Whole Foods overall prices still high after selective cuts: Analyst via CNBC. "Amazon appears to be taking a page out of the old Wal-Mart playbook on the price action front that is, announcing a plethora of price actions that on the surface look deep, but in reality only reveal modest reductions," Gordon Haskett Research Advisors analyst Charles Grom wrote in a client note." Read more   Target is plotting a big move away from Amazon Web Services by Christina Farr & Ari Levy at CNBC. "(Target) is scaling back its use of Amazon Web Services, according to sources familiar with [...]

  Whole Foods employees work late on eve of Amazon takeover, prepping to lower prices by Taylor Soper at GeekWire. "Workers gathered in big groups and moved around the Whole Foods store in Seattle’s Roosevelt neighborhood Sunday evening, assessing items across different aisles. One employee told the group, “it’s going to be a long night. ”There were also non-Whole Foods employees with the group wearing “visitor” stickers — perhaps Amazon employees helping manage the transition." Read more   ...Senator questions quick approval of Amazon's Whole Foods purchase via CNBC. "Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota said in a statement on Friday that she [...]

  Hurricane Harvey poised to unleash flooding disaster on Texas into early next week at AccuWeather. "Harvey is projected to make landfall along the Texas coast on Friday night as a Category 3 hurricane. The storm strengthened to a Category 2 hurricane early Friday morning." Read more   ...Ugly scenes as customers fight over water and grocery stores sell out of supplies before Hurricane Harvey at Daily Mail. "Photos show people waiting in long lines to check out with pallets of water bottles in their carts and cars lined up around blocks to get gas. One user wrote on Twitter: [...]

  Dollar Tree Q2 comp sales: Dollar Tree banner increased 3.9%. Family Dollar banner increased 1.0% Press release   Sears Q2 comp sales -11.5% Press release   ...CNBC: Sears to shutter another 28 locations "This is in addition to the 180 Sears and Kmart stores that have already been shuttered this year, and the 150 stores that are slated to be closed by the end of the third quarter." Read more   Michael's Q2 comp sales +0.6% Press release   U.S. retailers hit as immigration worries weigh on Hispanic spending by Richa Haidu at Reuters. "Not all consumer categories, however, are experiencing [...]

  Lowe's Q2 earnings & sales miss Street estimates - Comp sales +4.5% (vs. 4.3% expected) at CNBC. "We are pleased with our improved comparable sales performance relative to last quarter, and the strong momentum we built throughout the second quarter culminating in a 7.9% comparable sales increase for the month of July." Read more | Press release   Express Inc. Q2 Comp Sales -4.0% Press release   DSW Q2 Comp Sales +0.6% Press release   Former Target and Uber exec Jeff Jones named CEO of H&R Block by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. "I'm not walking into a troubled [...]

  Macy’s Poaches EBay Exec Hal Lawton for President Role by Phil Wahba at Fortune. "Hal Lawton, 43, is leaving his role as eBay's senior vice president for North America to take on what is essentially the No. 2 job at Macy's. He will oversee all aspects of the Macy’s brand, taking on responsibility for functions like merchandising, marketing, stores, operations, tech, and consumer insights, and analytics." Read more   ...100 JOB CUTS - Macy's has consolidated its merchandising, planning and private-label functions into a single department at CNBC. Read more | Press release   Kroger CEO Talks Amazon and [...]

  Target Ends Relationship With Troubled Startup Hampton Creek by Olivia Zaleski at Bloomberg. "There were multiple reasons we terminated our relationship with Hampton Creek and all of the reasons were clearly communicated to Hampton Creek,” Reck said by phone. She declined to elaborate, saying Target doesn’t discuss details of its business relationships." Read more   Chinese online retailer selling luxury goods reportedly arrested on smuggling charges at CNBC. "Ji Wenhong, the founder of Xiu.com, an online e-commerce website that specializes in imported luxury goods, was captured in Indonesia and returned to China, where he will face trial, the newspaper said." [...]

  Gap Q2 Comp Sales +1% "Old Navy Global: positive 5 percent versus flat last year, Gap Global: negative 1 percent versus negative 3 percent last year, Banana Republic Global: negative 5 percent versus negative 9 percent last year." Press release   ...CNBC: Gap soars after better-than-expected profit forecast Read more   Ross Stores Q2 Comp Sales +4% "Net earnings grew to $317 million, compared to $282 million in the prior year. Sales rose 8% to $3.432 billion." Press release   Sportsman's Warehouse Q2 Comp Sales -9.0% "The Company opened four new stores in the second quarter of fiscal 2017 and ended the quarter with 83 [...]