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22 Feb 2010 21:20

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Biz: Vudu: Walmart decides it, too, wants a spot in your living room

  • It bought set-top-box maker Vudu today. Walmart isn’t exactly known as a living room fixture other than the fact that you can buy all the crap for your living room at a Walmart. Well, until now. With the purchase of Vudu, it now has a way of distributing entertainment directly to the consumer outside of the loss-leader format it relies on to sell DVDs. “The real winner here is the customer,” said Walmart vice chairman Eduardo Castro-Wright. Suuure. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jan 2010 21:47

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Biz: No Sams allowed: Wal-Mart lays off a ton of Sam’s Club employees

  • 11,200 workers aren’t good enough to be in Sam’s Club anymore
  • 10% of Sam’s workers are going away, mostly product demonstrators
  • 10% of Sam’s workers are apparently product demonstrators source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Oct 2009 22:56

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Biz, World: Mickey’s done: McDonald’s says no more Big Macs in Iceland

  • The country’s financial collapse is to blame. That’s cold. Jon Ogmundsson, the owner of Iceland’s three McDonald’s locations, has chosen to close up shop in the country. Why’s that? Let him explain: “With the collapse of the Icelandic krona, our food costs have doubled. Business is good, but the bottom line is not sexy.” You know it’s bad when the most prevalent, visible icon of globalization is pulling out of your country. Bjork is probably the only person in Iceland with money right now. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 May 2009 11:20

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Biz, Offbeat: The guy visiting every Starbucks can’t seem to get closure

  • 9,000+ number of Starbucks “Winter” has visited since starting Starbucks Everywhere a dozen years ago. He’s trying to visit every one.
  • 900 number of Starbucks the company has closed in the last couple years, giving little notice before they close. “Winter” is freaking out, BTW. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

13 Feb 2009 10:32

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U.S.: Microsoft wants to be Apple, have its own retail outlets

  • Putting players in place Yesterday, MS named David Porter, a former Wal-Mart and Dreamworks Animation exec, as vice president of its retail stores. Taking a cue from Apple, the stores would sell computers with Microsoft software on them, as well as non-PC products like Zunes and Xboxes. Since starting their stores, Apple has made out like gangbusters and cut into MS’ market share.
  • What we imagine We think this could perhaps be the ninth layer of hell if done wrong. Just imagine – stores with Songsmith karaoke bars, walls lined with numerous versions of Windows, and repeated showings of those terrible Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates commercials on giant TV screens. And honestly, we’d be afraid of getting locked in the store overnight by a blue screen of death.
  • Bad timing?Yeah, nothing against the idea or anything, guys, but you realize we’re in a recession, right? You guys laid off people recently, too, so it’s not exactly like you should be unaware of this fact. And on top of that, one of your biggest retail outlets, Circuit City, bit the big one. Not to tell you not to do this, guys, but is this really the best use of your time? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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