Retail Watchers

The Orange County Register is reporting that a store in the city of Orange is closing, and they state it is not on any of the published closure lists. (Their retail reporting recently is suspect so this could be inaccurate but I thought it was worth mentioning). It has full liquidator type signage i...

I never went to the Barnes & Noble in Sandy while it was open, and I believe that it closed some time in early 2023. The store was located next to the Super Target off State Street in a center that had the B&N, an Old Navy, a Buy Buy Baby and some sort of "ninja warrior" gym place...

Story today reporting some fast food franchises are losing money now, planning further cut backs and automation.

https://abcnews.go.com/food/story/calif ... =109741431

Sonic is switching to crinkle cut fries in mid May. The old fries are skin on natural cut fries. Only a small number of fast food restaurants use crinkle cut fries. I believe Burger King tried it, but switched back. Some people prefer the crinkle cut fries. https://www.brandeating.com/2024/04/sonic...

I tried a chain called Sharky's. The menu looked a lot like Baja Fresh, salsa bar seemed bigger and better, had 3 types of iced tea, interior atmosphere was much better than Baja Fresh. Employees were exceedingly friendly, location was very clean. Marketing up about Organic ingredients etc. I was v...

Must have happened before I got here, and that would be before they got most of these Pep Boys units converted. I thought the Reno Car Quest (Rock Blvd.) had Advance branding for a brief time period around 2018-2019 range, but either I imagined it or it never did. So I wonder how long this closed s...

Keep in mind the termination date can be dragged out to October 9. I’d think after that, the merger will almost certainly be stopped. I doubt Trump would approve this merger assuming such a scenario were to happen, considering his friendship with the Gristedes owner in NYC. I haven't kept up with w...

The trial with the Washington AG has been OK'd by the courts and is now set by September. If Kroger was hoping to get this wrapped up by election day that's looking less and less likely. https://www.kulr8.com/news/court-rules-antitrust-lawsuit-against-kroger-albertsons-merger-can-proceed/article_5c...

I know Office Depot has been closing stores and it seems like they have been shutting down stores for 10+ years now. And they are closing stores that seem like they should be profitable (Davis, California for example) and are keeping stores open that seem like they should have closed years ago (sti...

I am surprised by the lack of PA systems. Even if the PA system is for emergency use only, it should be present. I have concerns about the health effects of some stores where the employees wear headsets all day and talk to each other via these headsets. Radiation and such concerns. I know we all ha...