-
Massachusetts High Court Decision on ZIP Codes Increases Legal Risk for Retailers
By Douglas H. Meal, David T. Cohen, and Lisa L. Rachlin, Ropes & Gray LLP
Retailers, like all businesses, constantly seek to learn more about their customers in order to serve them better. In Tyler v. Michaels Stores, however, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently ruled that a simple step taken by many retailers to help achieve this goal – collecting the ZIP codes of their customers at the point of sale – can in some circumstances violate Massachusetts’ consumer protection statute.
-
Retail Shuffle
Is it just me, or does it seem like the past two months or so have seen an unusually high level of turnover at the top? It's gotten so that you need a scorecard to keep up with all the comings and goings, as chief executives are forced out, jump ship, retire or move on.
This year's changing of the guard is bittersweet because it includes the retirement of two veteran retailers, Steve Burd of Safeway and Maxine Clark of Build-A-Bear Workshop.