J. Crew spinoff Madewell is outshining its creator. The stores, which opened in 2006, targeted hip 20- and 30-somethings that wanted “real, honest women’s clothes” infused with a modern upbeat attitude. “Madewell has since become a shining retail star, one that filed for an initial public offering on Friday at the same time that the once-popular J. Crew brand struggles to regain relevance in an increasingly online environment,” according to The New York Times.

Grocer Stew Leonard’s is making its New Jersey debut Wednesday with an 80,000-square-foot supermarket in the Paramus Park Mall, also the chain’s first mall location. CEO Stew Leonard Jr. and media mogul Martha Stewart appeared at the store Monday in a media preview event, where one of the retailer’s signature animatronic cows was named after the New Jersey-born celebrity.

New York Yankees fans can now bypass the concession lines and order their food on the Postmates app for pickup at two designated points in Section 113 and 116. The food delivery app already has a similar arrangement with Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The service, called Postmates Live, will allow fans to order and pay for their food right from their seats. “The service is only available in those two sections as of today, but will roll out to additional areas in time for the 2020 season,” according to Engadget.

Workers at General Motors plants went on strike Sunday at midnight after talks between the automaker and the United Auto Workers union broke down Sunday morning. The automaker built up inventory in case a contract wasn’t reached, so consumers won’t be immediately impacted. But depending on how long the strike goes on, some models will lessen in supply and not all trim levels and options will be available. In other words, it will become difficult for car buyers to get the exact model they want. Of the GM brands, Chevrolet currently has the smallest supply of vehicles. 

Companies are already gearing up for this year’s holiday season. Target is adding more than 130,000 temporary seasonal workers across the country, including twice the number of jobs devoted to fulfilling online orders. “UPS plans to hire about 100,000 full- and part-time package handlers and drivers to help with an expected increase in shipping, starting in November and continuing through January,” the Atlanta-based shipper told CBS.

Gennady Podolski earned and redeemed more than 42 million SkyBonus points, which Delta valued at $1.75 million. He illegally earned the miles via a program which lets businesses earn frequent-flyer points when their employees travel. Podoslsky, a managing partner of a Chicago travel agency, Vega International Travel Services, created a SkyBonus account for a fertility center owned by a relative of Vega's president. When Podolsky's customers flew Delta and booked through Vega Travel, he would enter the fertility center's SkyBonus information, even though the travelers were not employees of the fertility center and didn't have any connection to it, prosecutors …

Tenure of CMOs is the shortest in the C-suite, and some companies have gotten rid of the position all together. Part of the problem with company branding is the lopsided split of long-term brand building to short-term sales activation. “However, ever since the 2007 global recession, this ratio has skewed increasingly in favour of short-term, sales activation,” according to The Drum. “CMOs around the world are investing too much time and money in short-term sales activation and this is reflected in decreased effectiveness of marketing spend.”  

A tentative settlement involving Purdue Pharma’s role in the nation’s opioid addiction crisis falls short of a national settlement. “The agreement with about half the states and attorneys representing roughly 2,000 local governments would have Purdue file for a structured bankruptcy and pay as much as $12 billion over time, with about $3 billion coming from the Sackler family,” according to The Associated Press. “That number involves future profits and the value of drugs currently in development.”

President Trump weighed in on vaping, telling reporters at the White House that he’s looking into it very strongly, as is the First Lady, who is concerned about children like her son Barron potentially being harmed. Trump’s comments follow the Department of Health and Human Services’ plan to remove all flavored vaping products from the market as part of an effort to stem use among underage Americans.

The video, featuring 150 Microsoft employees and interns, was shot at Microsoft’s corporate campus and includes dancing and singing about how it’s “all happening here.” There’s a section about co-founder Bill Gates and some funny lines like “all around the world our products are well known, except for when we tried to make a phone!” The musical acknowledges the company missing a beat with Vista.