uMacy’s To Launch Quartet Of “Off-Price” (AKA Discount) Stores This Fallr

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  (Nicholas Eckhart)

  Earlier this year, Macy’s said it was going to dip its toes into the waters of discount retailing by creating some sort of off-price offshoot of its department store chain. Today, the retailer confirmed some details about the first four locations for the store it has dubbed Macy’s Backstage.

  All four backstage locations (at about 30,000 sq. ft. each) will be in the New York City metro area, mostly in Long Island and the fringes of Brooklyn and Queens. The company says the stores will feature the same variety of goods you’d see at Macy’s — everything from clothing to housewares to jewelry — but at discounts of 20-80%.

  Some items will be clearance sales from the regular Macy’s lineup. Others will be products purchased specifically for the Backstage stores, says the company.

  While Macy’s store-brand charge cards will be accepted at the backstage stores, Macy’s coupons will not. The retailer says that the Backstage stores will not use promotional events to drive business to Backstage locations, but presumably will rely on everyday discounts to keep customers coming back.

  The stores will also include free WiFi, so be sure to use it to check the prices to make sure you are getting a good deal.

  “We believe we can deliver a whole new level of value to customers who appreciate fashion and love to hunt for a bargain,” said Peter Sachse, Macy’s chief innovation and business development officer in a statement.

  The four locations for Macy’s Backstage:
  • Sheepshead Bay (2027 Emmons Ave.), Brooklyn, NY
  • Queens Place, Elmhurst (Queens), NY
  • Lake Success Shopping Center, New Hyde Park, NY
  • Melville Mall, Huntington, NY

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uMacy’s To Launch Quartet Of “Off-Price” (AKA Discount) Stores This Fallr

4 4 4 9

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  (Nicholas Eckhart)

  Earlier this year, Macy’s said it was going to dip its toes into the waters of discount retailing by creating some sort of off-price offshoot of its department store chain. Today, the retailer confirmed some details about the first four locations for the store it has dubbed Macy’s Backstage.

  All four backstage locations (at about 30,000 sq. ft. each) will be in the New York City metro area, mostly in Long Island and the fringes of Brooklyn and Queens. The company says the stores will feature the same variety of goods you’d see at Macy’s — everything from clothing to housewares to jewelry — but at discounts of 20-80%.

  Some items will be clearance sales from the regular Macy’s lineup. Others will be products purchased specifically for the Backstage stores, says the company.

  While Macy’s store-brand charge cards will be accepted at the backstage stores, Macy’s coupons will not. The retailer says that the Backstage stores will not use promotional events to drive business to Backstage locations, but presumably will rely on everyday discounts to keep customers coming back.

  The stores will also include free WiFi, so be sure to use it to check the prices to make sure you are getting a good deal.

  “We believe we can deliver a whole new level of value to customers who appreciate fashion and love to hunt for a bargain,” said Peter Sachse, Macy’s chief innovation and business development officer in a statement.

  The four locations for Macy’s Backstage:
  • Sheepshead Bay (2027 Emmons Ave.), Brooklyn, NY
  • Queens Place, Elmhurst (Queens), NY
  • Lake Success Shopping Center, New Hyde Park, NY
  • Melville Mall, Huntington, NY

  
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ribbi

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uJetBlue Will Let Amazon Prime Customers Stream For Free Onboardr

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  (Boss Meg)

  Though it’s already the only airline to offer free WiFi, JetBlue is taking it once step further and will now let passengers who are Amazon Prime customers stream Amazon’s music and video content for free. Because let’s face it, you’ve got some binge watching of Transparent to get done and those two shrill, chatty 20somethings across the aisle will not shut up about their trip to Cabo.

  JetBlue’s current free WiFi for passengers is suitable for web browsing and checking email, but to get the sort of bandwidth to watch stuff, you’d have to pay about $9 to start.

  There’s now another option for people using Amazon’s instant video service or streaming music service: Those customers can now stream for free on their WiFi connected devices with a new plan called Fly-Fi Prime, the companies announced today.

  Prime users can also rent or buy other titles in the Amazon Instant Video store while in flight, listen to music on Prime Music, download e-books for Kindle and get games from the Amazon app store.

  The free Fly-Fi broadband Internet will be available on all JetBlue’s Airbus A321 and A320 aircraft later this year and on JetBlue’s Embraer E190 aircraft in 2016.

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uPanera Bread Dropping Nearly 150 Artificial Ingredients From Menu This Yearr

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  (frankieleon)

  Panera Bread’s plan to remove food additives from its menu appears to be taking shape, with the restaurant announcing today that it plans to remove at least 150 artificial ingredients from its menu in the coming months.

  The Wall Street Journal reports that Panera’s move to pinpoint certain ingredients for removal by the end of the year is just the company’s latest action when it comes to shifting to what consumers see as more healthful ingredients.

  The company has been working on its plans since 2012, and announced last summer that it would work to remove all artificial food additives over the next two years.

  Ingredients on the company’s chopping block this time around include fat substitutes and propylene glycol, a preservative sometimes found in deodorant and electronic cigarettes, the WSJ reports.

  The company previously cut additives such as artificial sweetener sucralose and titanium dioxide, which is used to whiten mozzarella cheese.

  Panera says that most of the recently announced additives being removed will apply to soups, salad dressings, sandwiches and some baked goods.

  The company’s CEO Ron Shaich tells the WSJ that the company is trying to give customers a simple, easy approach to eating healthy, saying that customers “know they should be eating better, but they’re not always sure how to do that.”

  Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, applauded Panera’s announcement on Tuesday, but noted that not all additives or hard to pronounce ingredients are necessarily bad for consumers.

  “Some of the additives Panera is ditching are perfectly innocuous, such as calcium propionate or sodium lactate—so those moves are more about public relations than public health,” he says in a statement.

  Additionally, he says that the company should have made it abundantly clear that its plan to remove additives doesn’t include the soda fountain.

  “If what you’re having at Panera is a 1,000-calorie panini with a day’s worth of sodium, or a 460-calorie soda, food additives should be the least of your concern,” he says.

   

  Panera’s latest effort to drop artificial ingredients comes on the heels of other major food companies doing the same. Last week, Chipotle announced all of its food would be GMO-free (while simultaneously acknowledging that GMOs may be completely safe).

  Just a week before that, Kraft announced it would remove synthetic colors and artificial preservatives form its Original Macaroni & Cheese in the United States.

  In February, Nestle said it would remove artificial flavors and colors from all its chocolate products by the end of the year.

  Panera to Drop at Least 150 Artificial Ingredients From Menu [The Wall Street Journal]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uGet A Free Folded Biscuit At Taco Bell This Morning Until 11r

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  Get one of these for free, if that’s what you’re into.

  If you fold a round and flat food item in half and put more food inside, as far as Taco Bell is concerned, that’s a taco. Today, they’re advertising their new breakfast menu by giving away free … see, I still can’t bring myself to call that thing a taco, but you can get a free biscuit folded in half with some breakfast stuff in it.

  The folded biscuit is a new item nationwide, replacing its first attempt at an original breakfast food, the folded waffle. It’s part of Taco Bell’s push to compete with the breakfast sandwich offerings of other fast-food outlets. They call this campaign “breakfast defectors,” which does have the advantage of making a lot more sense than last decade’s meal invention, “Fourthmeal.”

  The giveaway happens to fall on May 5th, which is a regional holiday in Mexico that somehow has become a day to celebrate crude Mexican caricatures and drink tequila in this country. Taco Bell’s advertising for this event focuses more on breakfast and on their “defector” concept than on Cinco de Mayo, which is just as well.

  Guess what? Biscuit Tacos are free tomorrow from 7-11AM. You’re welcome [Taco Bell]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uAre Front-Loading Washers Still Mold Machines?r

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  (CrzysChick)

  Newer front-loading washing machines have developed a reputation for growing mold. Lawsuits also sprouted in the front-loader market, but washing machine manufacturers were ultimately not found liable for inflicting moldy washers on the public. That might make you hesitant to buy a front-loading washer, even if you find them appealing. Should you

  Our fungus-free colleagues down the hall at Consumer Report say that the problem isn’t as bad as it used to be, since manufacturers have made some improvements that prevent mold growth. However, it can be very valuable to read any user reviews that you can find for the model that you’re interested in, and for very similar front-loaders from the same manufacturer. (Consumer Reports offers reviews for subscribers, and you can also seek them out on retailer and manufacturer sites, or review megasites like Epinions.) If you’re going to use the appliance for years on end in real life, the experiences of other people who have done the same are valuable.

  This is because the mold problem hasn’t been eradicated. You can take steps to prevent mold from growing in the first place, and keeping your machine clean and your laundry area dry are probably a good idea anyway.

  That leaves the answer to the core question of “should I buy a front-loading washer?” as “maybe, as long as you do some research first.”

  Do new front-loading washing machines still have mold problems? [Consumer Reports]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uDomino’s Australia Takes Pizza-Tracking To The Streetsr

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  Pizza status: captured by cat. (brandylee)

  When you hail a ride using Uber and similar mobile applications, you know how close your car is to you thanks to the GPS receivers in your phone and in your driver’s phone. That’s nice and all, but what if that same technology could be used to track something that’s really time-sensitive…like a pizza delivery.

  The company trying this out, Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Ltd., runs the Domino’s restaurants to a few European countries in addition to Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. Apparently, these are all countries where people get very impatient about their food deliveries, so they’re taking the Pizza Tracker concept a little further.

  You may remember the Pizza Tracker: it tells you where your pizza is in the pizza-cooking process. Between the shop and your home, though, it disappears: the driver could be lost, running late, or off on a side trip. This tracker solves that mystery, while also letting bosses spy on delivery drivers. If they’re speeding, making side trips on the clock, and zooming around corners. The 50 shops that tested this app found that drivers cut back on potentially dangerous behavior.

  Australia’s Domino’s Plans Uber-Style Pizza Delivery Driver Tracker [Wall Street Journal]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist