Retail Watchers

Costco gas lines in many San Francisco Bay Area cities are horrendous. You may see lines stretching through the parking lot out onto the road. At closing time, there may be close to 200 cars in line. Many people wait in vain despite never having a chance at getting gas. Just give up and go somewhere...

Maybe Sam's Club transports gas in from a cheaper state? The Costco that I passed by today in San Leandro, California had gas at $5.69 a gallon. It was the same price at Valero. Cheap gas draws in customers from others stores. Sam's Club is willing to make less on gas just to draw in more customers....

The condo craze is over. There are so many empty condos in the San Francisco Bay Area now. Many retail stores and restaurants were demolished to build expensive condos, but now many of them are unsold and empty. There are so many vacant office buildings and mixed use developments right now. Great Am...

The CEO that led the retail overhaul of the company has left. He was responsible for decluttering the stores. Inventory was reduced. There were fewer items to choose from. The former CEO said that too many items to choose from would lead to "Purchase Paralysis." So the company got rid of s...

Chevron is paying relocation costs for employees who move to Texas. The company may keep a small token headquarters here, but operationally the company is based in Texas. Perhaps some executives live in San Ramon and want to work from home while also having a nearby office for a teleconference.

Walgreens it will not sell the U.K. chain Boots. The market has frightened away potential buyers. It might have brought in 6 billion dollars if Boots were sold.

CVS and Rite Aid are limiting purchases of emergency contraceptive pills such as Plan B to 3 pills only. Women all over the United States are stockpiling these pills as many states have laws that ban abortion now. Also many other states are about to enact laws within 30 days. The legality of the so ...

Attacks on retail employees has gotten so bad recently, that some unions have won the right for employees to fight back against violent customers. I have seen many crazy customers get into fights with fellow employees. I have seen women get beaten up and grown men just stand by and watch. I have see...

I noticed a Safeway in Pleasant Hill, California do the LED lighting conversion in the store and the parking lot. The parking lot LED lights were defective and started turning purple and going dim after a short time. The parking lot was dim and dangerous at night. It was so bad that there were many ...

How can you tell if a Chevron is corporate or not? I saw a really ugly Texaco across from a Chevron that has the signs cheaply covered up regarding the auto shop there. I saw another with a gigantic American flag and flagpole visible for miles. Perhaps that was corporate run.