Walgreens taps Starbucks operating chief Roz Brewer as its next CEO at CNBC. "As CEO of Walgreens, Brewer will be the only Black woman leading a Fortune 500 company...Walgreens shares rose nearly 8% in extended trading on the news." Read more | Press release   Instacart Survived Covid Chaos — But Can It Keep Delivering After The Pandemic? at Forbes. "I’m playing a 20-year game,” (Mehta) says, sporting a T-shirt in his sun-filled home office north of San Francisco, when asked about Instacart’s IPO and the CFO he hired away from a 20-year stint at Goldman Sachs to help [...]

  Boot Barn Q3 comp sales +4.6% Press release   Belk reportedly nears a deal to file for bankruptcy, give lenders an equity stake at CNBC. Read more   Tractor Supply names ex-Michaels exec to SVP/GM of Petsense business "Matthew Rubin...served as Senior Vice President of Business Development & Growth at The Michaels Companies...At September 26, 2020, (Tractor Supply) operated 183 Petsense stores in 25 states." Press release   Forget winning, can Amazon survive in India? at TechCrunch. Read more   Ten largest federal lobbying companies in 2020 (Amazon #2) at Wall Street Journal. "Facebook and Amazon topped all other [...]

  Target’s Saying ‘Thank You’ to Frontline Team Members with a $500 Bonus in the New Year "Target is giving $500 bonuses to all hourly team members in stores, distribution centers and our headquarters and field-based offices. In addition, all Store Directors, Executive Team Leaders and salaried Distribution Center leaders (12,000 in total) will receive a bonus ranging from $1,000-$2,000. That’s a $200 million investment." Read more   GameStop jumps another 70% to above $110, trading briefly halted in another wild day at CNBC. "GameStop has rallied 480% in January alone, skyrocketing to $110 a share from just about $6 [...]

  Walmart expands vaccinations in a boost to the U.S. Covid prevention program at Reuters. "Walmart Inc is preparing to offer COVID-19 vaccinations in seven more states, as well as in Chicago and Puerto Rico, this week and next, a company spokeswoman told Reuters, expanding beyond the two states where its pharmacists are offering inoculations." Read more   Studies of South African Coronavirus Strain Raise Concerns About Immune Response at Wall Street Journal. "What they found was that the new (South Africa) variant was either entirely resistant to antibodies generated from an earlier infection or the antibodies were significantly less [...]

  Walmart CEO and others support federal minimum wage hike at Fox Business. "While McMillon says that $7.25 an hour is too low, he stopped short of commenting on the $15 level...Read more   American Eagle sees holiday-quarter sales dropping low-single digits amid weak mall traffic at CNBC. "American Eagle ahead of a virtual meeting with investors Thursday said it expects fourth-quarter revenue to decrease in the low-single digits...That comes in lower than analysts’ estimates, which were for a 0.14% dip, according to data from Refinitiv." Read more   Read the full letter Amazon sent to Biden offering to help [...]

  Alibaba shares jump on Jack Ma's first appearance in three months at TechCrunch. "Alibaba’s billionaire founder resurfaced as he spoke to 100 rural teachers through a video call, three months after his last public appearance in October, sending the e-commerce firm’s shares up more than 8% in Hong Kong." Read more   MyPillow CEO: Kohl's, Bed Bath and Beyond, Wayfair & HEB dropping MyPillow at USA Today. "Just got off the phone – not five minutes ago. Kohl’s, all these different places. ... These guys don’t understand,” Lindell said in the interview. "They were good partners. In fact, I [...]

  NRF: Holiday sales rose stronger-than-expected 8.3% at CNBC. "The retail trade group said consumers embraced the gift-giving season as a way to cheer themselves up during the pandemic. Holiday sales on average have increased 3.5% for the past five years, and they rose 4% in 2019, NRF said." Read more   Walmart’s e-commerce chief Marc Lore to leave at the end of January at CNBC. Read more   U.S. retail sales fell 0.7% in December "Sales even fell online, down nearly 6% after rising 19% for the year. At clothing stores, sales rose 2.4% after dropping 16% for the year." [...]

  Ulta Beauty has laid off corporate and field management employees at Chicago Tribune. "Eileen Ziesemer, spokeswoman for (Ulta), declined to specify the number of workers or locations affected but said it was a “meaningful but relatively small” share of its employees. The layoffs took effect Tuesday." Read more   Petco stock priced its initial public offering above forecasts late Wednesday, ahead of its trading debut Thursday at Investor's Business Daily. Read more   Sephora’s plan to combat racial bias at The Washington Post via Philly Inquirer. "Sephora is pledging to double its assortment of Black-owned brands, to 16, by [...]