Shareholders in hardware firm Mitre 10 Group have voted in favour of grocery wholesaler Metcash taking a 50.1 per cent stake in Mitre 10 for $55 million.    Metcash and Mitre 10 announced on Friday that 98 per cent of Mitre 10 sharehold...

New Zealand's seasonally adjusted total retail sales rose 0.8 per cent or $NZ42 million ($A32 million) in January, pulled ahead by sales of automotive fuel and of vehicles.  Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) said fuel sales gained 2.8 per cent or...

An unexpected leader in online music website visits has been revealed by Experian Hitwise data. Bigpond Music has taken out the top spot in the Experian Hitwise shopping and classifieds - music industry Top 20 list for the week ending March 6, 2...

A 13-month-old boy was left in a locked car while police allege his father went on a shoplifting spree in Sydney's south.  Police say the boy was found uninjured in the car at a shopping centre in Pagewood after his father was arrested for s...

The Australian dollar opened little changed on Friday after worrying Chinese inflation data locked the resource sensitive currency into a tight trading range overnight.  At 0700 AEDT, the Australian dollar was $US0.9152/53, up a tenth of a U...

New Zealand based retail group The Warehouse has unveiled its half year results.  The Warehouse lifted half year net profit 17.3 per cent to $NZ57.4 million ($A44.08 million) as a recovery in overall retail spending remains "patchy". Reve...

After much speculation, Centro Retail has finally announced its new CEO.  Centro Retail Trust (CER) has appointed Robert Tsenin as its new CEO, following the departure of Glenn Rufrano. Chairman Peter Day said the Board is pleased to anno...

A Supreme Court jury in Tasmania has been directed to find the founder of bakery chain Banjos not guilty on two charges of defrauding the Commonwealth. Mark Saxby was facing 10 charges in his tax fraud trial. The 50-year-old is expected to take th...

Madonna and her 13-year-old budding fashionista daughter Lourdes are to launch a new line in teen clothing called Material Girl in the US this August.  The mother-daughter collection, which will be exclusively available at Macy's stores, wil...

Myer has discovered the cost of listing on Australian Stock Exchange in the release of its first half results. Net profit fell to $21.3 million for the 26 weeks to January 23, from $83.2 million in the prior corresponding period, Melbourne-based M...

Burger King forecast US and Canada total revenue and restaurant margins in the third quarter would be below prior-year levels as adverse weather in the central and eastern US kept diners away. The fast-food chain operator said over 75 per cent of ...

How much did the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) decision to raise interest rates impact on consumer confidence? Not much, according to a new report.  The Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index rose 0.3 index points in March ...

The Australian dollar opened flat on Thursday ahead of key domestic employment data.  At 0700 AEDT, the Australian dollar was $US0.9159/61, barely up from Wednesday's close of $US0.9151/53. Since 1700 AEDT on Wednesday, the local unit traded ...

The Happy Jack's Emporium sells hot pies and wine at "cellar door prices", but many customers stop by just to pick up the mail - much to the displeasure of the rural Victorian shopkeeper. Spend a bit more in the general store or you'll risk losi...

Research in the United States undertaken by dentists in the year 2000 indicated that children smile on average more than 400 times a day whereas adults smile on average less than 15 times a day. And what’s staggering is that further research si...