Features Retail

Quietly enough, it started with a copy of “Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies.” That was the first item sold on Amazon in 1995, then operated from a garage in Bellevue, Washington, by founder Jeff Bezos. Amazon, of course, expanded its products and services beyond arcane volumes, helping to transform e-commerce sales into a global trade […]

A fine Portuguese porcelain dinner set makes a great Christmas gift. Designing it yourself at the factory is pretty appetizing, too. Or how about a Roaring 20’s blowout bash with your name in lights at Harlem’s famed Apollo Theater? Both are among the “fantasy gift” packages that Ryan Parley has helped vet as the vice […]

March 12, 2020. The date is engraved in Kathryn Ordower’s memory as the day only four people—from the usual 150 or so—were in office at the New York headquarters of Glossier, a beauty company selling skincare, makeup and fragrance. After weeks of deliberations surrounding the spread and increasing gravity of COVID-19, she and Glossier leaders […]

The hemp is grown organically in southern France on farms that have been family-owned for generations. The acacia gum comes from trees harvested in Kenya. Both are ingredients for the rolling papers Republic Brands produces at a plant in Perpignan, France, which it’s owned for more than a century. In sum, it’s a “plant to […]

Looking through display cases to select the perfect piece of fine jewelry is an exciting moment for most people. But there’s work happening behind the scenes they don’t see. It has a lot of legal implications, too, from design to manufacturing, especially when it involves crossing international borders. At Birks Group Inc., Miranda Melfi ensures […]

When Christopher Stearns joined Aramark in 2009 as a young attorney, he was excited to develop new diversity, equity, and inclusion resources for the Philadelphia-based, global hospitality company. Almost 13 years later, Stearns is proud of Aramark’s LGBTQ workforce and its allies, and the expansion of Aramark’s DEI program. Aramark now has 11 employee resource […]

If you ask Kent Christensen what’s cooking at Solo Brands, expect to hear about plenty of irons in the fire. Since joining the company in March 2021 as its first general counsel, Christensen has helped Solo Brands grow from making portable camp stoves and firepits to kayaks, paddleboards and men’s apparel. Oh, and he helped […]

Whether you are a tennis fan watching the BNP Paribas Open or a movie buff viewing the recent Ridley Scott-directed film “House of Gucci” starring Lady Gaga, chances are you saw the players and characters wearing shoes and apparel with the familiar “F-BOX” logo of the 110-year-old FILA brand. FILA is on a roll these […]

When Don Eng daydreamed at his supermarket job while in high school and college, it wasn’t about managing legal affairs in the grocery industry someday. He planned to become a mechanic and was thinking about carburetors, transmissions, brakes and used car parts. Then one day after work, Eng came home to find a letter saying […]

When a teenager works at American Eagle Outfitters Inc., they expect certain things: a store discount, new friends and a biweekly paycheck.  Recently, though, retail employees have been given the chance to gain something unexpected: a college scholarship. Made possible through a $5 million endowment from the American Eagle Outfitters Foundation, the scholarships are for […]