Monthly Archives: June 2009

States are looking to fill in their lost revenue by claiming unused gift cards. An article in today’s Wall Street Journal covers this issue and even maps out the states’ laws.
The article noted that “South Carolina is considering legislation that would give the state the right to collect unclaimed gift-card credit. A similar measure in [...]

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NRF has launched a full time blog– Retail’s BIG Blog. To read the latest in retail, check out our new location where we are blogging about retail news, NRF news, and don’t worry– we’re also covering NRF events.

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A member of the Federal Trade Commission told retailers at an NRF meeting last week that she would support a national standard for data security.
FTC Commissioner Pamela Harbour spoke Wednesday as top lawyers from the nation’s major retail companies gathered at NRF headquarters in Washington for a meeting of the NRF General Counsels Forum.
Harbour, asked [...]

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Build-A-Bear noticed that their customers were as content to play in the virtual world as the real one, so they created an online experience designed to feed off and enhance the in-store experience.
In the June issue, STORES Magazine wrote about how Build-A-Bear is making efforts to reach the pre-teen segment of its customer base by [...]

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NRF President and CEO, Tracy Mullin sent an open letter to NRF members about the end of merger discussions between NRF and RILA.
The letter begins…

Just two months ago, I wrote to let you know that NRF’s Executive Committee agreed in principle to a merger with the Retail Industry Leaders Association. This week, after a long [...]

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We really can’t get away from social media these days. (You are reading a blog, right?) And maybe you posted a status update about your morning coffee run, checked out YouTube to see view a popular ad, or tweeted about an interesting article you read in today’s New York Times.
Retailers in almost every category have [...]

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Congress began committee deliberations on health care reform legislation this week, but NRF told lawmakers retailers would rather see no reform than be saddled with an employer mandate, and also warned that a proposal to use a nationwide Value Added Tax to help pay the $1 trillion-plus price tag would be “absolute Armageddon” for merchants.
“Employer [...]

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The recipients of the distinguished loss prevention awards were announced at NRF’s Loss Prevention Conference and EXPO on Monday.
NRF’s Law Enforcement Retail Partnership Award is presented each year to individuals in the law enforcement industry who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to support the retail industry in its fight against retail [...]

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It is always darkest before the dawn … unless you are in the midst of a very big storm.  It’s beginning to feel awfully stormy out there when it comes to health care reform prospects.
Those of you who have followed me for some time know that I entered the health care reform debate with high [...]

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On June 23rd NRF’s SVP and CIO Dave Hogan will moderate a webinar entitled Surviving and Thriving in the “New Economy”.  Joining him in the discussion will be Mike Griswold of AMR Research and Craig Stevenson of IBM Global Retail Industry.
I found myself considering that, despite rhyming with each other, surviving and thriving have very [...]

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