Mass Merchant

In a move rumored for weeks, Aéropostale on Wednesday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The struggling teen apparel retailer said it would close 113 stores in the United States and all 41 of its stores in Canada. Store closing sales in the United States will begin this weekend (May 7-8), and in Canada during the week of May 9.

Target Corp. is getting tough with vendors as it works to improve its supply chain.

The retailer plans to tighten deadlines for deliveries to its warehouses, hike fines for late deliveries, and could institute penalties of up to $10,000 for inaccuracies in product information, according to a report by Reuters.

In a not unexpected move, Fairway Group Holding Corp., operator of the Fairway Market supermarket chain, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
   
The company filed a “prepackaged” bankruptcy restructuring under which its lenders agreed to exchange existing debt for new equity and debt in a reorganized company. Supporting lenders agreed to vote in favor of the plan and exchange their loans for common equity and $84 million of debt of the reorganized company.

The fast-casual restaurant chain McAlister’s Deli has opened its first store in the New York City area, a market where residents know a thing or two about delis.

Amazon.com is making its Prime Now on-demand delivery service more accessible, but is not adding new markets.

Following several weeks of media speculation, Amazon has made the formerly smartphone app-only Prime Now available as a page on its e-commerce site. Members of the paid Amazon Prime loyalty program in one of the 27 metro areas where Prime Now is available can place orders for one- or two-hour delivery.

Wal-Mart and other retailers who operate stores in Canada’s Quebec province are going to have make some changes to their store signage.

The Quebec government plans to modify the language laws of the province, where French is the predominant language, to add French to their exterior signage. Companies, however, will not have to change their trademarks.

While teen apparel retailers are feeling the heat from online and fast-fashion competitors, Five Below continues to move across the country.

The extreme-value brand for and pre-teens and teens will open its first store in Wisconsin, in Racine, on May 6, 2016.The Racine store is one of approximately 85 new Five Below locations opening in 2016, on top of 71 new stores that opened in 2015.

Retailers who fail to maintain a clean, well-maintained store are putting themselves at a strong competitive disadvantage.

That’s the takeaway from a new survey conducted by Harris Poll for the Cintas Corp., which found that 93% of U.S. adults would not return to a retailer if they experienced some type of issue related to the facility. The top five factors that would turn patrons away from a store were:

• General bad odor – 78%
• Dirty restrooms (e.g., floors, stalls, mirrors, odor) – 66%