HOFFMAN ESTATES, Illinois – Sears Holdings (SHLD) announces earnings today; turns out their second-quarter loss is $94 million, or 79 cents a share, with revenue falling to $10.55 billion from $11.76 billion. I could have guessed it going into their Westfield Sarasota Square store. On our visit, the clerks wereMORE HERE
PARIS – Yes, we all love the independent bookstore. And amazingly, it is still around. Here in Sarasota, Florida we have any number of them, some small with just paperbacks, others larger with antique and collectible books. What got me thinking about them was the closure of Brentano’s in Paris,MORE HERE
SAVANNAH – Entries are just out in the Savannah College of Art & Design’s Phoenix Project. (See a full list of entries here.) At right, the entry for RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) by the student team of Rodrigo Mitma and Josh Finkelstein. Brand Problem: Big-Box and online electronic stores are superiorMORE HERE
We ran across an old record catalog from the 78 era, and noticed that it came from a jewelry store in Norfolk, Virginia. The jewelers D. P. Paul, still (I think) a favorite old-line jeweler in the Norfolk area. Strangely, in 1941, they used to sell records. It made usMORE HERE
Our reader New York Licensing Guru emailed to tell us that there is one brand revival he thinks is nuts. Crazy Eddie. Crazy Eddie closed its famous electronics stores in 1989. Has it been that long? Totally insane. The owners of the brand, Magic Investments, are forming a branding andMORE HERE
MONTVALE, N.J. – There is but one grocery chain that inspires literature. It’s the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (NYSE: GAP), this year celebrating its 150th anniversary. In John Updike’s Kennedy-era short story “A&P” a 19-year-old clerk identifies with three scantily clad girls who come into an A&P inMORE HERE
GRAFTON, Va. – On Route 17 in York County, Virginia remains one of the great remaining Western Auto stores. Don’t you just love the flags on the front? Six of them! The chain was a national giant in auto parts and appliances. The chain opened in 1909 in Kansas City,MORE HERE
Dear Radio Shack So business stinks. But when we go by to the store closest to our house, we can’t tell the difference between a Radio Shack and the Sprint store at the other end of the shopping center. We got a great comment on BrandlandUSA today about one ofMORE HERE
The brand of “Peter Max” still as strong as 1960s FORT MYERS – We heard the artist Peter Max this morning on WGCU 90.1, the public radio station in Fort Myin the winter home of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. Max, of course, is one of the most famous commercialMORE HERE
So Circuit City is gone, and it’s Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) and Radio Shack (NYSE: RSH). How opportune for Radio Shack, whose stock seems to be in miracle zone, namely above $10 a share. In August 2007, we wrote on BrandlandUSA some of our ideas for improving Radio Shack. TheyMORE HERE