After a stronger-than-expected spring, summer doldrums have hit harder than usual. Merchants' second-quarter reports and a slow economic recovery means retailers have to work hard to boost sales for the year.
Bedbugs are back, and they're worse than ever. While pesticides have kept the pests under control for decades, EPA decisions to ban several classes of chemicals have benefited the bugs. And between lawsuits and pricey eradication, the bloodsuckers are biting Americans in the wallet.
Trendy clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch has discovered bedbugs in a second New York City store and closed it Friday. The shuttering of the South Street seaport store follows the closing of A&F's Hollister flagship shop in the city's posh Soho district due to the blood-sucking insects.
For years, dissatisfied customers have griped that Abercrombie and Fitch bleeds its customers dry; on Wednesday, they were proven literally right when the flagship store of Hollister, the retailer's teen-oriented chain, closed its doors amid evidence of a bedbug infestation.
The fashion industry's trend toward discrimination over physical attributes has moved off the runways and into retailers. A former senior retail manager at Prada Japan and two other employees, are accusing the famed fashion house of sexual harassment and appearance-based discrimination.
