While all the focus is on the tax savings Burger King could enjoy through a Canadian inversion, the real benefit of buying Tim Hortons is boosting breakfast and coffee sales.

In a brutally competitive back-to-school season for retailers, clothing stores like Banana Republic and Abercrombie & Fitch have busted out extra-early clearance sales to the tune of 40% and 50% off everything.

After another disappointing earnings report this week for Target, it's time to take stock of what has happened to the cheap-chic retail industry darling that everybody used to call "Tarjhay."

While discounters such as Target are feeling squeezed, TJX Companies, which runs T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods, is finding success with its own version of cheap chic.

The big question was never what Amazon.com would unveil on Wednesday. Most observers knew it was the company's first smartphone, called the Fire Phone — the first smartphone on the market with a 3D display....

Here are four reasons why this once-hot retailer—which sells high-priced fitness and yoga wear —will continue to reel from its own gaffes.