Monday’s Eye-on-Retail Tipsheet: More Target Can. Stores | Wmart/India Mess | N.Marcus @ $6 Bil
“Target to Open First Stores in Quebec and Nova Scotia” at Digital Journal. “The stores are scheduled to open this fall, and include 14 opening on Sept. 17 and nine opening on Oct. 18. Target currently has 68 stores open across Canada with plans to open a total of 124 locations by the end of 2013.” See list of locations
“Report: Neiman Marcus in advanced talks for $6 billion sale” at Star-Tribune. “Luxury retailer Neiman Marcus Inc. is reportedly in talks to be bought by Los Angeles-based asset manager Ares Management LLP and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for more than $6 billion.” Read more
“Google, eBay race to offer buyers same-day delivery” by Heather Somerville at San Jose Mercury News via Seattle Times. “Some retail experts expect the service will open up a trove of data for Google — what consumers like to buy, where they live and work, and even the hours they keep. Sebastian Cadenas has used the service five times to have tea and other small purchases delivered to his San Francisco apartment. It’s “pretty spectacular,” he said. “Everything I have ordered on Amazon or eBay gets to the (building’s) management office. However, what I ordered on Google Shopping Express got to the front door of my apartment.” Read more
“Would Family Dollar & Dollar General Benefit from a Merger?” by Ted Cooper at Motley Fool. “Even if the two companies decide to continue competing with each other, their cause is not lost. Wal-Mart plans to open only 500 Neighborhood Market stores between 2013 and 2016– a large percentage increase from its current size of fewer than 300 stores, but hardly a formidable competitor to the established dollar-store chains.” Read more
“aisle411 Expands its In-Store Mapping Business” at Houston Chronicle. “The company announced that it has secured $6.3 million from various venture capital firms, led by St. Louis-based Cultivation Capital. That brings total funding up to $10 million. Dean VandeKamp of Cultivation said aisle411 is on track to add another 3,000 to 5,000 stores by the end of the year. It already has about 12,000 stores.” Read more
“Walmart, Bharti may end India partnership” by Gaurav Choudhury at Hindustan Times. “The US-based retail giant is likely to make an announcement by this month-end on its decision not to convert into equities $100 million it had lent to the Bharti Group in 2010 in a deal which Indian authorities are probing for flouting rules. This would effectively rule out Walmart partnering with the Sunil Mittal-led group to set up mega stores in India.” Read more
“Fresh Thyme Farmers Market to Add 10 Stores in St. Louis Area” by Georgina Gustin at St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “Some analysts say Fresh Thyme’s plans to build 50 stores seem overly ambitious. “The plans sound a little bold to me,” Livingston said. “You don’t say: OK, we’re going to build a chain. You build one and see if it’s going to work. I’m sure they’ll talk big. They’re going to have their fingers all over the map.” But some analysts think the Fresh Thyme plans — backed by $50 million in private equity from the family behind the Michigan-based Meijer supermarket and retail chain — have a good chance at coming off.” Read more
“Walmart campaign aims at improving produce quality and sales” by Teresa Lindeman at Pittsburgh Post Gazette. “The leafy lettuce seemed fresh. Mary Ann Schmieder of Bethel Park checked it over carefully because she has been disappointed before. “I’ve bought them in grocery stores and they were already pink and green,” she said. Walmart, which operates the West Mifflin store where she was shopping, wants to take no chances that customers will be disappointed in its produce.” Read more
“Amazon doesn’t plan to launch a free smartphone” at CNBC. “”We have no plans to offer a phone this year, and if we were to launch a phone in the future, it would not be free,” Amazon said in a statement to AllThingsD.” Read more
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