Whole Foods removes packaging with a cancer-linked chemical from its stores at CNBC. "The announcement came after advocacy groups Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families and Toxic-Free Future released a study that named Whole Foods as the worst of five grocery chains for packaging takeout food and bakery items in containers with PFAS, or polyfluoroalkyl substances." Read more   ...Other grocers, including Albertsons, Kroger and Ahold had fewer items that tested positive for the substance...Trader Joe’s was the only company that had zero items. by Tiffany Kary & Deena Shanker at Bloomberg. Read more   Inside New York’s Online Grocery Wars by Matthew [...]

  Walmart is testing a robot fry cook named 'Flippy' at its delis by Julia La Roche at Yahoo Finance. "Walmart saw what we were doing and said, ‘Could you bring Flippy from Dodgers Stadium to our Culinary Institute?'” Miso Robotics CEO David Zito told Yahoo Finance. Yahoo Finance visited Flippy to see it in action at Walmart’s Culinary Institute and Innovation Center." Video/Read more   Stitch Fix shares plunge on weaker-than-expected user growth at CNBC. "The subscription-based styling service said its active clients grew 22 percent during the fiscal first quarter to 2.9 million, slightly below the 2.95 million [...]

  Austrian retailers file antitrust complaint against Amazon at Reuters. "In a statement outlining its complaint, the Retail Association said the “main problem” was Amazon’s dual role as retailer and marketplace...93 percent of all Austrian online shoppers have made at least once purchase on Amazon." Read more   Costco ranked as best large company to work for this year (Home Depot #13) via USA Today. Top 50 list   Amazon, Amid Crackdown on Seller Scams, Fires Employees Over Data Leak at Wall Street Journal. "Sellers also are buying Amazon wholesaler accounts on the black market to gain access to volumes [...]

  Kroger Q3 comp sales (without fuel) +1.6% / Total sales -0.3% Press release   ...Kroger Earnings Beat But Comp Sales Fall Short at Investor's Business Daily. "Wall Street expected Kroger earnings per share to fall 2% to 43 cents (actual = 48 cents)...Comp sales were expected to rise 1.7% excluding fuel (actual = 1.6%), according to Consensus Metrix." Read more   Costco Nov. comp sales (excluding fuel) +8.5% Press release   Five Below Q3 comp sales +4.8% Press release   Walgreens launches next-day prescription delivery with FedEx at CNBC. "The delivery service is part of Walgreens Express, which also lets customers [...]

  Hudson's Bay Q3 comp sales +2.9% / Saks Fifth Avenue comp +7.3% / DSG (Hudson's Bay, Lord & Taylor & Home Outfitters) +0.9% / Saks Off 5th -2.3% Press release   Trump panel wants to give USPS right to hike prices for Amazon, others at Reuters. "None of our findings or recommendations relate to any one company,” a senior administration official said on Tuesday." Read more   ...Morgan Stanley estimates that Amazon relies on the Postal Service to deliver up to 45% of its packages by John. D. McKinnon & Paul Ziobro at Wall Street Journal. WSJ subs.   Ollie's [...]

  Dollar General Q3 comp sales +2.8% Press release   AutoZone Q1 comp sales +2.7% Press release   Kroger will Sell Groceries at Walgreens by Heather Haddon at Wall Street Journal. "The first “Kroger Express” sections will open by early next year in 13 Walgreens stores near the grocer’s Cincinnati headquarters. The companies said they would add more of the 4,000-square-foot displays of produce, Home Chef meal kits and other products if customers take to them. They will account for roughly a third of an average Walgreens selling space." WSJ subs. | Yahoo article   ...Kroger won’t sell store-brand items that compete [...]

  Amazon is reportedly testing its cashier-less technology in larger stores at The Wall Street Journal / The Verge. "The WSJ says that Amazon has improved the software in those (smaller) stores since they’ve opened, but apparently the technology still has trouble in those “bigger spaces with higher ceilings and more products,” according to the WSJ’s sources." Read more | WSJ article (subs.)   BATTERY BUMMER - Where are the drones? Amazon’s customers are still waiting at AP. "Frank Appel, the CEO of DHL’s parent company, Deutsche Post AG, said “over the next couple of years” drones will remain a niche vehicle and [...]

  Early Amazon investor John Doerr is convinced Jeff Bezos will roll out Prime Health at CNBC. Read more   Sam’s Club planning to build corporate childcare facility by Paul Gatling at Talk Business. "Sam’s Club wants to build its development on land it owns at 2300 S.E. S St...expected to be about 17,500 square feet and will hold about 170 children including infants, toddlers, 2-year-olds, pre-K and kindergarten prep." Read more   ...Sam's Club new layout center opened yesterday "The new building replaces the existing 134,000-square-foot layout center in Springdale, inside a former Sam’s Club store...Shelley Latham, a senior [...]