Kate Spade on the hunt for a potential buyer by Carleton English & Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. "On Wednesday, Kate Spade shares jumped 23 percent to $17.86 on reports that it was considering a sale." Read more   Nasty Gal Receives $20 Million Offer From British Retailer Boohoo by Caroline Anderson at Los Angeles Business Journal. "Boohoo said the deal only included intellectual property assets and excluded operating costs. Nasty Gal reported $10 million in inventory in its bankruptcy filing, suggesting that Boohoo values the company’s intellectual property at around $10 million." Read more   CVS fires back [...]

  Holiday Sales May Have Jumped 4.9% in Biggest Gain Since 2005 by Lauren Coleman-Lochner at Bloomberg. "That would be the biggest increase since 2005. Customer Growth had previously predicted a 4.1 percent advance." Read more   ...Last-Minute Spending Surge Lifts Holiday Shopping Season at Fox Business. "Strong demand for furniture, home furnishings and men's apparel from the start of November through Christmas Eve pushed U.S. retail sales up 4 percent, higher than the previously expected 3.8 percent, according to data from MasterCard's holiday spending report." Read more   Stores Tighten Return Policies by Herb Weisbaum at NBC News. "It's [...]

  Reports of mall disturbances light up social media by Susan Miller at USA Today. "Disturbances that led to some malls being evacuated included reports from Elizabeth, N.J.; Fayetteville, N.C.; East Garden City, N.Y.; Aurora, Colo.; Tempe, Ariz.; Beachwood Place, a suburb of Cleveland; and Memphis. About 10 people were injured during a melee at the Jersey Gardens mall in Elizabeth on Sunday evening, Mayor Chris Bollwage said in a tweet." Read more   ...Fights, disturbances shut down malls across U.S. at Reuters. Read more   Fired Home Depot workers ask community to help them get jobs back by Shaun Ryan at The [...]

  J.C.Penney's HVAC Test by Maria Halkias at Dallas Morning News. "A display for Trane at Penney's Collin Creek Mall store in Plano says the HVAC service is coming soon...Other Penney stores are part of the HVAC test, but the company wouldn't say how many. It's a "small number of stores,' said Penney spokeswoman Sarah Holland." Read more   Bed Bath & Beyond Q3 Comp Sales -1.4% Press release   Costco restocks popular Kirkland golf ball, only to run out in two hours by Joel Beall at Golf Digest. "The good news is the in-house Kirkland ball was back on shelves [...]

  7-ELEVEN BEATS AMAZON to the first regular commercial drone delivery service in the U.S. by April Glaser at Recode. "Seventy-seven customers in Reno, Nev., have now received items ordered from 7-Eleven delivered to their doorsteps via drone. All 77 flights were from one store to a dozen select customers who live within a mile of the shop." Read more   Charles Redfield - Walmart's top U.S. food exec began as a Sam’s Club cashier by Jennifer Joyner at The City Wire. "He and his wife Sue have two sons, Matthew, 13, who was born in Bentonville, and Avery, 17, [...]

  Six retailers to drop on-call scheduling amid state probes by Daniel Wiessner at Reuters. "The companies to end on-call scheduling are Aeropostale, Carter's, David's Tea, Walt Disney, Pacific Sunwear of California and Zumiez Inc." Read more   The Limited may shut down by Fareeha Ali at Internet Retailer. "Pointing to disappointing Q3 financial results, Limited Stores is looking for a buyer and may lay off up to 248 employees." Read more   Hannaford testing ways to gain edge in crowded market by J.Craig Anderson at Portland Press Herald. "To get a glimpse into the future of Scarborough-based Hannaford, one [...]

  Angry Amazon pilots say short-staffing may cause last-minute holiday deliveries to be late by Nat Levy at GeekWire. "The pilots say they are paid less, work longer hours and have less rest between flights than pilots who fly for other carriers like UPS or FedEx. That is driving down morale and causing many pilots from Prime Air-contracted airlines to look for other jobs." Read more   Four Home Depot employees in shock after their attempt to stop shoplifter gets them fired by Jessa Schroeder at New York Daily News. "Ippolito, who had only been working at Home Depot for [...]

  Who said what inside the Trump tech meeting by Kara Swisher at Recode. "Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was apparently very voluble, and aimed many of his points at how U.S. companies had a hard time succeeding in China, and what the government could do about it...Overall, one source said, the meeting was “weird, but not as awkward as it could have been.” Another said Trump was “reasonable and fair the whole time.” Read more   PLEASE LEAVE - Kroger offers early retirement to 2,000 workers by Alexander Coolidge at Cincinnati Enquirer. "...the move is targeting mostly office personnel and [...]