Drugstores request no open carry guns
NEW YORK -- Drug chains CVS and Walgreens, as well as grocery chain Wegmans Food Market, have joined the chorus of retailers requesting that customers refrain from openly carrying firearms in their stores even where state laws allow it.
The announcements made Thursday follow similar moves by Walmart, the nation's largest retailer, as well as Kroger earlier this week. Starbucks and Target have already asked customers not to openly carry guns unless they're law enforcement officers. The retailers stopped short of introducing an outright ban because they say they don't want to put their employees in confrontational situations.
"We are joining other retailers in asking our customers to no longer openly carry firearms into our stores other than authorized law enforcement officials," Walgreens said in a statement posted online. The Deerfield, Ill.-based company had almost 10,000 stores across the U.S. as of a year ago, according to its website.
The moves come after a string of mass shootings, including one last month inside a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, that killed 22 customers, the deadliest in the company's history.
-- The Associated Press
Nordstrom opens services-only store
NEW YORK -- Nordstrom opened a new store in Manhattan on Thursday that offers only services like tailoring and allows customers to pick up or return items, including online orders from any retailer.
The push to open local hubs comes as Nordstrom, like many department stores, works to reinvent itself as it sees customers shopping more online.
"We believe this is our model for the future," said Erik Nordstrom, the retailer's co-president. "So we have to figure it out and tweak it. The more we engage our customers, the better it is."
The Upper East Side location is the first Nordstrom "mini store" in New York. The company has opened three others in Los Angeles.
Last month, the retailer trimmed its earnings and sales outlook for the current fiscal year after it reported profit and sales declines in the second quarter. Sales at its full-priced stores dropped 6.5%.
-- The Associated Press
In Arkansas Index, stocks end day up
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, closed Thursday at 428.52, up 6.94.
"Equities rallied for a second straight day while U.S. Treasurys declined following strong economic data released early in the day," said Leon Lants, managing director of Stephens Inc. in Little Rock. "That, combined with continued trade optimism, boosted investor sentiment ahead of the monthly payroll data report due this morning."
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 09/06/2019