Court gives Sears new life, allows Chairman Eddie Lampert another chance to save retailer at CNBC. "Lampert's hedge fund, ESL Investments, will now be required to pay a $120 million deposit by 4:00 p.m. Wednesday. Sears will then allow Lampert to participate in a previously scheduled auction on Monday." Read more   JCPenney comp sales fell 3.5% for the nine weeks ended Jan. 5 at CNBC. "On an "unshifted basis," sales were down 5.4 percent at stores open at least a year." Read more | Press release   Costco loses bid for new trial in Tiffany trademark lawsuit at [...]

  Sears to ask bankruptcy judge to liquidate at Reuters. "Sears...may have to close hundreds of stores it is still operating...the sources said. Its vast inventories of tools, appliances and store fixtures will be sold in fire sales, the sources added." Read more   ...“We are down, but not out" Sears, via its official Twitter account (@Sears), said in reply to one of the many posts Monday morning about the 126-year-old company potentially going out of business. at Reuters. Read more   IT'S OFFICIAL NOW - Shoppers Drug Mart launches ecommerce platform for medical cannabis Press release   GeekWire checks [...]

  Starboard buys stake in Dollar Tree, seeks sale of Family Dollar at CNBC. "Starboard, which has taken a 1.7 percent stake worth about $370 million in the retailer, is seeking majority control of the board and is also pushing for Dollar Tree to tweak its pricing model, the paper reported, citing sources." Read more | WSJ subs.   Kroger, Microsoft Create Futuristic Grocery Store by Matthew Boyle & Dina Bass at Bloomberg. "At the two test stores, located near Kroger and Microsoft’s respective headquarters in Cincinnati and Redmond, Washington, customers using Kroger’s self-checkout app will be guided through the store to items [...]

  Rite Aid warned of risk of delisting from NYSE as shares fall below $1 at CNBC. "Shares of the drugstore chain have fallen 64 percent over the past year, down to 75 cents a share as of Thursday's close from $2.11 on Jan. 3, 2018." Read more   Hudson’s Bay Co. closer to going private by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. "Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is cashing out its position, selling its 18 million shares to the company’s executive chairman, Richard Baker." Read more   Apple's slowdown in China could mean bad news for Best Buy at CNBC. "UBS [...]

  Blake Nordstrom, co-president of Nordstrom, dies at 58 by Kurt Schlosser at GeekWire. "His passing comes less than a month after he disclosed that he had been diagnosed with lymphoma...Executive leadership of Nordstrom will continue under company co-presidents Pete and Erik Nordstrom, the retailer said." Read more   After 104 years, Lord & Taylor's flagship store on Fifth Avenue locked its doors forever by Verena Dobnik at NY Daily News. "The 11-story building has been sold to the WeWork space-leasing company for more than $850 million. Forty-five other, smaller Lord & Taylor stores remain open, mostly on the East [...]