The Gold Dust Lounge, chapter 2: the bar fights back
In which we attend a press conference at Herb Caen’s favorite bar, thrown by supporters trying to head off its eviction after 36 years on Powell Street. The place was packed with many attendees...
View ArticleCityPlace headed for the auction block
Unless there’s a last-minute pull back, the once-vaunted CityPlace retail project, which was supposed to be the centerpiece of a revived mid-Market, goes under the auctioneer’s hammer on the steps of...
View ArticleSan Francisco’s Metreon sold
The Metreon, which is currently undergoing a $30 million makeover, has been sold to a Connecticut-based private equity firm. It’s one of eight “non-core shopping centers” the Westfield Group is handing...
View ArticleNew CEO named at besieged Diamond Foods
From Diamond Foods: Diamond Foods today announced the appointment of food and beverage industry veteran Brian J. Driscoll as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective May 8, 2012. Mr. Driscoll,...
View ArticleBed Bath & Beyond acquires Oakland’s Cost Plus
From Bed Bath & Beyond: Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. and Cost Plus, Inc. today jointly announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. will acquire...
View ArticleSafeway CEO’s letter of apology to Clinton and Pelosi
Here’s the text of the letter Safeway CEO Steve Burd sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi yesterday, in response to a joke made at the company’s annual...
View ArticleSuspended Safeway employee reinstated, with back pay
From UFCW Local 5: UFCW Local 5 has reached an agreement with Safeway Stores over the return to work of Ryan Young who was suspended for intervening in a physical altercation between a man and a...
View Article2nd S.F. CityTarget to open, at Geary & Masonic
From Target: Target is pleased to announce that it will open its second CityTarget store in the city of San Francisco in October 2013. The San Francisco West CityTarget will be 119,000 square-feet and...
View ArticleFresh & Easy: “We’re not going away”
Last month, when we reported the U.K.-owned small format grocery chain was “conducting a strategic review” of its U.S. business, we figured that didn’t bode too well for the 19 Fresh & Easy stores...
View ArticleBi-Rite goes uptown
San Francisco’s latest version of the Mission District is definitely taking shape. Bi-Rite Market, the long-cherished South of Market staple on 18th Street, opens a second store on lower Divisadero...
View ArticleTaps for Fresh & Easy
It”s official. British supermarket chain Tesco is giving up on its 200 Fresh & Easy stores in the U.S., including 19 in the Bay Area. Up to $3 billion in losses since launching the venture in...
View ArticleeBay and Amazon, not such good friends
The online sales tax issue is back on the boards, this time in Washington D.C. Unlike previous go-rounds, the two e-commerce giants are on directly opposite sides. Amazon is a big supporter of the...
View ArticleNew Walmart store: still doing more with less?
In the last five years, the world’s largest retailer has opened 455 U.S. stores, a 13 percent increase, while laying off 20,000 employees, a 1.4 percent reduction. As Bloomberg News reported in March,...
View ArticleHipster alert: Converse stand-alone store coming to San Francisco
The 8,200-square-foot store, at Market and 4th Street, opens next month with a full array of Converse footware and apparel, including a San Francisco line of Chuck Taylor All Stars ($65), and a...
View ArticleU.S. companies still resisting Bangladesh worker safety deal
In the wake of the Rana Plaza disaster, big European retailers, like H&M, Benetton and Marks & Spencer, are signing on in droves to a legally-binding agreement that promises to improve the...
View ArticleAbercrombie & Fitch signs Bangladesh factory accord
From the Wall Street Journal: Abercrombie & Fitch Co., in a break with most of its U.S. retail counterparts, on Wednesday said it had agreed to sign on to the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in...
View ArticleBack from Bangladesh, Bay Area lawmaker slams Gap, Walmart
One U.S. lawmaker has been to Bangladesh since the collapse of the Rana Plaza building on April 24, killing, at last count, 1,129 garment workers. That would be Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, who...
View ArticleAmazon grocery delivery in Bay Area?
The Bay Area grocery wars are getting to resemble “Game of Thrones” (without the sex and blood, so far). The latest combatant in a field populated by power players from Safeway and Whole Foods to...
View ArticleHard times for Orchard Supply Hardware. Good times for Lowe’s
In the biggest retail failure nationally this year, the Bay Area’s Orchard Supply Hardware declared bankruptcy over the weekend, and looks like it’s headed into the arms of an out-of-state big box...
View ArticleGap, Walmart and others sign Bangladesh safety agreement
From Bloomberg: Gap, Walmart and other North American retailers agreed to establish a $42 million fund to improve safety conditions in Bangladesh factories in the next five years. The plan requires...
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