Costco Has Quietly Been Testing a New Store Concept for 23 Years by Brian Sozzi at The Street. "Once the Denver store opens, Costco will have 11 Business Centers in operation across the country, mostly on the West Coast. Four of the stores are located in California and two more are in Costco's backyard of Washington, which allows the retailer to more easily test products and tweak operations before a possible nationwide expansion." Read more   Walmart sold ‘US-made’ products that were actually foreign by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. "A Walmart spokesman said that, within a week, consumers [...]

  Amazon abruptly delays ‘Treasure Truck’ rollout after a week of hype by Todd Bishop at GeekWire. "Is it possible that Amazon forgot to apply for a permit in its bureaucracy-loving hometown? The city’s regularly updated list of sidewalk and plaza vending permit applications doesn’t reference Amazon or the initial Treasure Truck location." Read more   Inside Macys.com via SF Gate See the 13 pics   Wegmans still committed to first urban store in Boston by Catherine Carlock at Boston Business Journal. "Wegmans spokeswoman Jo Natale said there is no final design plan, but the store would be similar in [...]

  Target Parts Ways with Chief Merchant Kathee Tesija "Brian Cornell: 'This role is critical to ensuring Target’s future success and we are conducting a comprehensive external and internal search for a new leader. On behalf of the entire Target team, I want to thank Kathee for all she has done on behalf of our company, brand, and team.'" Read more   ...“I would think there are any number of companies that would be very interested in discussing president and CEO roles with her" via Evan Ramstad at Star Tribune. Read more   Target confirms departure of another merch exec, [...]

  Bed Bath & Beyond Q1 Comp +2.2% "The Company is modeling a 2.0% to 3.0% increase for comparable sales for the fiscal 2015 second quarter and continues to model a 2.0% to 3.0% increase for the remainder of the year." Read the release   CNBC: America's Top States for Business 2015 (Minnesota #1, Georgia #5..) See the top 50 list   The U.S. Cities Where Creative Jobs Are Thriving via Fast Company See the list   U.S. Bancorp hires former Target exec as SVP by Cody Nelson at Minn./St.Paul Business News. "U.S. Bancorp hired Reba Dominski as senior vice [...]

  Wal-Mart to impose charges on suppliers as its costs mount by Nathan Layne at Reuters. "For instance, Wal-Mart is seeking to charge a food supplier 10 percent of the value of inventory shipped to new stores and to new warehouses, both one-time charges, and 1 percent to hold inventory in existing warehouses, according to a copy of amended terms seen by Reuters." Read more   Walmart Working on Robot to Patrol the Aisles by Kim Souza at The City Wire. "(Rick) Webb said Wal-Mart is working fast on a robot that will be soon patrol the aisles of local stores [...]

  Walmart will no longer sell products with the Confederate flag by Sarah Begley at Fortune. "We never want to offend anyone with the products that we offer,” the spokesman, Brian Nick, said. “We have taken steps to remove all items promoting the confederate flag from our assortment—whether in our stores or on our web site.” Read more   Marvin Ellison’s story is classic J.C. Penney by Maria Halkias at Dallas News. "Ellison quoted his father: “‘When the economy was bad, I was grinding. When the economy was good, I was grinding. I had seven kids and couldn’t take a [...]

  Amazon Online Audience Doubles Wal-Mart’s by Douglas A. McIntyre at 24/7 Wall Street. "In May, it posted 182 million unique visitors, fourth among all sites in the United States. Wal-Mart Stores...had an online unique audience of 86 million." Read more   The result of Chicago plastic bag ban: Shopping bags to be sturdier by Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz at Chicago Tribune. "When Chicago's plastic bag ban kicks in Aug. 1, many shoppers accustomed to carting groceries home in those ubiquitous plastic bags will instead walk away with ... nicer plastic bags...Walmart has been testing its new ordinance-compliant plastic bags at two [...]

  Walmart Greeters Moving Back to the Front of the Store by Benjamin Snyder at Fortune. "The reason? To check for possible theft among shoppers and reduce the amount of money lost on stolen items each year...The test is taking place at a few hundred stores in the U.S." Read more   How a Wall Street Exec Played Career Counselor to Costco's Richard Galanti by Lucina Shen at Business Insider. "(Richard) Galanti had walked into (Fred) Lane's office one day in the late 1970s while both were working at Donaldson Lufkin and Jenrette and asked, "should I get an MBA?" Lane responded:“Richard, [...]