Walgreen weighs risky FTC gambit in Rite Aid merger by Josh Kosman at NY Post. "The declaration would mean that, in Walgreen’s opinion, it has given regulators substantially all the information they need to make a decision. The move would give the FTC 30 days to complete its review of the proposed merger and take action if necessary, bringing a swift end to a vetting process that has dragged on since late 2015." Read more   Immigration raids keeping customers away from small stores by Jeff Daniels at CNBC. "...worries persist among immigrants about enforcement actions, and some businesses [...]

  Dick's Q4 Comp Sales +5.0% "Net sales for the fourth quarter of 2016 increased 10.9% to approximately $2.5 billion... Same store sales for Dick's Sporting Goods increased 5.3%, while Golf Galaxy increased 13.2%." Press release   Michaels Q4 Comp Sales -1.0% "Comparable store sales for the year decreased 0.5% driven by a decrease in customer transactions, which was partially offset by an increase in average ticket." Press release   Gordmans said to be preparing to file for bankruptcy by Paige Yowell at Omaha World-Herald. "A Gordmans spokeswoman told The World-Herald that the company wouldn’t comment on “rumor or speculation...(has) [...]

  Hundreds of Lowe's customers' personal information compromised by Paul Boyd at WSOC TV. "The breach is connected to a fax machine in Vancouver, Canada. A spokesperson from the company that owns the machine does not want to be identified, but said they have received more than 250 pages of customer order information in recent days." Read more   Amazon and Repsol strike parcel pick-up deal at Financial Times via CNBC. "Customers will be able to receive deliveries at many of Repsol's almost 4,000 outlets across Spain and Portugal, as the service is rolled out over the next two months. [...]

  Costco Q2 Comp Sales +3.0% Press release   ...Forbes: Following Earnings Miss, Costco Plans To Hike Membership Fees "Starting on June 1, 2017, membership fees will go up $5 for U.S. and Canada individual, business and business add-on members; with this price hike, the membership fee for these groups will come to $60 a year. Executive fees are also seeing a hike: the price for an executive membership in the U.S. and Canada will go to $120, up from $110." Read more   Kroger's 13-year winning sales streak ends by Alexander Coolidge at Cincinnati Enquirer. "Identical-store sales excluding fuel [...]

  Lowe's Q4 Comp Sales +5.1% "For the fiscal year, sales were $65.0 billion, a 10.1 percent increase over the same period a year ago, and comparable sales increased 4.2 percent." Press release   ...CNBC: Lowe's topped analysts' estimates across the board Wednesday "For the first time in awhile in this quarter we actually had normalish weather, so Lowe's may have benefited more from that than Home Depot" Nagel said." Read more   Best Buy Domestic Q4 Comp Sales -0.9% Press release   ...Fox Business: Best Buy Reports Drop in Same-Store Sales, Shares Sink "Net revenue fell 1 percent to $13.48 [...]