Tipsheet: Target: Home Delivery Starts / School Charity Ends | David Sinegal’s New Venture | Lowe’s New Merch Exec | Amazon Needs Toilets
Costco Heir Aims to Create New Napa Cult Wines in 1,403 Steps by Elin McCoy at Bloomberg. “My big vision,” says Sinegal Estateowner David Sinegal, “is to create a luxury experience where the product is just one part. That’s where everything is going.” By entering onto the Sinegal mailing list, you not only get access to those lower-priced bottles. You also gain access to the 30-acre historic wine estate in St. Helena. He purchased it two years ago for $17 million and spent another $8 million in refurbishing and expanding hillside caves for aging the wine.” Read more
Target will end school charity program, shift giving focus to wellness by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. “Over the last 18 years, Target has distributed more than $432 million to more than 100,000 schools across the U.S. through the initiative…Target will terminate the program in May 2016…“When that program started, it was incredibly innovative,” said Laysha Ward, Target’s chief corporate social responsibility officer. “There was nothing else like it out there. We just want to continue to innovate.” Read more
Lowe’s answers lots of questions in NYC store openings by Ken Elkins at Charlotte Business Journal. “Drywall sheets…were cut down to 4-feet by 6-feet so they can fit into elevators. Moldings to decorate the base and top of walls and other places in apartments, condos and businesses, were limited to eight-foot lengths for the Manhattan stores.” Read more / See the pics
Twin Cities: Home delivery of Target groceries, household items begins today with Instacart by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. “Its expansion to the Twin Cities hasn’t exactly been a well-kept secret, but grocery delivery service Instacart confirmed this morning that not only is it coming to the region but that it’s open for business starting today.” Read more
Amazon may have up to 80 million high-spending Prime members worldwide by Tricia Duryee at GeekWire. “RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney said that the firm’s third annual Amazon consumer survey suggested U.S. Prime adoption has risen from 25 percent of customers in 2013 to 40 percent today.” Read more
Dick’s Sporting Goods Opens #629 in Chillicothe, OH & #630 in Wooster, OH
Some shoppers actually like Christmas creep by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. “The first study, conducted by CreditCards.com over Labor Day weekend, found that roughly one in seven, or 32 million Americans, have already begun buying for the holidays…The second survey, issued by the Rubicon Project technology firm, found that an even more robust one-third of shoppers across the U.S., UK and Canada have already kicked off their holiday spending.” Read more
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Retailers Say They’re Being Robbed More Often by Organized Gangs by Lindsey Rupp at Bloomberg. “On average, retailers report losing $453,940 per $1 billion in annual sales over the past year, according to the survey. Los Angeles tops the list of cities with the most organized retail crime, followed by Miami and Chicago.” Read more
Kroger online ordering rolls out to more markets by Steve Watkins at Cincinnati Business Journal. “Kroger has added Louisville, Indianapolis and Portland, Ore., to the list of cities where it offers its so-called “click-and-collect” service…Kroger plans to offer online ordering and customer pickup at the store in 80 locations by year-end, Mike Ellis, Kroger’s president at the time, told me this summer at the company’s annual meeting.” Read more
Lowe’s hires merchandising exec from Family Dollar by Katherine Peralta at Charlotte Observer. “Lowe’s announced today that Jocelyn Wong has been named senior vice president and general merchandising manager for the company’s seasonal product business area, effective October 12. She will report to Chief Merchandising Officer Michael P. McDermott.” Read the release
Stripe Unveils One-Stop Shop for Buy Buttons by Jason Del Rey & Kurt Wagner at Recode. “At a launch event Monday, the startup announced that Warby Parker and Saks Fifth Avenue are among the first group of retailers using Stripe’s new product, dubbed Relay, to sell goods outside of their own e-commerce sites. Stripe also announced that Twitter and the product discovery app ShopStyle would be two of the first platforms the retail partners can sell across.” Read more
Jeff Bezos to unveil Blue Origin plans today by Scott Powers at Orlando Sentinel. Read more
Kroger Promotes CIO to Lead Analytics Subsidiary by Kim S. Nash at WSJ. “(Kroger) last week promoted CIO Chris Hjelm to executive vice president to oversee a wholly owned analytics subsidiary. Mr. Hjelm remains Kroger’s CIO and also leads indirect sourcing, corporate travel, customer support and research and development.” Read more (Subscription)
Amazon: Too many dudes, not enough toilets, workers complain to state officials by Jacob Demmitt at GeekWire. “A male employee who spoke to GeekWire outside the Blackfoot building on Monday said things haven’t changed much over the past year. He talked about his daily routine of searching for an open stall, often visiting several floors before finding one. The most he has ever visited is five.” Read more
Tipsheet Extra
Former Home Depot exec tees up at PGA Tour Superstore
Report: Target tapping alternative energy for North Carolina store
Fortune: Here’s what you can find in Whole Foods CEO hiking backpack
Lowe’s Signs Jimmy Johnson to Two-Year Extension
Shaquille O’Neal turned down opportunity to earn millions with Starbucks because he thought ‘black people didn’t drink coffee’
Securities lawyers are circling Pier 1 Imports
Eye-on-Retail Tipsheet is created early every weekday morning and read by retail merchants and executives worldwide. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s really happening in the world of retail. See our website at www.eyeonretail.net