Retail sales plunge a record 16.4% in April at CNBC. "Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expected the advanced retail sales number to fall 12.3%...clothing and accessories -89.3%...Furniture stores also got clobbered (-66.5%) as did electronics and appliances (-64.8%), sporting goods (-48.9%) and restaurants and bars (-48.7%). The sole bright spot was grocery stores, which rose 13.2%." Read more   Amazon may be on the prowl for more Fairway grocery stores at NY Post. "After forking over $1.5 million for two of Fairway’s grocery stores in March, the online shopping giant has been kicking the tires at other Fairway locations, [...]

  Shoppers begin to shift from stockpiling to penny pinching at the grocery store at CNBC. "As this drags on, you are going to see a lot more recessionary behavior coming up,” said Krishnakumar Davey, president of strategic analytics at IRI. “We are just seeing the beginnings of it.” Read more   FedEx, Strained by Coronavirus, Caps How Much Retailers Can Ship From Stores at Wall Street Journal. "Kohl’s, Abercrombie & Fitch among two dozen companies asked to limit shipments...The limits vary at each location and will last until at least Tuesday. A FedEx spokeswoman said the limits are similar [...]

  Fired Amazon employees say company "silenced" them for speaking out about warehouse worker safety at CBS News. "In their first U.S. television interview, two former Amazon employees tell "CBS This Morning" co-host Tony Dokoupil they were fired for their activism on behalf of Amazon warehouse workers." 6:09 video   The Container Store Group Q4 prelim comp sales -3.6% Press release   JC Penney in talks for $450 million loan as it eyes Friday bankruptcy filing at CNBC. "The company is planning to file for bankruptcy as soon as Friday, though that timing could still be delayed, one of the [...]

  Target CEO: We are taking 'enormous' market share in cosmetics at Yahoo Finance. "One of the areas we have really focused on is beauty,” Cornell says. “It’s one of our fastest-growing categories and where we are taking enormous market share each and every week. “It’s coming from certainly department stores, but I think we are also starting to win against specialty.” Video/Read more   Sixty-five percent of women said they will not feel safe trying on clothes in dressing rooms, due to the Covid-19 crisis at CNBC. "More permanent options are being explored, such as a sanitizing system made [...]

  Canadian Tire Q1 retail comp sales +0.7% Press release   PriceSmart April net merchandise sales -10.9% Press release   Target in talks to boost its same-day delivery ambitions by buying pieces of startup Deliv at CNBC. "The aspect of the technology that interests Target is its ability to pool multiple orders and route them to a similar place, according to a source familiar with the deal who was granted anonymity to discuss it." Read more   The 2020 DiversityInc top 50 companies for diversity (Target #13, CVS #24, Walmart #32, JCP #41) Read more   Businesses Struggle to Lure [...]

  Costco April comp sales (excluding gas & f/x) down 0.5% "Costco reported net sales of $11.39 billion for the retail month of April, the four weeks ended May 3, 2020, a decrease of 1.8 percent from $11.60 billion last year." Press release   ...Costco’s sales fall for first time in over a decade at Fox Business. Read more   Ingles Q2 comp sales (excluding gas) +17.5% Press release   Target sharing its COVID-19 safety tool kit to help other Minnesota businesses open up by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. "Last week, Target began offering (10,000 infrared thermometers) at wholesale [...]

  CVS Health Q1 comp sales +9% at CNBC. "Earnings per share: $1.91 cents, adjusted... Revenue: $66.8 billion...Wall Street anticipated earnings per share of $1.63 cents on revenue of $64.01 million." Read more   Lord & Taylor to liquidate its stores as soon as they reopen at Reuters. "Lord & Taylor has lined up liquidators to help it run the “going out of business” sales and is girding to permanently close all its stores once the merchandise is sold, some of the sources said. The retailer had been exploring filing for bankruptcy among other options..." Read more   Walmart Billionaire Christy Walton [...]

  Wayfair Q1 Net Revenue Growth of 20% Year over Year to $2.3 billion Press release   JC Penney goes to court to try to stop Sephora from pulling out of the troubled chain’s stores at CNBC. "Sephora and Penney have had a joint enterprise operating agreement since Feb. 1, 2009, according to the April 27 court filing. Sephora was found to have “threatened imminent termination” of the contract, which would cause Penney to suffer “irreparable injury,” including a loss of business opportunities, the filing said." Read more   Carter's Q1 net sales -12% Press release   California to reopen [...]