Consumer Affairs & Relations

A CEO who took over family business when he was 27 years old is the next retailer to be spotlighted on the CBS television show, “Undercover Boss.”

Sam Dushey heads up Shoppers World, a family-owned and -operated full-line discount department store chain headquartered in New York City. In his 10-year stint as CEO, Dushey has grown the business from eight stores to 40 locations across 11 states and up to $250 million in annual retail sales. Dushey is now looking expand the company to 500 stores.

Pier 1 Imports says it is still confident in its omnichannel strategy despite a mostly flat third quarter in which the company struggled with the same soft store traffic impacting many other retailers.

For the third quarter ended Nov. 28, the specialty retailer said same store sales decreased 0.7%. Total sales decreased 2.5% (a 1.4% decrease on a constant currency basis) to $472.5 million, compared to $484.5 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2015. Net income $10.92 million, or 13 cents a share, vs. a profit of $17.86 million, or 20 cents a share, a year ago.

At its annual Analyst Day in New York Wednesday morning, CVS Health raised the midpoint of its earnings outlook for 2016.

Drone sales are expected to set a new sale record this holiday season and create all sorts of new privacy, security and safety challenges in the process. No wonder regulations regarding the recreational use of drones are drawing support from the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA).

RILA in response to an interim final rule issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Dec. 15, pledged its support of what appears to be a common sense requirement that drones weighing up to 55 pounds must be registered.

Destination Maternity Corp. has turned down an offer from a French company that disclosed a 13.1% stake in the U.S. company, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Monday.

The nation’s largest retailer of maternity apparel rejected an offer from children’s clothing company Orchestra-Premaman, which manufactures clothing for children and infants, saying the request for talks regarding a potential acquisition were not in the best interests of Destination Maternity shareholders.

The strong dollar’s influence on tourism and store traffic led the Neiman Marcus Group to report a decline in same-store sales for the first time in six years.