Tipsheet: Macy’s/Kohl’s/C.Tire Beat | Wmart BTS Apology | Wawa #34 | Target & BarkBox
BEAT 1 – Macy’s Q2 Comp Sales Beat Estimates, -2.5% vs. estimated -3.0% at Fox Business. Read more | Press release
BEAT 2 – Kohl’s Q2 comp sales +0.4% as foot traffic ‘accelerated’ at The Street. “Kohl’s stock surged over 3% premarket after the retailer announced Q2 earnings of $1.24 per share, beating the FactSet analyst consensus of $1.19 per share and jumping 60% from the same period last year.” Read more | Press release
BEAT 3 – Canadian Tire Q2 Comp Sales +1.8% by Hollie Shaw at Financial Post. “…earnings surging 9%. Revenue in the period ended July 1 rose two per cent to $3.4 billion from $3.3 billion in the same period a year ago.” Read more
Walmart apologizes for sign marketing guns as back-to-school items by Jackie Wattles at CNN Money. “A photo of a sign reading “Own the school year like a hero” was placed directly above a glass case filled with guns. Photos of it spread like wildfire on social media. People cried foul on Twitter and demanded an explanation from Walmart. One person asked: “What are you suggesting?” Walmart responded to some of the comments by calling the display “truly awful” and “horrible.”” Read more/Pic
Birchbox has held acquisition talks with several retailers, including Walmart by Jason Del Rey at Recode. “…with conversations taking place between Walmart’s U.S. e-commerce chief Marc Lore and Birchbox co-founder and CEO Katia Beauchamp.It’s not clear how far along any of the talks are…” Read more
Dillard’s Shares Fall After Earnings Miss by Tonya Garcia at Fox Business. “Same-store sales fell 1% for the quarter. Sales of women’s clothing rose slightly, but shoes were below trend, the company said.” Read more
Target continues online retail partnership trend with BarkBox company agreement by Dan DeBaun at Minneapolis/St.Paul Business Journal. “This is the first time Bark products will be sold at retail stores. Its products are already being sold on Target’s website. Since launching in 2012, the company has shipped over 50 million toys and treats.” Read more
Forbes: America’s Largest Private Companies (Albertsons #3, Publix #7, Wawa #34) Top 50 list
Walgreens Balance Reward points to expire after 1 year instead of 3 by Ally Marotti at Chicago Tribune via St.Louis Post-Dispatch. “Walgreens spokeswoman Emily Hartwig-Mekstan said in an email that company officials believe the new policy will encourage customers “to redeem their points more frequently and lead to more engagement with the program.” Read more
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Office Depot Admits Amazon Is Stealing Its Business and Shares Slide 25% by Phil Wahba at Fortune. “The company’s executives, including CEO Gerry Smith, suggested that Office Depot’s business services pipeline had fallen to “basically zero,” during the time it was waiting for the government’s approval of the Staples deal.” Read more
Payless emerges as rare bankruptcy survivor via CNBC. “Payless has closed roughly 700 mostly mall-based U.S. stores in bankruptcy, court papers show, but is opening four mega stores here to add to some 3,200 post-bankruptcy locations in the U.S. and abroad.” Read more
Vitamin Shoppe Q2 Comp Sales -8.3% Press release
Ban-the-box laws backfire, can hurt black job applicants, study finds by Gina Hall at New York Business Journal. “Before ban-the-box, white applicants received about 7 percent more callbacks than similar black applicants. After a ban-the-box policy went into effect, white applicants were 45 percent more likely to get called into an interview than a black applicant.” Read more
If you’re looking for Mayweather-McGregor tickets, Costco may be able to help by Kevin Iole at Yahoo Sports. “CostcoTickets.com sent an email Wednesday touting it has tickets available for the showdown between the unbeaten Mayweather and McGregor, the UFC lightweight champion. And sure enough, a check of the site shows plenty of high-end tickets available.” Read more
Toys”R”Us Names Former USMC Veteran As Executive Officer, U.S. Marketplace Operations Press release
American are drinking more…especially women by John Tozzi at Bloomberg. “The rise is “startling,” said Bridget Grant, a researcher at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and lead author of the paper. “We haven’t seen these increases for three or four decades.”” Read more
CVS Health CEO Doubts Amazon Entry Into Pharmacy Business by Bruce Japsen at Forbes. “Most people are thinking about pharmacy as another distribution point, but pharmacy is also about the clinical outcomes that are provided,” Merlo said. “In an environment where there’s a migration to more value-based care, those clinical capabilities are going to continue to grow in importance. It’s highly regulated, so the barriers to entry are high.” Read more
As Blue Apron shares sink, rival Chef’d reels in $35 million from Smithfield and Campbell Soup by Ari Levy at CNBC. Read more
People trust Apple with their health data a lot more than Amazon (41% vs. 8%) at CNBC. Read more
Tipsheet Extra Stories
Consumer Reports pulls Microsoft laptop recommendation
Wegmans goes underground in Washington, DC
Trump eyes duties up to 81% on Chinese aluminum foil
This strange app lets you rent a swimming pool
Conan O’Brien Gave Amazon’s New Audiobooks for Dogs a Test Run
Macy’s corporate attorney joins Cincinnati’s largest law firm
Man, transgender wife sue Amazon for workplace bias
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