Costco CEO Speech | Sam’s CEO a ‘Most Powerful Mom’ | WinCo Opens #100

 

Costco’s Craig Jelinek: Executives who join Costco from other companies “tend not to do well at Costco because they don’t understand the culture.” by Elliot Zwiebach at Supermarket News  Read Speech Highlights

 

Rosalind Brewer Named to “50 Most Powerful Moms” List at Working Mother.  See the top 50 list

 

Kroger Buys Hiller’s Markets at Detroit Free Press. “Kroger, the nation’s largest grocery store chain, will turn all but one of Hiller Markets’ seven stores into Kroger locations shortly after the sale closes in July.” Read more

 

Hank Meijer explains why Wisconsin stores are critical to expansion by Shandra Martinez at The Grand Rapids Press. “For the first time, we can dream about putting stores in Escanaba or Marquette and we see that as definitely part of our future,” Hank Meijer said. The retailer plans to open 11 stores in 2015: four stores in Michigan, four in Wisconsin, two in Illinois and one in Indiana.” Read more / See Hank Meijer video

 

Charges: Thief hit every Target store in Albuquerque by Mark Reilly at Minn./St.Paul Business Journal. “KRQE reports on the charges against William Ainsworth, who police say used an “alpha key” to unlock the cabinets Target uses to secure electronics and fragrances. He’s accused of stealing $9,179 worth of goods, including smart watches, headphones and cameras.” Read more

 

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Ben Carson Resigns from Costco Board of Directors “The voluntary resignation is not due to any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to Company’s operations, policies or practices. The Company and its Board of Directors express their deepest gratitude to Dr. Carson for his nearly sixteen years of dedicated service.” Read the 8-K

 

WinCo Foods Announces Opening of its 100th Store In Lewisville, Texas Read the release

 

Is Instacart coming to the Twin Cities? by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune. “Besides the job posting, there have been some other clues Instacart may soon be expanding here. When I signed up for an account on its website, I got an email back that said, “We’re almost ready to open for business in Minneapolis.” Read more

 

The return of the milkman by Courtney Reagan at CNBC. “A Nielsen survey suggests consumers are willing to buy more of their groceries online in the future. More than 55 percent told Nielsen they were willing to do so in the future—particularly among millennials. But “willing to try,” and making online grocery ordering and delivery a regular habit, are two different things.” Read more

 

Lowe’s halts sales of Chinese flooring over formaldehyde concerns by Scott Cohn at CNBC. “(Connie) Bryant says less than 10 percent of its laminate product is manufactured outside the U.S. She also notes that the sample in question was a special order product, while “the vast majority of the laminate flooring we sell is in-stock product that customers purchase in-store and carry out.” Read more

 

Canadian Tire Opens Second Digital Innovation Lab “The ‘Digital Garage’ builds on the momentum that began with the landmark launch of the retailer’s award winning digital ‘lab’ store in Toronto and West Edmonton Mall flagship location. Additionally, Canadian Tire will open its first Showcase Store in Edmonton, Alberta , in the coming weeks.” Read the release

 

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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. Contact us at info@shiftmarketinggroup.net.

Monday Tipsheet: Target’s Nervous Suppliers | Whistleblower Hits Lowe’s | Tome Joins Nonprofit

 

Walmart’s Management Changes Indicate Important New Direction for U.S Stores by Walter Loeb at Forbes. “Greg Foran and Judith McKenna have decided to eliminate the executive level which supervised Walmart East and Walmart West. Julie Murphy’s position will not be filled and Joaquin Gonzales Varela, EVP of Walmart East has left the company. The whole U.S. operation now reports directly to Judith McKenna.” Read more

 

Suppliers wonder how they fit in with Target’s new priorities by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune. “Those in the “perform” category are probably most in danger of being replaced by one of Target’s private-label brands, said Amy Koo, another Kantar analyst. “And if you are in the reposition category, you need to figure out a way to get out of that box,” she said. “That is a frightening place to be.” Read more

 

Home Depot’s Carol Tome Joins Exclusive Atlanta Nonprofit at Atlanta Business Chronicle.  Read more

 

Lumber Liquidator Whistleblower Goes After Lowe’s at Seeking Alpha. “…Shortly thereafter I received two audio recordings of conversations from Larry who had attended the Domotex conference. These two conversations provided enough evidence for me to dig further at Lowe’s. The factory representatives where Lowe’s sourced its products indicated that Lowe’s had been purchasing similar non-compliant HDF cores as Lumber Liquidators.” Read more

 

Family Dollar deal could close this month, bring big changes by Katherine Peralta at Charlotte Observer. “One former Family Dollar corporate employee said that, for the most part, the “urgent exodus” from the headquarters is over. Another former corporate employee said Family Dollar has offered retention bonuses in an effort to keep key employees, though other Matthews workers still anticipate layoffs.” Read more

 

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Hitt to succeed Tovar as Walmart’s VP of communications by Diana Bradley at PR Week.  Read more

 

NY Times: The Uphill Battle to Better Regulate Formaldehyde by Eric Lipton & Rachel Abrams “An unusual assortment of players, including furniture makers, the Chinese government, Republicans from states with a large base of furniture manufacturing and even some Democrats who championed early regulatory efforts, have questioned the E.P.A. proposal. The sustained opposition has held sway, as the agency is now preparing to ease key testing requirements before it releases the landmark federal health standard.” Read more

 

Jet.com First Look: Prices Are Fantastic but Amazon Prime Shoppers Won’t Switch Over by Jason Del Rey at Recode. Read more

 

Growing Shipping Alliances are Straining Major U.S. Gateway Ports by Costas Paris at WSJ. “Container shipping, which moves over 95% of the world’s manufactured goods, is largely controlled by around 15 mostly European and Asian operators, which recently have accelerated the pooling of operations within giant alliances to cut costs. Long a feature of maritime shipping, the alliances have grown in recent years as carriers have introduced bigger vessels that are least twice the size of those calling on U.S. ports for years.” Read more (Subscription)

 

Home Depot Executive VP Honored at The Marietta Daily Journal. “The Georgia Justice Project honored Teresa Wynn Roseborough, executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary for Vinings-based The Home Depot, with its 2015 Grass Roots Justice Award. The award was presented by Frank Blake, former chairman and CEO of The Home Depot.” Read more

 

Amazon alums meld art and science of cooking at The Seattle Times. “The Meld Knob and Clip work together with a cellphone app. The knob is controlled by the temperature-sensing clip placed in a pot on the stove top. The user selects a recipe from the app, or manually selects a temperature, and the phone will use information from the clip to tell the knob what to do.” Read more

 

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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. Contact us at info@shiftmarketinggroup.net.

 

Friday Tipsheet: Target Cuts 100 Admins | LaCostco? | Dems Want $12 Min

 

Target lays off 100 administrative assistants by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune. “Previously, many executives at director level and above at Target had an administrative assistant. Now, administrative assistants will work with at least two executives, a company spokeswoman said.” Read more

 

…Is Target finished with layoffs at its headquarters? Apparently not. by Tom Webb at Pioneer Press. “Transformation is the new reality at Target, and we are in the earliest stages,” (Katie) Boylan said in an e-mail. “Like all healthy well-managed companies, we will continue to assess the business and make decisions about the work we do, and how we do it, to deliver sustainable, long-term growth.” Read more

 

Wal-Mart Said to Discuss Moving Regional Staff to Arkansas by Renee Dudley at Bloomberg. “The move would relocate personnel from around the U.S. to the corporate office in Bentonville, Arkansas, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter isn’t yet public.” Read more

 

Ad of the Day: Dick’s Sporting Goods Goes the Extra Mile in Its First Campaign for Women by Michael McCarthy at Adweek. “Dick’s CMO Lauren Hobart gave Adweek an exclusive preview of a new spot—”Choices: Who Will You Be?”…that’s scheduled to break May 15 on ESPN, E!, Bravo and other networks. It’s the first ad to target women specifically in the retailer’s broader “Who Will You Be?” campaign.” See the video / Read more

 

Amazon launches flower-delivery service in time for Mother’s Day by James Covert at NY Post. “Amazon’s Prime Now service is making an assortment of bouquets available for delivery in an hour or less throughout Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn…New York is Amazon’s first market to roll out flower delivery, spokeswoman Kelly Cheeseman said.” Read more

 

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Top Dems line up behind $12 minimum wage by Tim Devaney at The Hill. “The Obama administration and congressional Democrats are making a new push to raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2020. Top Democrats are getting behind the Raise the Wage Act introduced Thursday.” Read more

 

Mountain View OSH is first to launch 3D scanning and printing on demand by Larry Magid at Mercury News. “OSH has its own library of doorknobs, outlet covers, address plates and other common items that customers can re-size, decorate or otherwise enhance.” Read more

 

Sprouts grocery headed to tech-oriented North San Jose by George Avalos at Mercury News. “Grocery markets, stores, and restaurants, those are the amenities that the area is still missing,” Walesh said. “This is great to fill in some of these amenities.” Read more

 

Customers line up for Memphis Bass Pro Shops first full day by Jerica Phillips at NBC Action News 5.  See the video / Read more

 

Doug McMillon Will Participate in League of Their Own Reunion at Entertainment Weekly. “(Geena) Davis and (Rosie) O’Donnell will manage opposing teams, which will have a few special players including Olympic medalist Jennie Finch and Walmart President and CEO Doug McMillon.” Read more

 

Quebec: La Costco? Couillard won’t rule out changing language charter to require trademarks to include French by Philip Authier at National Post. Read more

 

Lenovo to introduce tablet sold at Wal-Mart in growth push at Chicago Tribune via Bloomberg. “The tablet expands the company’s existing product line, Aymar de Lencquesaing, president of Lenovo North America, said Thursday in an interview. He declined to specify pricing, but said it would be less than an iPad from Apple Inc.” Read more

 

Canada: Target to return 55 store leases to landlords, will auction remainder by Marina Strauss at Globe & Mail. ““It may not be encouraging that they’re giving back” the 55 store leases, Edward Sonshine, chief executive officer of RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust, which is Target’s largest landlord, said in an interview.” Read more

 

Sears hands over nine stores for $150 million by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. “The joint ventures are part of a Lampert plan to “enable Sears Holdings to continue its transformation into a more asset-light retailer with less dependence on physical stores,” the company said in a regulatory filing.” Read more

 

Sam’s CEO Rosalind Brewer Speaks at Credit Counseling Luncheon by Christie Swanson at Arkansas Online. “When I think of the work of the council and the work of CCOA, we have a real opportunity to make a difference between the haves and have-nots in this environment.” Read more

 

Park Service waives alcohol ban for Budweiser promotion by Timothy Cama at The Hill. “The Park Service is entering the two-year agreement to attract millennials to parks and raise millions for the National Park Foundation.” Read more

 

The jobs most likely to make you drink (Retail makes top ten for ‘drink heavily’ and ‘use illicit drugs’) by Christopher Ingraham at Washington Post. See the rankings by profession

 

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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. Contact us at info@shiftmarketinggroup.net.