News

A new form of wage theft has recently been identified, where employers misclassify employees’ schedules in order to shift the business expenses associated with scheduling to the employee. Illegal misclassification schemes have been around for decades. A common example is an employer misclassifying an employee’s job title, so that the employee is a salaried employee, in order to avoid paying the employee overtime. Here, the employers are misclassifying the employee’s schedules, instead of the employee’s job title, to avoid paying reporting time premiums.

Pet Supplies Plus will target California as part of its strategic growth plan for 2016.

The nation’s largest pet franchise, which has more than 330 locations in 26 states, announced it will expand into the Golden State to grow its base of multi-unit franchise partners.

Efforts to rework its distribution process netted big wins in the second quarter for AutoZone, which reported increases in same-store sales and profit.

The auto parts retailer posted net sales of $2.3 billion for its second quarter ended Feb. 13, an increase of 5.3% from the second quarter of fiscal 2015. Same-store sales increased 3.6% for the quarter. Net income for the quarter increased 8% over the same period last year to $228.6 million, while diluted earnings per share increased 14.2% to $7.43 per share from $6.51 per share in the year-ago quarter.

Stein Mart says it has extended its consumer credit agreement with Synchrony Financial with a new long-term deal.

Since 2006, Synchrony Financial and Stein Mart have partnered to offer credit card programs for qualifying cardholders at the retail chain’s 278 stores and at Steinmart.com. Consumers can apply in-store or online for the Stein Mart Style Credit Card or the Stein Mart Style Platinum Master Card.

Sports Authority Inc., which is reportedly preparing to file for bankruptcy, has discussed selling stores and intellectual property to rival chain Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. and other parties, according to Bloomberg.

Sports Authority, once the largest sporting-goods retailer in the U.S., is heading toward default after years of losing ground to competitors. The Englewood, Colorado-based chain missed a Jan. 15 interest payment on some of its debt and failed to make the payment during a 30-day grace period.

Amazon is about to launch its biggest venture into food outside of the United States.
 
The online giant will deliver groceries to Amazon Prime Now and Amazon Pantry customers in the United Kingdom under a new wholesale supply deal it has struck with Morrisons, the U.K.’s fourth-largest supermarket chain.

Under the arrangement, Morrisons will supply fresh, frozen and non-perishable goods to Amazon customers, starting later this year.

Young girls are notoriously picky about what they wear, and now someone is doing something about it.

Kidpik, a new online shopping service aimed at girls age 3-12 (and their parents), offers curated, personalized fashion collections. Girls initially fill out an interactive quiz about their apparel preferences, and based on the results are assigned a look such as Girly Girl, Modest or Classic Chic.

Rite Aid on Monday selected the Tri-Tip Walking Cane, an ergonomic walking cane, as the winner of the first-ever Innovation Challenge and will develope and sell the Tri-Tip Walking Cane in Rite Aid stores and online.

Lumber Liquidators on Monday announced the appointment of Dennis Knowles as COO, effective March 1, 2016.

Knowles has served in store operations leadership roles at Lowe's Companies since 2001, most recently as chief store operations officer, and prior to that as senior VP of store operations support and specialty sales and its senior VP of store operations for Lowe's West and South Central Divisions, respectively.