Business

Rose Reisinger, who managed her husband’s home improvement business and family, dies

By Phil M. Sinha 1 month ago

The phrase “cleanliness is next to Godliness” can be found in a 1788 sermon by Methodist leader John Wesley. His saying would be personified by Rose Reisinger about 200 years later.

Outside her home near the intersection of South Luzerne and Fait avenues in the Canton neighborhood of East Baltimore, Mrs. Reisinger and her broom were a near-constant presence cleaning the curbs and sweeping up trash.

“God forbid there should be a leaf on the sidewalk,” daughter Virginia Deardorff recalled. “That was probably one of her daily routines. I remember that she wanted the people across the street to take down a tree because the leaves from their tree would always get blown onto her sidewalk.”

Mrs. Reisinger, who managed her husband’s home improvement business, died July 3 at a nursing home in Venice, Florida, due to heart failure. She was 101.

“It was a good long life, a life

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Sears exploring sale of home improvement business

By Phil M. Sinha 1 month ago

By Jessica DiNapoli and Mike Spector

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Sears is exploring a sale of its home improvement business following interest from potential suitors such as private equity firms, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The struggling U.S. retailer’s Sears Home Services division has emerged as a coveted asset during the COVID-19 pandemic, as consumers embark on renovations while they stay home.

The division is one of the department store operator’s few crown jewels following its bankruptcy in 2018 and $5.2 billion sale to hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert, who was already its biggest shareholder and creditor.

Transformco, the owner of the Sears and Kmart retail chains, could raise at least $1 billion by divesting the home improvement business, the sources said. Sears has tapped investment bankers at Guggenheim Securities LLC to explore selling the business, the sources said.

Transformco could also sell a stake in Sears

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Ports Laying Groundwork For Post-Coronavirus Business

By Phil M. Sinha 3 months ago

Ports around the globe will have to change the way they do business in a post-pandemic world.

Port officials already are changing the way they interact. The World Ports Conference was to have taken place in March in Antwerp, Belgium, but the spread of the coronavirus foiled that plan. So on Wednesday, industry thought leaders conducted the first in a series of webinars, this one titled “Business as Usual: Adapting Port Business Models to Survive and Thrive in the Post-COVID-19 Era.”

Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka said the Western Hemisphere’s largest seaport has suffered “two horrible shocks to the supply chain. One were the ill-advised trade policies out of Washington and second COVID-19. The knock-on effects of both will be felt for the rest of this year and into 2021. We simply don’t have the demand in our economy today to support any notion of recovery in

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