#retail
Retail operations, delivery fees, and store-level compliance
Manufacturers budget roughly $75 billion a year in co-op advertising funds and about half goes unclaimed. How accruals, pre-approval and proof-of-performance claims work, why claims get denied, and why ASC 705 presumes a vendor allowance reduces COGS rather than advertising expense.
DICK'S Sporting Goods FY2026 Q2: net sales $5,587M (+53% on the first full Foot Locker quarter), net income $315M (−17%), diluted EPS $3.50 (−26%) on ~9.6M deal shares. DICK'S Business comps grew +4.9% with World Cup lift while Foot Locker pro forma comps fell −3.6%; goodwill of $837M, intangibles of $763M, and up to $750M of contemplated unproductive-asset charges track the $2.5B integration — all in a public Beancount ledger spanning FY2021–FY2026Q2.
Dollar General FY2026 Q2: net sales $11.29B (+5.2%), same-store sales +3.5% on traffic +2.0%, and net income $550M (+33.8%). Roughly 81 of the 127 basis points of gross-margin expansion to 32.6% came from tariff refunds after reinvestments, diluted EPS of $2.48 includes an estimated $0.25 refund benefit, and full-year net-sales growth guidance was raised to 4.0%–4.3% — all tracked in a public Beancount ledger spanning FY2021–FY2026Q2.
GameStop earned $298.7 million of net income on $790.2 million of net sales in FY2026 Q2 — a record $160.2 million of second-quarter operating income, with the rest driven by a $4.9 billion eBay stake and $5.4 billion of cash, marketable securities, and digital assets, reconciled line by line in a public Beancount ledger.
Offering layaway for holiday 2026 lets retailers keep the full ticket price instead of paying 4-6% BNPL merchant fees — but deposits must be booked as liabilities until pickup, every fee disclosed in writing before the first payment, and sales tax timed to delivery. This guide covers the accounting entries, state disclosure rules, and the layaway-versus-BNPL math.
Lululemon FY2026 Q2: net revenue $2.416B (−4%), comparable sales −9% with Americas at −12%, and net income $329M (−11%). The 60.5% gross margin includes 560 basis points from $134.5M of IEEPA tariff refunds, inventories sit at $1,711M near the cycle high, and full-year guidance was cut to $10.35–10.5B — all tracked in a public Beancount ledger spanning FY2021–FY2026Q2.
TJX FY2027 Q2: net sales $15.18B (+5%), consolidated comps +4% above plan, and net income $1.52B. Reported pretax margin of 13.3% includes a 1.4-point net IEEPA tariff-refund benefit ($331M refunds less $112M compensation accruals); adjusted pretax margin is 11.9%, up 0.5 points, and adjusted diluted EPS is $1.22 versus $1.36 reported. Cash ended at $6.0B, inventories at $7.86B with per-store +2% — all tracked in a public Beancount ledger spanning FY2022–FY2027Q2.
The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act applies to every written warranty on a consumer product costing more than $10, requiring a full or limited title, forbidding blanket disclaimers of implied warranties and brand-name parts requirements, and mandating pre-sale access to the terms above $15. A small-seller guide with a 10-point compliance checklist.
Under the ADA a service animal is a dog individually trained to perform a disability-related task; emotional support animals do not qualify. Businesses may ask only two questions, cannot demand papers, vests or fees, and may remove a dog only if it is out of control or not housebroken. Covers the staff script, the FDA Food Code kitchen line, why housing (HUD) and airlines (DOT) differ, the 35 state fake-service-animal laws, and how to track compliance costs.
Nearly 40 states cap emergency price increases — California at 10% above your own pre-emergency price — and most statutes require no proof of bad intent, only an increase past the threshold. Penalties reach $5,000 per violation in North Carolina and $20,000 in Texas, and the cost-justification defense works only if dated price snapshots and supplier invoices already exist.
How to keep the books for a gas station with a convenience store — splitting fuel from inside sales, tracking tank inventory in gallons, booking lottery as an agency arrangement, recording tobacco buydowns, and keeping card fees off the revenue line. U.S. convenience stores rang up a record $341 billion of in-store sales in 2025, yet NACS found the average in-store basket lost roughly seven cents per transaction after expenses.
A tortilleria's masa cost per dozen moves about 5 cents when yield shifts 10 percent — the entire profit on a wholesale dozen. How to cost masa by measured yield, split retail and wholesale revenue and COGS, book presses and ovens under Section 179 or 7-year MACRS, and track the five KPIs that expose a losing route before the bank does.
