Shopping

After a walk, 8-month-old toy poodle Bondi stumbled. Colleen Briggs took him to the vet when his head wobbled and he could scarcely stand.

Bondi was stoned.

Bondi sniffed and ate a discarded joint on his walk.

“He was just doing his usual — exploring everything, sniffing everything,” said Briggs, who noticed the pot stores popping up around New York City, the numerous whiffs of marijuana while around her Manhattan neighborhood, and the unfinished joints littering sidewalks.

The first legal recreational pot dispensary opened last year in New York City, where consumers can smoke it outside.

As a result, more dogs are finding and eating discarded joints and edibles, alarming veterinarians and pet owners who blame the sharp surge in poisonings on smokers unaware of the harm they cause by littering.

Dr. Amy Attas, a New York City veterinarian, says pets seldom died from marijuana poisoning until medical dispensaries opened. Pets raiding owners’ stashes caused numerous till recently.

“People are using marijuana on the street and discarding the unwanted ends of their joints,” Attas remarked. “Dogs eat those.”

She saw six cases in the first three months of the year, approximately the same number she’s treated in 30 years. She said multiplying it by the number of NYC vets shows the growing problem.

The ASPCA reported an increase in cases nationally. The 6,200 cases reported in 2021 increased 11% last year, and over the past five years, they have increased 300%.

“It’s unbelievable how common this is,”

Twenty-one states have legalized recreational cannabis, and in cities like New York, you can smell it everywhere.

Before demonstrating signs of toxicity, owners often don’t realize their dogs ate a discarded joint. Pet owners may not know what’s wrong.

When Circe, her 9-month-old fawn pug, fainted after a stroll, Sue Scott panicked. Circe drooled, shook her head, and splayed her paws.

Scott, 68, thought about a million things. Marijuana poisoning wasn’t. “Never,” she said.

Scott called Dr. Attas, who said Circe was high. Circe is now on a shorter leash.

“I don’t know if you know pugs—they’re constantly on the lookout for their next morsel,” said Scott, who has owned four other pugs, none of whom ever returned home stoned. Since they’re fast, they’re hard to control. They’ll dart.”

Marijuana poisoning can be expensive and require a trip to the animal emergency room, a stomach pump, and intravenous fluids, but dogs seldom die.

Patient and owner stress is also high.

Briggs, Bondi’s owner, says he was poisoned three times, starting last fall.

Briggs admitted that when Bondi got sick again, she must have been distracted. She let Bondi enjoy his high that time.

Walking him… it’s intense. “So I’m always looking on the ground, and it’s just everywhere now,” she said of the used joints she and Bondi find on walks.

Briggs stated, “One time, I caught him and grabbed it out of his mouth.”

A proposal to rehabilitate a dilapidated medieval building was rejected by council planners, resulting in a setback.

The old General Stores and adjoining house on Maldon Road in Langford are a timber-framed listed structure with early 18th-century features.

The structure was originally constructed as a single-story hall house in the 15th or early 16th century, making it the village’s oldest residence.

A plaque on the front of the primary chimney stack bears the inscription ‘1725’.

However, the structure is presently boarded up and has been deemed an eyesore.

A planning permission application was submitted to Maldon District Council for extensive renovations so that the building could be inhabited again.

The plans included a new house-compliant rear extension, new windows, and a garage constructed with black wood cladding to match the existing outbuilding.

Existing walls and a dilapidated outbuilding will be demolished to make room for a new driveway and garage.

The application states, “The existing dwelling is in a dilapidated state, with the ground-floor windows boarded up, rendering it inhabitable.”

“The parking arrangement is insufficient for the size of the property, and the roof of the dilapidated outbuilding has collapsed and is in poor condition.

“As a result of the proposed renovations, the entire property would become habitable, and the window shutters would be removed, making the property more aesthetically pleasing from all angles and less of an eyesore to the public.”

The historic structure is located in the Langford conservation area.

A conservation officer deemed the application’s heritage statement insufficient.

Their report states, “At a bare minimum, the relevant historic environment record should have been consulted, and the heritage assets should have been evaluated using the requisite expertise.”

The General Stores is a component of a historically significant building with intricate phases.

Several of the alterations proposed as part of the applications would have a significant impact and should be supported by a buildings historian’s expert heritage statement.

The district council denied the application on the grounds that the proposed development would damage the historic structure’s appearance and integrity.

Myntra, a fashion e-commerce company owned by Walmart, announced the launch of FWD, a fashion discovery portal for Gen-Z consumers, within the Myntra mobile application.

Until approximately 11 a.m., the Myntra app was unavailable while a new product was being integrated.

Myntra’s chief executive officer, Nandita Sinha, stated that the product has been in development for several quarters and that the company hopes to attract 10 million Gen-Z consumers within the next two years via FWD.

“We desired to create an immersive purchasing environment for Generation Z. Sinha stated, “We have been discussing the fact that this cohort will be one of the largest consumer target groups in the country.”

Fashion forward (FWD) is Myntra’s new fashion portal aimed at GenZ consumers.

The company has approximately 8 million Gen-Z customers born between 1997 and the beginning of 2012. Sinha stated that the Gen-Z customer base has a vastly distinct approach to online shopping, with an emphasis on online trends.

“We have realized that Generation Z is a very distinct consumer segment. They are inspired by various things, have different shopping styles, and have different expectations for shopping apps and experiences,” she explained.

“Generation Z discovers trends primarily online and spends approximately eight hours per day online.” To construct the FWD experience, we aimed to glean this insight from Gen Z.

More than 500 brands, including H&M, Trendyol, bebe, Tokyo Talkies, Sassafras, Hersheinbox, Street 9, Athena, Bonkers Corner, and Boohoo, will be available through FWD. Myntra’s private-label brands, such as Roadster and Sangria, will also be included in FWD.

Among other features, Myntra FWD will feature conspicuous visibility in bottom navigation, streamlined trend-spotting-to-shopping, photo search, and daily discounts.

Myntra will also integrate additional social media-like features, suchas brief video formats resembling Instagram Reels, and will have a community of over 500 fashion influencers.

Urbanic, one of India’s largest Gen-Z fast-fashion brands, withdrew out of Myntra only a few weeks prior to this development. Sinha refused to comment on the occurrence.

The 15th of April saw the release of a report indicating that investors are eager to invest in Gen-Z ecommerce fashion startups, as consumers look beyond Myntra and Ajio for their fashion purchasing needs. This also includes Virgio, a rapid fashion direct-to-consumer brand founded by former Myntra CEO Amar Nagaram.

There will soon be a brand-new sporting goods store located at Gloucester Quays, and its grand opening is scheduled for the following month. Puma has begun the process of hiring new employees and has erected advertising boards in several locations.

After Next, Fat Face, and Timberland opened (or reopened) their stores at the outlet center, this was the next store to do so. Puma has announced that their newest retail location will debut in June.

The center has announced that it is looking forward to more openings and events taking place over the course of the following year as it has celebrated a growth of 6% year on year.

The outlet centre will welcome Puma in weeks.

Puma states that there are exciting prospects for its new store opening at Gloucester Quays in the advertisements it posts for various sales associate roles at the company.

It claims that it seeks employees who are quick and enthusiastic, with experience working in a retail environment that is focused on providing excellent customer service, and who have a proven track record of achieving positive results.

In addition to that, it is looking for demonstrated success in exceeding sales targets, demonstrated success in providing high levels of customer service, and demonstrated success in presenting material to big crowds.

“Outlets provide a great shopping and leisure experience with a real emphasis on value for money,” Paul Carter, asset director at Gloucester Quays’ owner Peel L&P, said last week as figures about the success of the Quays were released: “The performance at Gloucester Quays over the past year shows that our catchment recognizes that.”

“During this time, we have increased the number of alternatives available, brought in some of the most well-known stores, and diversified the food offer, all with the intention of making Gloucester Quays more appealing to tourists and other visitors.

We are thrilled to see this continuous growth, and over the course of the coming year, we intend to take it even further with brand-new and interesting leasing additions as well as an expanded events calendar.

The partnership signifies A2Z’s smart cart solution’s expansion into a new vertical outside of grocery retail.

The purchase order for 1,000 smart trolleys includes a down payment, a guaranteed monthly payment, and a revenue-sharing agreement for added-value solutions, such as advertising.

Every item placed in the intelligent purchasing cart is identified and added to a displayed shopping list, enabling real-time information and calculation of the total cost of the purchase.

The touch screen and charging pad enable cashierless payments and two-way communication between the retailer and the customer throughout the purchasing journey.

HaStok Concept, a 40-store Israeli home design and domestic supplies chain, has partnered with A2Z Smart Technologies Corp.

Guy Mordoch, CEO of A2Z’s subsidiary Cust2mate, is thrilled to partner with HaStok and deliver the significant benefits of our smart cart solution to HaStok and their customers.

“This new vertical is an exciting opportunity for A2Z to expand our reach and make shopping more convenient and efficient for consumers, demonstrating value for any retail shopping, grocery, and convenience stores.”

Ofer Barak, CEO of HaStok, exclaims, “We are thrilled to be collaborating with A2Z to offer our customers their innovative smart cart solution.”

“We believe that Cust2Mate will provide our customers with a seamless shopping experience, thereby increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty, while simultaneously increasing our sales and decreasing our operating expenses.”

A2Z and HaStok have agreed to split the advertising and data revenue generated by the smart trolleys as part of the agreement.

Marshall, Missouri is the home of the design and production of the DeHoff 20144, a specialized gundrilling machine owned and operated by Kays Engineering. The business claims that the DeHoff 20144 is utilized in the manufacturing process of components for the ITER Tokamak, which is the largest nuclear fusion reactor in the world.

Fusion reactors employ extremely high temperatures to bring together atoms, which results in the production of large amounts of energy. In addition, fusion reactors produce no radioactive waste, carbon dioxide, or emissions of greenhouse gases.

The Kay Engineering DeHoff 20144 can drill, pull bore, roller burnish, and tap.

On aluminum microwave guides, the DeHoff 20144 is utilized for a variety of processes, including gundrilling, pull boring, roller burnishing, and thread tapping.

The plasma fluid inside the Tokamak vacuum chamber must be heated to a temperature of 150 million degrees Celsius for nuclear fusion to occur. The microwave guides are long tubes that are utilized to achieve this temperature.

The DeHoff 20144 has a maximum drilling depth of 144″ (3,658 mm) and a gundrilling diameter capacity of 2″ (50.8 mm). All of the processes of gundrilling, pull boring, roller burnishing, and thread tapping may be completed on a single machine thanks to the specialized workpiece fixturing and equipment that it comes equipped with.

Heal’s, a luxury furniture retailer, has redesigned its original London showroom and inventory to attract shoppers despite high inflation and a cost of living issue.

Since 1840, the Tottenham Court Road shop has sold furniture to wealthy Londoners.

To meet current home needs, the city centre property has been refurbished, expanding the shop frontage to 100 metres of windows along London’s furniture street and reconfiguring the store’s interior.

Heal’s has been on the street for almost 200 years, yet it no longer sells feather-filled mattresses from France.

Hamish Mansbridge, Heal’s chief executive, believes the new arrangement improves the showroom experience for shoppers who sit on sofas or beds at the store or Heal’s six other English locations.

Many retailers are trying to get customers back into stores after Covid.

Mansbridge says, “It is difficult, and people are certainly talking about money more.”

Even though half of Heal’s sales are online, he believes a high street presence is important.

“The evidence suggests that even when shopping online for bigger ticket items, they have been to a store to look at things. Mansbridge says people enjoy to browse here.

After Friday’s relaunch, Heal’s moved back into the left side of the building, into an addition built for the company in 1962 but not used since 1983, when the family sold the business.

This section of the store was the major Habitat interiors branch, founded by Sir Terence Conran and friends.

After several turbulent years, Habitat was bought by Sainsbury’s and closed in early 2021 during the pandemic.

The Heal’s site, owned since 2021 by KKR and General Projects, has 4,550 sq m (49,000 sq ft) of retail space, split evenly between the ground floor and lower ground.

Some internal walls that divided the building into two stores have also been removed, revealing two staircases and other original architectural features.

The shop’s “mascot,” a bronze cat statue, was treasured by Dodie Smith, the author of The Hundred and One Dalmatians, who handled Heal’s toy department. A client erroneously bought it.

The store, which housed the brand’s mattress and fabric manufacturers and fabric department workers who made parachutes during World War II, has a rich history.

Fanny Heal, who took over the firm in 1833 after her husband, the company’s founder, died, is said to haunt the rooms.

The company’s 1960 consumer study, one of the first in Britain, shows buyers’ shifting tastes and home needs. Two in five homes had washing machines and three-quarters had fridges.

In its last study, 97% of respondents claimed they could not live without a fridge, 42% a smart TV, and 25% a king-size bed.

After the pandemic, three-quarters of households think a desk is the most practical furniture.

Mansbridge said desks and office chairs have sold, but not at pandemic levels.

As consumers adjust to high inflation and a cost of living problem, the company had its highest week of sales in January and a “tough” February. “March and April were up and down. Mansbridge says it’s now below expectations.

“We are selling well at the lower end and the higher end,” he says. “People who would have traded up to something as an investment and find that step a little bit more difficult are probably the middle.”

Wealthy clients who don’t have to cut back are happy to spend: Heal’s has sold four Eames lounge chairs, which cost over £8,000, in the past week.

In recent weeks, discretionary spending on presents and smaller products like scented candles has surprisingly rebounded. Mansbridge says the brand has worked hard to reduce the impact of higher expenses on its own-brand items.

Whittington Investments, the financial arm of the Weston family, owns Fortnum & Mason, Primark’s parent business, and Heal’s.

Mansbridge believes a sale is “completely off the table” and the Weston family supported the Tottenham Court Road reopening.

Heal’s hopes a showy new store and high-end furnishings will keep it popular among professional homes, young and old, after Made.com’s failure last year.

NIMS has announced a new suite of Smart Standards for various manufacturing job positions and industries. According to the NIMS, these standards serve as a starting point for any employer or educator designing or evaluating training in these disciplines.

Industry 4.0, industrial maintenance technology, dimensional measurements, additive manufacturing, machining, and metal forming are the specific disciplines under which the new standards fall.

Smart Standards are a component of NIMS Smart Training Solutions, a framework for modernizing training to keep up with the rapid pace of emergent technologies and forging strong connections between educators and employers.

NIMS’s Smart Standards provide a starting point for employers and educators creating or assessing manufacturing training.

They are “smart” because while all of the duties that comprise a given role are written, mapped, and agreed upon by industry experts, each employer and educational institution can create their own job roles with any combination of duties, depending on their specific requirements.

Employers can, for instance, choose from a repository based on how the company assigns duties. Standardization occurs at the duty level, not the role level, so regardless of how employers construct job roles, they are standardized.

“That’s the benefit of the Smart Standards framework,” says Montez King, executive director of NIMS. “It is adaptable, modular, and the standards are dynamically updatable as industries evolve. No longer is occupational training dictated by a government official or a limited group of industry professionals who decide what a person must do or know to align with industry standards.

We have standardized the duties themselves so that an employer can establish customized roles and a training program based on the actual workplace activities of the business.”

NIMS is presently providing the Interactive Standards Viewer for free, and there is also a paid version that allows employers and educational institutions to quickly customize roles. According to NIMS, a number of new modules will be released over the next few months.

Whispers has it that the immensely successful Deluca’s Pizzeria of Hot Springs wants to open its second store in the Breckenridge Village Shopping Center in Little Rock in the month of November. This shopping center was severely damaged by the storm that occurred on March 31.

The proprietor, Anthony Valinoti, who established the pizza restaurant in Hot Springs in 2013, stated that the storm caused a delay in preparations; nonetheless, the facility in the retail center ought to be open by the end of the year.

Recently, Deluca’s celebrated its tenth year of being in business in the Spa City.

The pizza shop has been recognized on a national level for the quality of its pies, earning it a number of honors.

David Portnoy, who works for Barstool Sports, dined at the establishment earlier this year and gave the pizza there an 8.7 rating, which is a grade he reportedly rarely gives out.

Since then, there have been patrons waiting in lines that snake outside of its location on Central Avenue in Hot Springs.

Breckenridge Village, located on North Rodney Parham Road, was purchased by JTJ Restaurants for the price of $11.3 million in May 2022. Since then, the company has been striving to bring the shopping center back to life by opening new restaurants there and giving it a facelift.

Wynn Resorts, Limited (Nasdaq: WYNN) selected Thomas Schoen president of Wynn Al Marjan Island, its multi-billion-dollar integrated resort opening in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, in early 2027.

Schoen will manage the resort’s operations, the Company’s first beachside resort in MENA. Marjan LLC and RAK Hospitality Holding LLC are developing it locally. Wynn Al Marjan Island, a new architectural icon in the UAE, rises over 1,000 feet (305 meters) above the sea and offers a luxurious experience.

It will have 1,500 rooms, villas, and suites, a state-of-the-art events center, a gaming area, theater, and a variety of eating, wellness, and leisure activities.

Wynn Al Marjan Island has named Thomas Schoen as its new president.

Schoen will use his 30 years of luxury hospitality experience in Europe, the UK, and Africa to deliver an exceptional brand experience for the iconic new Ras Al Khaimah property.

“Wynn Al Marjan Island is an exciting project for Wynn Resorts,” stated CEO Craig Billings. We’re excited to have Thomas manage this new venture’s operating staff. He will oversee our famous Wynn guest service. Wynn Al Marjan Island will benefit from Thomas’ hospitality and experience.

The integrated resort, Ras Al Khaimah’s largest foreign direct investment, sets global design and luxury standards. The new Al Marjan Island resort highlights the Emirate’s rising global reputation as a leading investment destination for high-quality hospitality projects.

“I am delighted to lead Wynn Al Marjan Island and feel privileged to be part of such a significant new chapter for the group,” Schoen said of his new position. The famous venue will give guests a unique Emirates experience and strengthen the brand globally. I’m excited to start.”

Schoen worked at Sheraton, Westin, Le Meridien, St Regis, W Hotels, and Hyatt for Starwood and Marriott before joining Wynn Resorts. He was most recently Complex General Manager, Pine Cliffs Resort – Luxury Collection, where he oversaw extensive renovations and construction to complete the resort’s masterplan, managed the pre-opening and launch, and positioned the resort as Europe’s top resort destination.

Wynn Resorts

Wynn Resorts, Limited (WYNN) is part of the S&P 500 Index and traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. Wynn Resorts created, owns, and operates Wynn Las Vegas, Encore Boston Harbor, Wynn Macau, and Wynn Palace, Cotai.

Wynn and Encore Las Vegas has 4,748 large hotel rooms, suites, and villas, 33 restaurants and bars, two award-winning spas, three shopping esplanades, meeting and conference space, two nightclubs, a beach club, two theaters, and a golf course. The resort’s peak consumption is 70% renewable.

Encore Boston Harbor is a luxury resort featuring 671 hotel rooms, an ultra-premium spa, specialized retail, 16 dining and lounge locations, state-of-the-art ballroom and meeting facilities, a six-acre public park, and Harborwalk.

Wynn Macau, a luxury resort in the Macau Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, with 1,010 rooms and suites, 12 restaurants and bars, convention space, a shopping esplanade, two luxurious spas, a hairdresser, and a rotunda show.

Wynn Palace is a luxury integrated resort on the Cotai Strip in Macau with 1,706 luxurious rooms, suites, and villas, 14 food and beverage outlets, meeting and convention space, an extensive shopping esplanade, SkyCabs that cross an eight-acre Performance Lake, a lush spa and salon, and a large collection of rare art.