Fifty years ago, some kind of discount-retail god must have looked down upon America. Target, Walmart, and Kmart all established their first stores in 1962 and now they’re all finding ways to celebrate.

Walmart has rolled out a special website with a countdown clock to its 50th anniversary on July 2nd. Target celebrates its 50th year on May 1st, half a century after the Dayton Company opened its first Target-branded discount store in Roseville, Minnesota. (Of course, they’re all toddlers compared with JCPenney, which turns 110 this year.)

Of course this isn’t the only way these two retailers will be clashing heads. Target is spending part of this year prepping to make its launch in Canada in 2013, a market that Walmart has had its stamp on for nearly two decades. Target will be opening 125 to 135 stores, but Walmart is hoping to dampen the party.Continue reading...

Frank Zappa once told his fans not to eat the yellow snow. Now a whole lot of folks are deciding not to eat another colorful item: pink slime.

It's a substance that many Americans (well, the few who watched) Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution last April would have seen in the series' premiere episode on ABC. That's when the British chef, accompanied by a bovine companion, demonstrated what goes into the 70% of America's ground beef that contains leftover cow parts (a.k.a. "pink slime"), meaning meat that has been treated with ammonia to banish bacteria such as e.coli and salmonella. It's also used to convert the fatty beef offcuts into a beef filler for burgers.

Ammonia-treated meat can be found in virtually all U.S. grocery stores, fast food restaurants, many national restaurant chains, and school cafeterias, but a backlash has been forming over fears that it is unsafe — and now the company that produces 'pink slime beef' has suspended operations at three of its four plants.Continue reading...

One of the first things Ted Marlow is getting to do as the new CEO of Urban Outfitters is spend some time thinking about brides. The Philadelphia-based apparel retailer started selling wedding clothes online a year ago — on Valentine's Day 2011 — and opened its first bridal shop, called BHLDN, last summer in Houston.

Now, the Chicago Tribune reports, it has just opened a second BHLDN store, in the Windy City, and it “resembles a 19th century European townhouse with 15-foot ceilings, grand windows and a spiral staircase with wood risers and travertine treads."

If this all sounds way old-school, don't forget the Urban Outfitters sensibility (meaning BHLDN's bridal fashions are bohemian and vintage-inspired) and target demographic (hip women in the 20's and 30's). Its second bridal store embodies that slightly rebellious, hip chic, including iPod docking stations in the dressing rooms so shoppers can listen to their own tunes while decking themselves out in bridesmaid dresses and wedding gowns.

Is building out a bridal business, as a separate brand no less, a smart move? The Trib points out that the retailer isn’t alone in saying "I do" to the concept.

“J.Crew was among the first chain stores to spot an opportunity to sell bridesmaid dresses, introducing its collection online in 2004 and opening its first free-standing bridal boutique in 2009 in Manhattan.” Ann Taylor, White House/Black Market, Nordstrom, Costco, and Target are other U.S. retailers who have made similar efforts.

Marlow, who spent nine years as brand president of Urban Outfitters, left the company in 2010, but took his place behind the big desk on Feb. 6th after former CEO Glen Senk resigned to take over the same role with David Yurman.

“This is a blast from the past that is giving investors hope that prior management that was successful will bring success back,” Randal Konik, an analyst at Jefferies & Co. in New York, told Bloomberg. “In our view there are still challenges from slowing growth and rising competition.”

Outfitters, Inc., the parent company of Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie, among others, had a 9% increase in net sales to $731 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012, Reuters reports.

Costco really wants to sell you a bottle of whiskey … or vodka … or, well, your call, but the nation’s largest membership warehouse chain has its sights set on selling liquor to consumers in the state of Washington, and it's willing to put its money where its mouth is.

Last year, Costco spent $4.8 million on a failed initiative to privatize liquor sales and let retailers like, oh, Costco sell the stuff, according to the Seattle Times. The company doesn’t want to lose again so, this year, it has laid down more than $22 million on lobbying, the most money spent by a single donor on a voter initiative in state history, to try and get the initiative pushed through on Election Day in November, the Times reports.Continue reading...

It used to be that Sears’ in-house brands – Craftsman, Kenmore, and DieHard – could only be found at Sears-owned stores and acted as magnets to consumers, bringing them in so they’d check out other products.

But those days are over. Following in the footsteps of a deal to sell Craftsman at Costco and agreement to DieHard products at Meijer, Sears is reportedly prepping to sell its Kenmore goods elsewhere as well, marking the first time that Kenmore goods would be sold elsewhere in the brand's 98-year history.Continue reading...

Steve Jobs is eulogized worldwide as Apple CEO Tim Cook figures out how to carry on.

BBC to cut 2,000 jobs.

Costco raises membership fees.

Friendly's finally files for bankruptcy protection.

Groupon may have to settle for smaller IPO.

HP to forego any more big software acquisitions.

NBC shows rare weakness in the mornings as Today battles Good Morning America on ABC.

Oracle's Ellison embraces the cloud.Continue reading...

Bank of America is pushed by regulators on contingency plans, as more than a dozen suits against big US banks are expected to be filed in the coming days over bad mortgages.

AstraZeneca fails to beat Pfizer in match of anti-cholesterol drugs Crestor and Lipitor.

BP raid in Russia is suspended.

Baidu, China Mobile and ICBC rank among top brands in China, survey says.

Campbell's profit takes a hit on declining US soup sales.

China Telecom plans UK mobile service before London 2012 Olympics.Continue reading...

News Corp. shares tumble as company goes on PR offensive with print apology as News International's former head Rebekah Brooks was arrested Sunday, London's police chief quits and actor Jude Law claims his phone was hacked. Prime Minister David Cameron called in Parliament to deal with the scandal, as speculation rises about possible harm to Murdoch's US empire.

ABS by Alan Schwartz balks at design copyright protection.

Amana introduces new online shopping tool.

Australia's government launches campaign for carbon tax.

Borders faces liquidation.Continue reading...