The Number: $7.6 million
That's how much money Maurices and Dressbarn lost in their last fiscal quarter, according to parent company Ascena Retail Group. The companies are lumped together in the Value Fashion segment, so it's not possible to find out what Duluth-based Maurices made or lost on its own. Dressbarn was the only store in Ascena's portfolio that saw its sales drop last quarter, while Maurices was up 1 percent. Combined, the brands lost $72.7 million on an adjusted basis. Dressbarn had a mess of "asset impairments," forcing me to use the dreaded adjusted number that isn't calculated according to generally accepted accounting principles, harumph.
The Word: "Northeast Minnesota has a much higher concentration of immigrants from Canada than the rest of the state, and a much lower concentration of residents from Latin America. With more than 1,200 foreign born residents from Canada, about one in every five immigrants in the Arrowhead region came across the border from the north, compared to just one in every 36 immigrants statewide," reads a recent DEED report. The agency advises that, in the wake of a tight labor market, "immigration has been and will continue to be a vital source of the workforce that employers need to succeed."
The Lead: Here come the 8th District endorsements, groan if you've heard this one before: Business groups are backing the Republican, labor groups are backing the Democrat. There are exceptions to this rule, but for the 2018 election it is once again generally being followed. See something strange that is bucking this trend? Say something (to me, please).
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The Happy Hour: This is the biggest culinary breakup since Mike and Ike split - Dunkin' is dropping the Donuts (from its name, not its stores) as of next year, because in a culture of caffeinated abbreviations, cutting your syllable count in half is good branding. Most of the time. Gary Slack writes for B2B Marketing: "It's probably best to go with what people are calling you most of the time. (But) be sure you really stand for something before you abbreviate. ... We have seen ad agencies using the names of three principals abbreviate to three initials and suddenly seem very generic. "
The Meeting: Join Bob Hartl of the College of St. Scholastica for a chat on "Contemporary Approaches to Organizational Changes" at noon Wednesday at the Chamber offices downtown. Free for members, $25 for others.
The Memo is a weekly roundup of things to know, ya know? Send business news of all kinds to biz@duluthnews.com and give Montana-travellin' reporter Brooks Johnson a call every now and then at 218-723-5329.
