Every generation gets its own flavor of survivalist--people driven to prepare for the end of societal order, AKA the Apocalypse, Armageddon, an epidemic of uncontrolled terrorism or any old kind of cataclysm--and Reuters reported Saturday on the most recent incarnation: "preppers." Are preppers any different from previous forward-thinking folks who dug bomb shelters or laid up stores of long-lasting dried goods and arms, just in case? Read More
The weekly phone calls. The dinner invites. The gifts.
When representatives from Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, waltz into the New York Hilton for this year’s two-day International Council of Shopping Centers conference, many of the city’s most intrepid retail brokers will be close behind them, perhaps even plying those officials with compliments, dinner invitations and business opportunities.
Read More
If the world's philanthropists really want to benefit humanity, they will bring more Costcos into the world, in the humble opinion of Costco board member and Warren Buffett business partner Charles Munger.
Speaking at a University of Michigan event this week, Munger said "I believe Costco does more for civilization than the Rockefeller Foundation," and Read More
Manhattan bargain shoppers, rejoice! By year’s end, you will have your very own Costco.
On a Tuesday morning Forest City Enterprises investors call, president and CEO (and cousin of Bruce) Chuck Ratner revealed that Costco Wholesale will open its first Manhattan store in East River Plaza, the development firm’s 500,000-square-foot mall set to open Read More
"WOW - I love this idea - I would LOVE LOVE LOVE a Costco in my neighborhood (actually I would prefer SuperTaget but Costco is great too) - I love cheap stuff and I'm tired of paying $5 for Corn Flakes - build it, build it, build it." ["Remember Trump City?"]
Sales were up 3 percent year-over-year at Wal-Mart, falling short of the 3.4 percent boost analysts Read More
As close readers of The New York Times will attest, the paper of record has recently thrown itself headlong into what is unquestionably the most pressing social issue of our time: the ever-growing economic disparity between the rich and the super-rich. In a series of hard-hitting articles, the paper has examined everything from the tyranny Read More
New York’s politicians view Wal-Mart the way vets view a rabid dog. Local pols fall over each other to assert that they will keep us free from the contagion of Sam Walton’s chain. It emerged in February that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton had returned a $5,000 donation from the nation’s biggest retailer—despite the fact that Read More
New York’s politicians view Wal-Mart the way vets view a rabid dog.
Local pols fall over each other to assert that they will keep us free from the contagion of Sam Walton’s chain. It emerged in February that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton had returned a $5,000 donation from the nation’s biggest retailer—despite the fact that Read MoreCharlie Bagli writes today on the dispute between former Belgian diamond merchant Gary Barnett, now a real-estate developer, and the diamond merchants on the crowded strip of West 47th Street where Mr. Barnett wants to build a 30-story tower that would serve as a global diamond exchange. He says the building could help reinvigorate Read More
The projects that Richard Lipsky has killed over the years stare down from his office walls like the stuffed moose heads with which Teddy Roosevelt once decorated the State Dining Room. There’s a framed newspaper clipping about the Pathmark in Queens; another about the Costco on the West Side; there are a few pieces about Read More
Richard Lipsky at the Neighborhood Retail Alliance got a hold of a survey Wal-Mart did earlier this year of Staten Island voters. The results? Costco beats Sam’s Club, former BEEP Molinari trumps Bloomberg, and Wal-Mart will get further by advertising the 350 jobs a store would bring than by crowing about low prices.(PDF) Read More
1) An Epiphany in Jumbo's Clown Room
Who is that clown? I'm staring at the face of a porcelain clown head, all shiny, rouged and red-nosed. And I'm thinking: I know that clown. The kandy-kolored clown head I'm fixated on is one of dozens of porcelain and plastic clown heads that line the back shelves of Read More