Retail-Focused OSHA Guidance
OSHA Retail Safety Guidance Signals Steps Home Depot Should Adopt

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has published retail-focused guidance covering crowd management, workplace violence prevention, material handling, and seasonal worker protections. The recommendations matter to Home Depot associates and managers because they offer specific, actionable measures to reduce injuries, prevent incidents during peak shopping events, and ensure training and reporting rights for all workers.

OSHA’s guidance for retail employers lays out a range of safety and security practices that retail chains and distribution operations can use to assess and strengthen protections for employees and customers. For Home Depot stores and fulfillment centers, the guidance addresses high-risk areas including crowd-control during sales events, workplace violence and robbery response, powered industrial vehicle operation, material handling, and protections for seasonal and temporary workers.

On crowd management and major sales events, OSHA recommends planning that includes trained security personnel, barricades or rope lines, clear emergency exits, occupancy control and pre-planned procedures to prevent injuries and chaos during peak shopping periods. Implementing those measures affects scheduling, security staffing and store layout decisions, and requires coordination between store managers and loss-prevention teams to minimize risk while maintaining throughput.

Workplace violence and robbery-prevention guidance emphasizes prevention planning and employee training in de-escalation, along with clear steps for safe response to aggressive customers or robberies. For associates who encounter verbal or physical threats, having formalized procedures and practiced drills can reduce on-the-job trauma and uncertainty while clarifying what managers must do to protect staff.

In warehouses and fulfillment centers, OSHA calls for safe stacking and ergonomic measures to limit repetitive lifting strains, thorough training on powered industrial vehicles such as forklifts and hi-los, and lockout/tagout procedures where relevant. The guidance also highlights hazards posed by compactors and balers, areas that require specific controls and supervision in distribution operations. Adopting these practices may mean additional training time, certification for powered-equipment operators, and investments in ergonomic aids.

Crucially, OSHA reiterates worker rights: employees can file safety complaints, are protected as whistleblowers, and employers have a legal responsibility to provide a safe workplace. Seasonal and temporary workers are entitled to the same training and safe conditions as permanent staff, and employers must deliver training in a language and manner the worker understands. That requirement affects hiring and onboarding practices during peak seasons when Home Depot relies heavily on temporary labor. prismnews.com


AI Pricing Controversy
Algorithmic And Surveillance Pricing Pushes Retail Into Legal Minefield

AI offers immense retail value, but its "surveillance pricing" practice, which uses personal data to set individualized prices, faces growing regulatory backlash.

More than its potential to boost revenue, AI is a power multiplier, giving retailers unprecedented ability to personalize consumer interactions to potentially deepen engagement, loyalty and customer delight. But as with any powerful tool, it can be used for good or ill.

Recent actions at the state and federal levels suggest regulators suspect malicious intent, especially regarding surveillance pricing and the privacy concerns it raises. Surveillance pricing, sometimes called personalized pricing, is a practice in which a retailer uses personal data and algorithms to set individualized prices for the same product. In effect, merchandise that the retailer buys at a fixed wholesale cost is sold to customers at different prices based on their data profile.

It’s easy to see the murky legal waters retailers enter with surveillance pricing. A once-level playing field in the prices people pay can be too easily titled in the retailer’s favor, raising concerns about fairness, discrimination, and potential consumer exploitation. It further casts doubt on how retailers collect, use and potentially misuse personal consumer information.

“Surveillance pricing is a minefield and the mines are exploding,” warned Crowell and Moring litigation attorney Joanna Forster, as she sees more state attorneys general and consumer protection chiefs leaning into this issue, both around the fairness and privacy issues. And as states move forward, she expects the federal government, which has already moved in this direction, to pick up its pace. forbes.com


Thrift Retail is Having a Moment
You’ll Never Guess The Fastest-Growing Retail Sector — And Gen Z Loves It
Most retail industry captains are reporting sleepless nights lately, tormented by nightmares like tariff chaos, the AI stampede, and cranky investors — all while trying to just keep up with inflation. But there is one industry segment that has been on a roll for the past four years, clocking a blistering compound annual revenue growth rate of 15%, in spite of not making a profit … yet.

Meet the thrift and resale juggernaut that has been slowly eating into the consumer wallet share, especially in shoes and apparel. Meet the new face of sustainability and a puzzle for traditional retailers to solve.

At one end, there are timeless nonprofits like Goodwill Industries or Salvation Army, stores that have been around since the early 1900s. They help support foundations that provide social services, places with harsh fluorescent lighting that older generations remember visiting only in desperate times.

Today, thrifting is a widespread hobby among the Gen Z crowd, and often a first stop for a majority of Gen Z shoppers hoping for a surprise find, or a killer bargain. forbes.com


Bad Sign for Department Stores?
Is Saks’ Collapse Another Omen For Traditional Department Stores?
Saks’ trip to bankruptcy court has led to diatribes on the sad state of department stores, but a few other articles point to brighter days ahead for the channel.

In a New York Times article entitled “Can Department Stores Ever Be Fun Again?” Ginia Bellafante, the newspaper’s fashion critic, traces a first signal of department stores’ descent to the closing of B. Altman on Fifth Avenue in 1989, followed in New York City by the closure of Henri Bendel, Lord & Taylor and Barneys.

Beyond pressures from mass retailers and online selling, she argues that department stores’ problems over the last five decades come about as the shopping experience no longer inspires. Product offerings have become “lackluster” due in part to lost buying talent, as “ambitious young women with great taste” in the latter part of the 20th century began pursuing MBA programs over retail careers. Banners also lost their “identity” over the years, and now collectively embrace a “sterilized atmosphere” in carrying the same products as rivals, she added. retailwire.com


In-Store AI Robots
Ulta tests AI manicure robots in select stores

As AI moves into the physical world, Ulta’s robot manicurist offers a glimpse of what’s next.

Here at Ulta, the robot holding my hand was built by Boston-based startup 10Beauty. After six years of R&D and $50 million in venture funding, the company has created a machine meant to replicate the entire manicure process: polish removal, shaping, buffing, and painting. The company plans to roll the robots out to Ulta, Nordstrom, and high-end salons later this year. The manicures will be priced at $30—no tipping required.

But first comes the beta test. Ulta has agreed to pilot the machines in select stores, where customers can get free manicures while 10Beauty gathers real-world data. Human nail techs stand by to fix mistakes, ensuring customers still leave with salon-worthy nails. fastcompany.com


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