tracks will begin to see construction on a “European-style” market.

For some time now, Macy’s has been sitting quietly in Chicago’s retail corner, attempting to appeal to some kind of market and curb the company’s tumbling earnings, all while attracting minimal attention from pissed off former Field’s customers. But while local department store equivalent Von Maur is doing well, with plans for store expansions, Macy’s continues to trim jobs (it’s called “restructuring,” y’all). The latest: an undisclosed number of support positions across the board at former Field’s stores, with about 10 alteration and personal shopper positions eliminated at the State Street flagship store.

Today was supposed to by the last kernel for the popular Garrett’s Popcorn Shop on Michigan Avenue, but it’s been granted a stay for the moment. According to Garrett’s P.R. people, the lease has been extended for an unspecified amount of time.

It’s with a bit of irony that the company responsible for killing the Marshall Field’s trademark green is now, itself, going green. Earlier this week, Macy’s announced they will be using recycled paper shopping bags at all its stores, as well as biodegradable packaging for online shipments -- all part of Macy’s “commitment to contribute to a more sustainable environment.”

While the Field’s Fans are too busy protesting poor customer service at Macy’s as they long for the days of Marshall Field’s, customer satisfaction for shopping scabs has increased. An annual University of Michigan Study ranking shopper satisfaction among discount and department stores and supermarkets reported Macy’s saw a 5.6% increase in customer satisfaction, ending with a score of 75 out of 100 points. Nordstrom tops the list with a score of 80, only five points between the two. The Sun-Times reported:

It was a rough week for Macy’s, people. 2,500 jobs cut. January same-store sales down 7.1%. Let’s just put that into perspective: sales are nowhere near expectations across the board. A survey of 43 retailers by the UBS-International Council of Shopping Centers indicated that January sales were only up 0.5%, a percentage point below the anticipated 1.5%. Macy’s, on the other hand, anticipated their sales were going to be down 4 to 6%.

Further evidence that Macy’s strategies are not headed in the successful direction executives hoped, Macy’s North, the division that operates Macy’s in the Midwest, announced Friday the layoff of 271 employees, citing lagging sales. Combined sales for November and December were down 1.1%, while December’s sales were down 7.9%, significantly worse than the anticipated 4 to 7 percent drop over last year. January’s same day sales are expected to dip 4 to 6 percent.

The Illinois Beverage Association is really, really not psyched about the 5-cent tax on bottled water effective January 1. They're teaming with the American Beverage Association, the International Bottled Water Association, the Illinois Retail Merchants Association and the Illinois Food Retailers Association to sue the City once the law goes into effect. Oh, and they've sent out a press release every day for the last week to remind us all how unhappy they are about the tax, how fucked up it, how unfair, etc. Looks like all that hard work paid off because today's Trib has a story that effectively backs the IBA and their co-plaintiffs by taking a completely uncritical look at their claims.

The State House passed legislation on Tuesday designed to bring Illinois into compliance with a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling by limiting the amount of sales an Illinois winery can directly ship to a customer to 12 cases a year. The 5-4 decision in Granholm v. Heald ruled that laws in Michigan and New York permitting the direct sale and shipping of wine produced in state to customers while prohibiting out-of-state wineries from doing the...

There's about to be some empty spaces on North Michigan Avenue, the likes of which haven't been seen on the Magnificent Mile for 15 years. Lord & Taylor will soon shutter the doors at its Water Tower Place location, and it will be 2008 before American Girl Place moves from its current spot on Chicago to take over a portion of the space. With CompUSA closing up shop on Chicago as well, retail vacancy for...

Among the many commonalities we have here at Chicagoist is that of a love for pets. The office is constantly abuzz with pictures of cats and dogs alike. Needless to say we are a little worried about the recent news that a massive recall of cat and dog food by major companies was released on Friday due to certain foods causing kidney failure and loss of appetite. Menu foods, which produces dog and cat food,...

We’re pretty used to seeing T-shirts from online retailer Threadless all over the streets of Chicago. But within six months, impatient hipsters seeking cleverly designed gear will not only be able to give in to their need for immediate gratification, but also experience the company’s website in a decidedly offline way.

Best Buy is looking into opening a flagship store in the heart of the downtown shopping area. Chicagobusiness.com has a write-up, including a handy map of many tech-gadgetry stores currently in the area. We are imagining ourselves cruising Michigan Avenue to check out the new and cool toys at the various flagship stores but probably not spending a bundle. At Chicagoist, when we buy tech, we know what we need and where to get it for cheap, and most often that place is the internet.

We don’t have much time or patience, and really, who does? And, when we walk into a store, we want to cross everything off our shopping list in one swoop. So, it doesn’t sound like too terrible an idea that Walgreen’s is planning to offer DVD rental vending machines (would you like some Zoolander with your Zyrtec?).

It’s official. Big-box stores will have to pay a higher minimum wage and benefits to Chicago employees. After more than three hours of debate yesterday, the City Council voted 35-14 to approve the hotly contested big-box measure. Stores such as Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot and Costco will be affected by the new ordinance, as well as certain department store locations. The Illinois Retail Merchants Association is expected to fight the measure in court, claiming it...

A Bridgeport alderman wants to ban 40s in Chicago.

Have you ever had one of those moments like in the movies, where everything suddenly starts moving in slow motion and you can’t believe what you’ve just heard? Like when the call is coming from inside the house? That was me, when our mother recently told us she procured a KitchenAid mixer. That she got. For $60.00. Retail. Through a series of events we won’t go into here.

Even if Bill Murray wasn’t originally from the Chicago area, we’d still plan on seeing his latest collaboration with Jim Jarmusch, Broken Flowers, which hits Piper’s Alley and the AMC River East this weekend. Chicagoist has long believed that the way to tell the really compelling actors from the lousy ones is with The Phone Book Test. That is, if an actor is really good then listening to them read the phone book will still...

Sosa claimed he left Wrigley Field during the 7th inning of Sunday's season finale, but stadium security camera show he actually left the park at 1:35pm, 20 minutes after the game began.