uKohl’s Testing Cafe Concept At Two Wisconsin Locationsr

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  Kohl’s is joining the ranks of retailers like Target, Sam’s Club, IKEA, Costco, and countless others in bringing weary shoppers what they really want: something to snack on while traipsing down the aisles checking off items from their list.

  On Tuesday, Kohl’s began testing small in-store cafes at two of its locations in Wisconsin in an attempt to keep customers caffeinated and engaged while shopping, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

  The new “Kohl’s Cafe” stores will serve select drinks from Caribou Coffee, as well as snacks, such as granola bars, breakfast bars, chips, cookies, and other quick-grab items.

  The idea behind the pilot cafes is to keep consumers in stores longer, increasing the chance they’ll buy more stuff.

  “You want the customer to dwell more,” Jon Grosso, executive vice president and director of stores for Kohl’s said. “You want them to spend time in the building.”

  The test is the latest venture in the company’s “Greatness Agenda,” an initiative to increase the chain’s sluggish sales by around $2 billion by 2017, the Journal Sentinel reports.

  The 1,166-store retailer previously revamped its beauty sections and launched online order pickup at some stores.

  Grosso tells the Journal Sentinel that the company doesn’t have immediate plans to expand the cafe concept, but never say never.

  “We want to test and learn and see what we can do in 2016,” he said. “…And then, wherever we expand it, if and when we do, we want to apply those (lessons).”

  Kohl’s testing small cafes as part of moves to re-energize sales [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uPolice: Man Got A Manicure, Then Robbed The Nail Salonr

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  It’s one thing to walk into a business and demand cash, but police say a man suspected of robbing a Philadelphia nail salon sat through a manicure first, getting his nails nicely trimmed and buffed before grabbing cash from the register.

  According to police, the man came in near closing time and asked for a manicure, reports CBS Philly. When it was time to pay for the service, however, he demanded the cashier hand him money instead, allegedly pointing a gun at her.

  “It’s pretty nervy to sit into a nail salon and actually get a manicure and then produce a gun and announce a robbery you know. And he was very serious about what he was doing,” said a Philadelphia police captain.

  Surveillance video shows the suspect trying to snatch money from the worker’s hand and then grabbing for more in the register (if he did get any nail polish, he surely messed it up at that point). Police say he also stole a cell phone and money from a worker’s purse. Once he had what he wanted, he left.

  Police are investigating whether he could possibly be responsible for other robberies in the area, and are hoping the video from the salon will help identify him.

  Police: Man Gets Manicure, Allegedly Robs Nail Salon [CBS Philadelphia]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uNew TiVo Bolt Will Let You Skip Some Ad Breaks With Push Of A Button (For $150/Year)r

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• TiVo’s new Bolt DVR has some neat-sounding functions — the ability to skip ad breaks at the press of a button [big asterisk] or speed up what you’re watching by 30% without screwing with the audio — and it’s also 4K compatible and provides an all-in-one portal for access to streaming services like Netflix and Amazon. But it does so, not just at a hefty retail price, but with a subscription requirement that might turn potential customers away.

  The TiVo Bolt comes with two hard drive sizes: 500 GB and 1,000 GB, for $300 and $400, respectively. Given that TiVo boxes can often be used to replace your cable company’s set-top receiver/DVR, that price isn’t really so bad when you spread the cost out over a few years.

  But after those first twelve months, you’ll need to start factoring in the TiVo subscription fee. This currently runs $150/year.

  So say you buy the 500GB one and keep it for four years before upgrading to something new. By that point, between the device cost and the subscription, you’ll have spent $750 (assuming the yearly subscription fee doesn’t increase), coming out to $15.65/month on average. After five years ($900 total), that average is still at $15/month. That’s still more than you’re likely paying each month for your cable company’s leased DVR.

  That’s not to say people should or will write off the Bolt. Some may see these new features as worth it, while others would be happy to simply not be paying that money to their cable company.

  Regarding the “big asterisk” referenced at the beginning? The Bolt’s “SkipMode,” which lets you jump over a commercial break with a single button press, doesn’t work on all recordings. In fact, it will only work on about 20 channels.

  The device is already on sale through the TiVo site and BestBuy.com. It will hit retail store shelves starting Oct. 4.

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uThirteen Manufacturers Recall 1.3 Million Bikes Over Quick-Release Lever Crash Hazardr

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  Thirteen companies are recalling nearly 1.3 million bicycles equipped with front disc brakes and quick-release levers that can cause the front tire to lock up or completely separate from the bike, posing an increased risk of injury to riders. 

  The voluntary recall, which involves 17 different bike brands produced between 1998 and 2015, was initiated because of the risk that an open quick-release lever can come in contact with the brake rotor and cause the front wheel to stop suddenly or separate from the bicycle.

  According to a notice from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the issue occurs when the quick-release lever is fully opened – meaning there is less than six millimeters of space between the lever and the disc brake rotor on the bike wheel.

  Bicycles that do not have disc brakes are not included in the recall. The CPSC released a video to assist owners in identifying if their bike is involved in the recall.

  There have been three incidents reported in which an open quick-release lever on a bicycle’s front wheel hub came into contact with the bike’s front disc brake assembly and caused the front wheel to come to a sudden stop or separate from the bicycle.

  In one case, a man suffered a broken finger, a wrist injury, a shoulder injury and abrasions. The other two incidents did not result in injuries.

  Consumers are advised to immediately stop using the affected bikes – which sold from between $200 and $10,000 at bike shops nationwide – and contact the recalling company for the free installation of a new quick-release on the front wheel.

  In addition to the roughly 1.3 million bikes covered by the recall in the U.S., nearly 245,000 of the bikes were sold in Canada, and 9,000 in Mexico.

  Here’s a full list of recalled bikes and manufacturers:
  

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uMoms Try To Snag Taylor Swift Tickets, Get Scammed Twicer

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  Two moms wanted to take their daughters to see Taylor Swift when she played in St. Louis recently, but didn’t have tickets. That’s fine: that’s what the underground ticket economy is for, right? In theory, but they managed to get scammed twice in one night by two different ticket sellers, and missed the concert.

  The night of the concert, they found a listing for tickets through Craigslist. Nothing raised any warning flags for them, until they sent off an online payment and waited for the e-mail notification that their tickets had been transferred. They kept waiting, but no tickets came.

  Fine: there should be plenty of people hawking tickets outside the stadium doors, right? They found a friendly neighborhood scalper outside venue and got to business. “They went back and forth with each other, made us feel like we were getting really a bargain,” the mom who didn’t negotiate said.

  Counterfeit tickets aren’t a bargain at any price, though, and that’s what they bought. (Negotiating on the price makes you feel more confident that the deal is real.)

  On the third try, they successfully bought real tickets and got to attend the concert, but not without losing money to scammers twice.

  Sometimes we all have to turn to the secondary market for tickets, but you can protect yourself while doing so. Deal with verified sellers when dealing in tickets. If you’re buying them right outside the door, and that’s legal in your area, have the seller walk you to the turnstile and take a picture of them: if they’re trying to sell you bogus tickets, they won’t do either of those things.

  Mothers scammed twice over Taylor Swift concert tickets [KTVI]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uCaffeinated Peanut Butter Now Exists Because Time Is Preciousr

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  If you have a tough time making it through lunch because your morning cup of coffee just isn’t enough, one Massachusetts company says it has the perfect product — caffeinated peanut butter that packs a punch equal to a cup of coffee in just one tablespoon. No more sleeping through that PB&J.

  Steem touts its product as all-natural, with its only ingredients peanuts, salt, peanut oil and agave nectar, reports the Boston Herald. The caffeine comes from green-coffee extract that’s mixed into the spread.

  “It’s a time-saver; your two favorite products in one jar,” Steem co-founder Chris Pettazzoni told the Herald.

  This is also great news for people known to live off caffeine and peanut butter for long stretches of time due to sheer laziness (yes, I am that person, and I have no regrets).

  Unsurprisingly, the idea came from a conversation between Steem’s business partners, who were trying to drum up new hangover cures. Because who hasn’t dug into a tub of peanut butter with a spoon after a particularly boozy Saturday night?

  “The unsaturated fats actually create bonds with the caffeine so the digestion process is slower and results in a steady release of energy,” Pettazzoni said.

  *Thanks to Consumerist reader Jenny for the tip!

  Caffeinated peanut butter is now being made in Massachusetts [Boston Herald]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uWhole Foods Says It Will Stop Selling Prisoner-Made Products Made By April 2016r

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  After a protest at one of its Texas stores, Whole Foods says it will no longer sell products made using a prison labor program. The company has sold tilapia and goat cheese produced through a Colorado inmate program at some stores since 2011, and now plans to have the products out of stores by April 2016 or sooner.

  A prison reform advocate who organized a protest at a Whole Foods store in Houston this past weekend said the company told him it’d be changing its policy. Though other companies sell products produced through inmate programs, he said it was hypocritical of Whole Foods to do so, due to how the company presents itself.

  “They say they care about the community, but they’re enhancing their profit off of poor people,” he told the Associated Press, adding that prisoners usually don’t make much money for their work.

  A Whole Foods spokesman said that the company had sourced prisoner-made products as a way to “help people get back on their feet and eventually become contributing members of society,” but that it chose to stop doing so because some customers were uncomfortable with it.

  Whole Foods to stop selling products made by prisoners [Associated Press]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist