Gatewood Retail News

Gatewood Retail News

So long, sweatpants. Americans show signs they’re ready to get dressed up again

SOURCE:  CNBC / Lauren Thomas reporting Published: March 5, 2021 KEY POINTS Urban Outfitters has offered one of the first signals during the Covid pandemic that women are starting to gravitate toward shopping for dresses again. The retailer’s Anthropologie brand said seven of its top 10 selling items were dresses in the final week of February. Up until that point, it said, it was lucky to see just one or two dresses make the list. But as retailers like Urban, Gap and Nordstrom prepare for customers to return to stores and refresh their wardrobes, they continue to face congested U.S. ports and container shortages, which will make stocking shelves with new items all the more difficult. An employee at Anthropologie…

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Alabama Small Business Statistics

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Monthly retail sales from the US Commerce Department

The department’s Census Bureau tracks estimates each month. Retail Dive provides the numbers for key segments, and their year-over-year progress, or decline.  [ December sales up 6.7% as shoppers ditch department stores. ] UPDATED: Jan. 19, 2021 REPORTING BY: Daphne Howland, Caroline Jansen DESIGN BY: Nami Sumida  Editor’s Note: Comparisons for individual segments are updated each month to reflect the government’s revisions to its year ago figures. A full methodology for how Retail Dive tracks retail sales figures is included at the bottom of this page. Every month, the U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, releases its first calculation of the previous month’s retail sales. At Retail Dive, we report these figures by grouping the key segments that define “retail”…

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Belk’s top lenders, including KKR, looking to avoid taking department store through bankruptcy, WSJ says

SOURCE:  CNBC By: Lauren Thomas KEY POINTS KKR and other major lenders to Belk are in talks with the department store chain to keep it out of bankruptcy, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The company, its lenders and the private equity firm Sycamore Partners are inching closer toward reaching an out-of-court deal, the report said, citing people familiar with the discussions. A deal is not guaranteed at this point, the Journal report cautioned, but it said Belk’s lenders have noted how the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process has proved difficult for a number of other retail chains during the Covid pandemic. Belk department store John Greim | LightRocket | Getty Images KKR, Blackstone and other major lenders to Belk are in…

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Merchandise returns totaled $428 billion in 2020; top categories of returns were…

SOURCE:  ChainStore Age By: Marianne Wilson Merchandise returns totaled approximately 10.6% of total U.S. retail sales last year. That’s according to a report released by the National Retail Federation and Appriss Retail, which found that consumers returned an estimated $428 billion in merchandise to retailers in 2020. Roughly 5.9% of the returns were fraudulent, equating to $25.3 billion. The survey found that for every $1 billion in sales, the average retailer incurs $106 million in merchandise returns. Additionally, for every $100 in returned merchandise accepted, retailers lose $5.90 to return fraud. The top categories of merchandise returned include auto parts (19.4%), apparel (12.2%), home improvement (11.5%) and housewares (11.5%). More than one-fifth of returns were completed through credit cards, followed…

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Fashion apparel makes a comeback, focus on digital deepens, and other 2021 predictions

SOURCE: Retail Dive Ben Unglesbee The pandemic, and recovery from it, will likely define the year as consumers look to refresh their wardrobes and retailers hold on to new practices that worked, analysts say. Artificial Photography for Unsplash AUTHOR Ben Unglesbee@Ben_Unglesbee PUBLISHED Jan. 20, 2021 SHARE IT  POST  SHARE  TWEET After a year that unfolded unlike anybody’s predictions, the retail industry and its analysts are trying to game out what 2021 could look like as COVID-19 continues to surge, vaccines against the disease roll out and anxious consumers pine for life after lockdown. Vaccines that inoculate against the coronavirus could shift many of the trends that 2020 brought, while some changes are likely to remain in place and accelerate as…

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Retail Was Remarkably Resilient In 2020, But Has Been Changed Forever

Source: Forbes / Jason Goldberg Sixty-six million years ago, a massive asteroid or comet, dubbed the Chicxulub impactor, struck the earth, causing world-wide climate disruption that resulted in the mass extinction of the majority of plant and animal species on Earth. Covid-19 had a similar impact on retail in 2020. Just as the Chicxulub impactor created an opportunity for new life, including humans, to emerge and thrive on Earth, Covid-19 has created opportunities for new shopping behaviors to emerge and become dominant—most notably digital commerce. Retail saw its largest decline and fastest recovery in 2020. Yet the shape of the retail industry has fundamentally changed, with a huge shift to digital spending and dramatically less spending on apparel. The Retail…

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Federal Government Says Employers Can Mandate COVID Vaccinations

ASKING FOR PROOF OF A COVID VACCINATION DOESN’T COUNT AS A DISABILITY-RELATED QUESTION. DECEMBER 2020 BEN COLEY Employers are allowed to require COVID vaccinations and ban employees from the workplace if they choose to opt out, according to guidance from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The American Disabilities Act (ADA) limits an employer’s ability to require medical examinations, but the EEOC said the vaccine isn’t a medical examination because it doesn’t seek information about an individual’s impairments or current health status. Under a vaccine requirement, employers must show that an unvaccinated worker would “pose a direct threat due to a significant risk of substantial harm to the health or safety of the individual or others that cannot be eliminated…

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Retailers’ best e-commerce asset may be their brick-and-mortar stores

Source:  Retail Dive:  Daphne Howland Dive Brief: In yet another trend accelerated by the pandemic, BOPIS services have surged, with 40% of retailers now offering the service, compared to just a quarter last year, according to an emailed report from omnichannel platform NewStore. More than half (55%) offer in-store returns of online purchases, the firm found. In part thanks to the expansion of Google My Business, smaller retailers are increasingly offering such services, with about 40% of online purchases picked up at local stores, according to omnichannel firm Uberall. Growth in such services has spiked 75% year over year, with BOPIS growth at Walmart and Target outpacing their robust online sales growth, according to 1010data. The trend is fueled in part…

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ICONIC MENSWEAR RETAIL ENTERPRISE CELEBRATES A BIRTHDAY – The Locker Room Turns 57         

                                       ICONIC MENSWEAR RETAIL ENTERPRISE BEGINS ITS 57TH YEAR                            Alex Gatewood opened the Locker Room in Tuscaloosa October 28, 1964 Tuscaloosa, AL   The Locker Room, a traditional menswear retail enterprise that coined the term ‘Elephantwear’ and made Gameday wear a national fashion trend, celebrates its 57th year in business on October 28th. The 7000 SF store located at 2104 University Boulevard in Tuscaloosa, is owned, and operated by Alex Gatewood who at 79, continues to set the pace for his “less seasoned” employees. October 28, 1964 was a day…

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