Finance & Capital Management

Thinking about setting up shop between 49th and 60th Streets on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue? Better be prepared to pay big bucks.   The upper part of Fifth Avenue is the most expensive retail street in the world (based on rental value), with rents rising to a whopping $3,500 per square foot in 2015, according to the 27th edition of Cushman & Wakefield’s report, Main Streets Across The World.  

It has been a long haul, but radio frequency identification (RFID) is finally making its bones in retail.   In 2014, 34% of retailers either implemented or were in the process of adding or piloting RFID. Fast-forward to 2016, and those results have doubled to 73%, according to the “Kurt Salmon RFID in Retail Study 2016.”  

While most retailers haven’t upped their 2016 holiday hiring over last year, Amazon is not among them.   The e-commerce giant announced it plans to hire more than 120,000 workers in the United States this holiday season, with positions across its network of fulfillment centers, sortation centers and customer service sites.  

There is no fancy packaging to be seen on the shelves of Bulk Nation.    The Tampa-based grocer sells mostly unpackaged food, ranging from grains and pasta to spices and beans, all sold by weight, the Orlando Sentinel reported.  

An assessor processes your annually filed personal property tax return and assigns a value based on the cost of and age of your store fixtures. Is that assessment correct?    Increasingly the answer is “no” in a fast-changing retail environment in which online sales are turning in-store shelves into museum pieces. Online sales have increased 75.8%, to $341.7 billion, over the past five years alone. Statista forecasts that to double by 2020.  

A sizzling Ulta Beauty wowed the Street on Thursday, announcing aggressive store expansion at a time when many brick-and-mortar retailers are cutting back. It also upped its outlook.  

Save-A-Lot may be facing a possible spin-off from parent company Supervalu, but the chain is still bullish about its future.    Supervalu is expected to announce the fate of its discount grocery banner next week, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reported, with Toronto private equity firm Onex Corp. the leading bidder if Supervalu does pursue a sale. 

Walmart is upping some managers’ salaries in anticipation of the Department of Labor’s new overtime rule, scheduled to take effect Dec. 1, 2016.     The retailer, the nation’s private employer, raised salaries for entry-level managers from $45,000 to $48,500 annually, Reuters reported, with the increase going into effect in September. Under the new rule, employers are required to pay overtime to salaried workers earning less than $47,500 a year. The current threshold is $23,660 a year.