Renovation to transform Arkansas store into Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World

A Bass Pro Shops cap is shown in this file photo.
A Bass Pro Shops cap is shown in this file photo.

The 100,000-square-foot Cabela's store in Rogers is being renovated to become a Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World store.

Work on the store, located near the Rogers Promenade, will start this month and will combine the Bass Pro, Cabela's and Tracker boat brands under one roof, the Missouri-based retailer said Monday.

Store plans include additional shopping space. This is the first design overhaul for the Cabela's store since Bass Pro acquired the retail chain last fall for $4 billion.

The outdoor retailer plans to expand the Rogers store's fishing and general apparel departments by 85 percent and 40 percent, respectively. A two-story glass storefront that highlights the location's boat and all-terrain vehicle inventory is also planned.

A completion date for the new Outdoor World complex was not disclosed in the news release. Bass Pro spokesman Katie Mitchell said store renovations will be done in phases and won't affect normal business hours.

There are no plans for store expansion. She said Bass Pro is simply "reconfiguring the store."

--Nathan Owens

Ex-Humana official to run Walmart unit

Walmart Inc. has hired a former senior executive at insurer Humana Inc. to run its health care business, a move that could reignite speculation that the two companies will forge a closer partnership.

The world's largest retailer named Sean Slovenski as senior vice president of health and wellness, reporting directly to Greg Foran, who runs the company's U.S. business, according to an internal memo Thursday from Foran. The appointment is effective Aug. 1. Slovenski spent three years at Humana, rising to become vice president of innovation, and most recently worked for a digital-health company that also partners with Walmart.

The move comes as Walmart and Humana explore ways to deepen their alliance to provide health care to consumers, a person familiar with the matter said in March. Walmart has been looking to expand its health business for years and could use a partnership with an insurer to take on a more powerful role in the delivery of medications to consumers.

The companies already work together on prescription drug plans for individuals in the U.S. Medicare program.

-- Bloomberg News

Some Amazon links fail on Prime Day

NEW YORK -- Amazon's website ran into some early snags Monday on its much-hyped Prime Day, an embarrassment for the tech company on the shopping event it created.

Shoppers clicking on many Prime Day links after the 2 p.m. launch got only images of dogs -- some quite abashed-looking -- with the words, "Uh-oh. Something went wrong on our end." Many took to social media to complain that they couldn't order items.

Amazon didn't immediately respond to a request for comment, but by about 3:30 p.m., many Prime Day links were working.

Amazon, which recently announced that Prime membership would be getting more expensive, was hoping to lure in shoppers by focusing on new products and having Whole Foods be part of the process.

-- The Associated Press

Canadian firm pulls Ivanka Trump items

Ivanka Trump's fashion line has taken quite a beating since her father took office.

Several major outlets, including Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and Marshalls, have scaled their Trump offerings way back. The brand's sales numbers have slipped significantly since the election, and many women say they've gone out of their way to avoid Trump products.

On Friday, Hudson's Bay Co., one of Canada's largest department stores, pulled all Ivanka Trump products from its website, and it says it will stop selling her products in its stores across the country. Hudson's Bay also owns Sak's Fifth Avenue, which offers no Ivanka Trump merchandise online, and Lord & Taylor, which does.

In a statement, the company said the decision was based on the brand's "performance."

Ivanka Trump has been the focus of several retail boycotts aimed at the Trumps.

-- The Washington Post

Texas shrimpers struggling to fill jobs

BROWNSVILLE, Texas -- The Texas shrimp industry is facing a worker shortage as a result of the federal cap on U.S. visas for immigrant seasonal workers.

Andrea Hance, executive director of the Texas Shrimp Association, told the Brownsville Herald that an estimated 70 percent of the Brownsville-Port Isabel shrimp fleet is starting off this season short-handed. The shrimp industry relies heavily on workers with H-2B visas, which are U.S. visas for temporary nonagricultural workers. A decades-old law limits the number of such visas to 66,000 for the whole country.

Congress failed to renew a cap exemption this year for returning workers, creating a worker shortage.

Hance said lacking 750 people from Mexico or Central America is crippling the Texas seafood industry. Most of the state shrimp industry's workers come from Mexico.

-- The Associated Press

Weinstein Co. completes $289M sale

NEW YORK -- On Monday, the beleaguered Weinstein Co. studio wrecked by sexual assault allegations against its co-founder Harvey Weinstein completed the sale of its assets to Lantern Capital Partners, closing the book on the onetime indie film powerhouse.

Lantern paid $289 million for the assets, including Weinstein Co.'s 277-film library. The Dallas-based private equity firm previously agreed to pay $310 million, but managed to secure a discount after agreeing to make payments on the studio's contracts with filmmakers and actors.

A bankruptcy judge approved the revised deal Wednesday, over the objections of Hollywood heavyweights such as Quentin Tarantino and Bradley Cooper, who worried that the deal terms might keep them from being paid royalties owed for films such as The Hateful Eight and Silver Linings Playbook.

The new owners, who have no entertainment business experience, must now figure out how to use the assets to build a new film and TV company, known as Lantern Entertainment.

-- Los Angeles Times

Business on 07/17/2018

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