All posts tagged: Stores

Cloudflare’s VPN app among half-dozen pulled from Indian app stores

Cloudflare’s VPN app among half-dozen pulled from Indian app stores

More than half-a-dozen VPN apps, including Cloudflare’s widely-used 1.1.1.1, have been pulled from India’s Apple App Store and Google Play Store following intervention from government authorities, TechCrunch has learned.  The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs issued removal orders for the apps, according to a document reviewed by TechCrunch and a disclosure made by Google to Lumen, Harvard University’s database that tracks government takedown requests globally. Among the affected apps are Hide.me and PrivadoVPN. In communication to one of the affected developers, seen by TechCrunch, Apple cited a “demand” from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center, part of the Ministry of Home Affairs, which deemed the developer content to contravene Indian law. The ministry, as well as Apple, Google and Cloudflare, did not respond to requests for comment.  This enforcement action marks the first significant implementation of India’s 2022 regulatory framework governing VPN apps. The rules mandate that VPN providers and cloud service operators maintain comprehensive records of their customers, including names, addresses, IP addresses and transaction histories, for a five-year period. The stringent requirements prompted pushback …

When Do Stores Open on Black Friday? Holiday Hours for Walmart, Target, Best Buy and More

When Do Stores Open on Black Friday? Holiday Hours for Walmart, Target, Best Buy and More

There’s nothing wrong with doing all of your Black Friday shopping online, but many still enjoy the rush of scoring a great deal in person. If you’re looking to make the most of this year’s in-store offers, you’ll need to know when they open their doors. To that end, we’ve broken down the Black Friday hours for all the major retailers offering savings this year. Just be aware that hours at individual locations may vary, so be sure to check your local branch before setting up camp on Thursday night. Black Friday 2024 store hours Walmart Opens 6 a.m. Target Opens 6 a.m. Best Buy Opens 6 a.m. Macy’s Opens 6 a.m. GameStop Most locations open at 5 a.m. Sam’s Club Opens 10 a.m. Costco Opens 10 a.m. Bath & Body Works Opens 6 a.m. Dick’s Sporting Goods Most locations open at 6 a.m. Apple stores Most locations open at 8 a.m. Lowe’s Opens at 6 a.m. Home Depot Opens at 6 a.m. TJ Maxx Opens 6 a.m. or 7 a.m. Kohls Opens at 5 a.m …

Apple Consolidating Vision Pro Demo Areas in Stores Amid Rumors of Slowing Sales and Reduced Production

Apple Consolidating Vision Pro Demo Areas in Stores Amid Rumors of Slowing Sales and Reduced Production

Apple is planning to consolidate the retail space dedicated to the Apple Vision Pro headset in some of its store locations, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman said today. Most stores have two tables dedicated to the ‌Apple Vision Pro‌, one for display units and one for customer demos. Apple is planning to move both the demo and display sections to a single table, using the extra space to display the new M4 Mac models. Gurman says that Apple is piloting this new store arrangement, and that the change will only be coming to some locations at this time. Apple’s plan to dedicate less retail space to the Vision Pro comes just two weeks after The Information said that Apple had reduced Vision Pro production and could stop making the device entirely by the end of 2024. Some factories cut production of Vision Pro components as early as May based on poor sales forecasts. Estimates suggest that Apple will sell fewer than 500,000 Vision Pro headsets this year, even as the rollout of the device expands to additional …

Contactless stores to grow in Europe as Sensei reels in another M

Contactless stores to grow in Europe as Sensei reels in another $16M

While Amazon Go helped pioneer the concept of the totally contactless store, others, like 7-Eleven and Walmart, have entered the territory. And the arena is growing, in part because several startups — such as  Standard Cognition, Zippin, AiFi, Grabango, Trigo — have proliferated, offering their technology to retailers.  But in Europe, Portuguese startup Sensei has been growing its contactless store platform and has now pulled in a €15 million Series A funding round led by BlueCrow Capital. Also participating were new investors Lince Capital, Explorer Investments, and Kamay Ventures (the investment arm of Coca-Cola and Arcor Group), as well as existing investors Metro AG and Techstars Ventures. In 2021 Lisbon-based Sensei raised a seed round of $6.5 million (€5.4 million). Back then, the funding was led by Seaya Ventures and Iberis Capital, with participation from 200M Fund. The startup is now aiming at 1,000 fully autonomous points of sale by 2026. It is already operating with clients in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, and Brazil, and plans to expand into central and northern Europe. Using computer vision, AI-powered sensors, and real-time …

Walgreens is closing stores; CVS is announcing layoffs. Here’s why : NPR

Walgreens is closing stores; CVS is announcing layoffs. Here’s why : NPR

Walgreens said Tuesday it would close 1,200 stores. Rival drugstore chain CVS recently laid off thousands of employees to cut costs. Scott Olson/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Scott Olson/Getty Images Not too long after Tim Wentworth became CEO of Walgreens, he revealed a stunning figure: Roughly a quarter of the pharmacy chain’s stores do not make money. On Tuesday, he said 1,200 of those stores will close over three years. That’s two weeks after rival CVS announced layoffs of 2,900 corporate staff. Both chains are on a multibillion-dollar cost-saving spree — closing hundreds of locations, cutting thousands of jobs and, really, reconsidering their role in Americans’ lives. The slow simmer of mistakes and misfortunes has come to a boil for the biggest U.S. drugstore chains. They’ve accumulated too many stores at a time of changing shopper habits. They’re saddled with numerous government fines and a particularly ailing relationship with health insurers. The problem of stores CVS and Walgreens have some notable differences. Walgreens, which also owns the British drugstore Boots, is more singularly focused …

You’ll Start Seeing Third-Party App Stores on Google Play: Here’s Why

You’ll Start Seeing Third-Party App Stores on Google Play: Here’s Why

The Google Play Store has rules against developers promoting their apps outside of the Android store or using payment methods other than Play Billing. However, that’s about to change. A long legal battle has finally come to an end, with the US court ruling that Google has held an illegal monopoly on Android apps. Google Has an Illegal Monopoly on App Stores, Says the US Court Gavin Phillips/MakeUseOf As spotted by The Verge, the ruling came after a four-year-long court battle with Epic vs. Google. The lawsuit began when Epic accused Google’s Play Store practices of being unlawful after the former tried to get the hit videogame Fortnite onto Android devices. Epic’s main issue with the Google Play Store was the 30% cut that Google took from each sale. Epic began selling digital Fortnite currency (called “V-bucks”) using in-app third-party payment methods to combat this. This violated Google’s terms, which ended in Fortnite being booted off the Play Store in retaliation, which triggered the lawsuit. Fast forward to today, and Epic has won its fight …

Stores are small now – The Atlantic

Stores are small now – The Atlantic

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. The era of the teeny store is upon us. Spend time in some of America’s prime shopping destinations, and you may be presented with just a few racks of clothing or a small collection of shoes. You might enjoy a lovely floral display and a comfy spot to sit, but you won’t be offered options. If old-school department stores and malls were all about excess, this new kind of store emphasizes the opposite. In spite of bleak predictions about the decline of the store as e-commerce blossomed in the 2010s—and a sharp drop in in-person shopping in the early 2020s, for obvious reasons—physical stores are still with us. And they are opening at a steady clip: Many more brick-and-mortar stores opened than closed in the first half of this year, according to one tracker. But as of late last …

Target caves to right-wing backlash, says it will not sell Pride Month merchandise in many stores

Target caves to right-wing backlash, says it will not sell Pride Month merchandise in many stores

Target will not be selling its infamous Pride Month Collection in about half of its stores following conservative blowback over the LGBTQ-themed merchandise.  The retailer has sold LGBTQ merchandise every month of June for over a decade. But in recent years right-wing activists have targeted the corporation, leading to in-store protests. Pride merchandise will still be available online. “Target is committed to supporting the LGBTQIA+ community during Pride Month and year-round,” Target told USA Today in a statement. Target will still feature some of its Pride collection in “select stores” based on “historical sales performances,” USA Today reported. In practice, that likely means Pride merchandise will only be sold in half of Target’s 2,000 stores, Bloomberg reported.   Boycott threats from conservative activists, as well as intimidation of its employees, was based in part on Target’s sale of clothing for transgender people, including bathing suits, as well as Pride merchandise for children. “The reaction is a signal for us to pause, adapt and learn so that our future approach to these moments balances celebration, inclusivity and …

Former Starbucks CEO says company needs to revamp its stores after big earnings miss

Former Starbucks CEO says company needs to revamp its stores after big earnings miss

Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz weighed in Sunday on the coffee chain’s dismal latest quarterly report, saying he believes the company will recover if it improves its U.S. stores. Schultz, who no longer has a formal role within Starbucks, sees an obvious reason for the downturn. He wrote that the company needs to improve its mobile order and pay experience and overhaul how it creates new drinks to focus on premium items that set it apart. “The stores require a maniacal focus on the customer experience, through the eyes of a merchant. The answer does not lie in data, but in the stores,” Schultz wrote in a letter on Sunday evening posted to LinkedIn. On Tuesday, Starbucks slashed its full-year forecast after a surprise decline in same-store sales led the company to miss Wall Street’s estimates for quarterly earnings and revenue. Since the report, the company’s shares have fallen 17%, dragging its market value down to $82.8 billion. Analysts, caught off guard by the chain’s underperformance, have been looking for an explanation for why Starbucks’ U.S. traffic fell 7% in the quarter. …