Susan Chandler

Ken Phillips feels like he has been left holding the bag. The co-owner of Creative Images, a maker of framed children's art in St. Augustine, Fla., shipped $120,000 in merchandise...

In the old days, it wasn't that hard to succeed as a merchant. Sell the best product or offer the lowest prices, and customers would beat a path to your...

Many Wall Street investors have soured on the prospects for upscale retailers, which have seen their sales turn down along with the rest of the economy. But not Chicago's John...

John Jones, one of the best-known names in Chicago menswear retailing, has left his position as assistant manager at the Saks Fifth Avenue men's store at 717 N. Michigan Ave....

Mimi Calfee is watching her budget closely these days, and so are her three teenage children. The Lake Forest mom didn't think twice recently about picking up a linen jacket...

Chicago has lost one of its retail gems. Hino & Malee, the innovative, much beloved store at 50 E. Oak St., closed its doors earlier this month when its creators,...

Only a few years ago, the dominance of department stores in the cosmetics business appeared to be in serious decline. Value-conscious shoppers were flocking to local drugstores and supermarkets to...

Naturalist Charles Darwin never intended for his theory of natural selection to be applied to retailers, but the process was in full swing during the first quarter of 2001. Montgomery...

Marcy Mandujano has seen retailers come and go. Years ago, she worked at Zayre, a discount chain that failed in the late 1980s. Then she moved to Ames Department Stores,...

Prada, the Italian fashion house, kicked it off last spring with a line of $1,000 purses inspired by the functional, but hardly stylish, bowling bag. Then Tod's, the Italian shoe...