Consumer Affairs & Relations

As other major retailers report sluggish sales, home improvement stores such as Home Depot Inc. are benefitting from rebounds in the housing market and the weather.

Sports Authority wants to make purchase protection "SIMPLR" for its customers with a new partnership with Asurion Retail Solutions' SIMPLR brand.

Boca Raton, Fla. – Office Depot is seeking a shareholder vote on its proposed $6.3 billion merger with Staples Inc. at its annual meeting on June 19. According to a statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Office Depot is requesting that shareholders approve the proposed acquisition by Staples.

In addition to approval by Office Depot shareholders, the agreement also needs to be approved by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). With all approvals in place, the deal would finalize by the end of 2015.

Atlanta - Honey Baked Ham is consolidating three regionalized operating divisions, currently based in Georgia, Michigan and Ohio, and has also named two new top executives. The combined organization, The Honey Baked Ham Company LLC, will be headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia and will serve customers online and at more than 400 stores in 40 states across the U.S.

Photo: Dov Charney

Los Angeles – In the latest set of dueling lawsuits to hit a major retailer, American Apparel is suing its founder and ousted CEO Dov Charney for violating a standstill agreement with the company. Standstill agreements typically limit the amount of stock in a company a party can buy during a certain period of time.

A British charity has brought its highly successful fundraising event across the pond, with a lot of help from Walgreens.

Dollar General is making a difference in the lives of its customers and their communities with another massive donation to literacy programs.

The retailer’s Dollar General Literacy Foundation has awarded more than $5.8 million in grants to support adult, family and summer literacy programs to approximately 720 schools, nonprofits and literacy organizations across the 43 states Dollar General serves.

Big Lots employees in Ohio will be going to work for their communities in 2015, but not in a retail store. 

The company's associates in the West Columbus area will be planting and maintaining a 17-bed community garden and hope to harvest more than 2,000 pounds of fresh produce in 2015 for the LSS Westside Food Pantry through the Mid-Ohio Foodbank.

The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) spoke out in Washington, D.C., this week on the steps retailers are taking to protect against data breaches.

Seattle – Starbucks Corp. is denying reports that hackers illegally gained entry into accounts of some users of its mobile app. Multiple media reports have indicated hackers broke into hundreds of accounts of Starbucks app users, stole their stored value, and leveraged the reload function to obtain customer payment card data.

In a statement, Starbucks said news reports of a hack are false and that it occasionally receives reports of unauthorized activity caused by criminals re-using names and passwords stolen from other customer accounts.