American Eagle Outfitters CEO expects ‘Roaring 20s’-like boom for malls post-pandemic at CNBC. "Schottenstein is one of many hopeful figureheads who predict the current decade will mirror the growth of a century ago...“The sales we’re doing, like this quarter, ... all the stores are comping and we’re doing it at a 50% capacity,” Schottenstein said." Read more   March US home construction: 19.4% increase over February when housing construction fell by 11.3% at AP. Read more   Incoming Stitch Fix CEO says the ‘timing felt right’ for executive transition after Covid at CNBC. "In the last two quarters, we [...]

  Walmart investing in GM’s Cruise self-driving car company at CNBC. "The decision to invest comes about five months after the companies started working on a pilot program to use Cruise self-driving vehicles for deliveries in Scottsdale, Arizona." Read more   Retail sales increased 9.8% last month at Reuters. "...receipts at auto dealerships surging 15.1% after falling 3.5% in February. Sales at clothing stores soared 18.3%. Consumers also boosted spending at restaurants and bars, leading to a 13.4% jump in receipts." Read more   How Amazon Strong-Arms Partners Using Its Power Across Multiple Businesses at Wall Street Journal. "Amazon last year [...]

  Kohl’s says it has reached an agreement with activists, plans to bring new members to board at CNBC. "Margaret Jenkins and Thomas Kingsbury, will join Kohl’s board...Jenkins was previously chief marketing officer of the restaurant chains Denny’s and El Pollo Loco, and Kingsbury previously served as the CEO of Burlington Stores...will also at the same time be adding an additional independent director, Christine Day. Day served as CEO of the athletic apparel chain Lululemon from 2008 to 2013." Read more   Grocery workers died feeding the nation. Now, their families are left to pick up the pieces. at NBC [...]

  100 Best Companies to Work For (Wegmans #4, Target #14, Publix #42) Top 100 list   Gap to Replace Longtime Credit-Card Issuer Synchrony With Barclays at Wall Street Journal. "Barclays will take over Gap’s private-label and co-branded credit cards, including Athleta, Banana Republic and Old Navy, the people said. The portfolio includes some 11 million open card accounts, some of the people said, with total balances of roughly $3.8 billion at the end of March." WSJ subs. | MarketWatch   GameStop initiates search for new CEO - sources at Reuters. "GameStop Corp is looking for a new chief executive [...]

  McDonald’s will close hundreds of locations in Walmart stores at CNBC. "...as customers increasingly shop online and opt for the drive-thru window. The big-box retailer confirmed Friday that the fast-food chain will have some 150 locations that remain across its 3,570 SuperCenters. That has gradually fallen over the years from a peak of about 1,000 locations." Read more   BJ’s Wholesale Club CEO Lee Delaney dies unexpectedly at Fox Business. "BJ’s Wholesale Club chief executive Lee Delaney has died, the company announced on Friday...BJ's executive vice president and chief financial officer, Bob Eddy, has been named interim CEO, effective [...]

  Costco March comp sales (ex. gas & f/x) +11.1% : U.S. +11.3% / Canada +13.0% / Other Int'l +7.7% "Costco...reported net sales of $18.21 billion for the retail month of March, the five weeks ended April 4, 2021, an increase of 17.6 percent from $15.49 billion last year." Press release   Best Buy launches a new $200 membership program to fight Amazon at CNN. "... piloting a $199.99 annual membership program with free device installations, a concierge service for tech support and other perks. The program, Best Buy Beta, will be available at around 60 Best Buy stores in [...]

  Target says it will spend more than $2 billion with Black-owned businesses by 2025 at CNBC. "...the retailer said it will more actively seek out advertising firms, suppliers, construction companies and other kinds of businesses that are Black-owned. It said it will create a program called Forward Founders for early-stage start-ups led by Black entrepreneurs to help them develop, test and scale products to sell at mass retailers like Target." Read more   A ‘System of Espionage’ Reigned at Ikea, a French Prosecutor Charges at NY Times. "Ikea came to France touting an image as a homespun retailer with [...]

  GameStop plans $1 billion stock sale at Reuters. "The company said it would sell up to 3.5 million shares and use the proceeds to speed up the shift in its business model to e-commerce in an overhaul being led by top shareholder and board member Ryan Cohen." Read more   Pharmacies score customer data in vaccine effort. Some are crying foul. at Politico. "Privacy experts said that some retail pharmacies have been better than others at separating vaccine appointments from marketing efforts. The grocery chain Albertsons, at the point of securing a vaccine slot, allows people to opt-in to [...]