Marc Lore says venture firm with A-Rod will make big bets on digital retail at CNBC. "The new company, called Vision Capital People or VCP, will start with $50 million of Lore and Rodriguez’s own money. The pair are also in discussions to buy professional basketball team, the Minnesota Timberwolves." Read more/Video   Target Stores To Halt Sales Of All Trading Cards at Bleeding Cool. "...perhaps it is for the best for the time being. This past Friday, May 7th, a man pulled a gun on a group of people in a Target parking lot in Wisconsin over a [...]

  U.S. consumer prices post biggest gain in nearly 12 years as inflation pressures build at Reuters. "The consumer price index jumped 0.8% last month, the largest gain since June 2009. The CPI rose 0.6% in March. Food prices increased 0.4%...Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the CPI climbing 0.2% in April." Read more   EBay taps into NFT frenzy, allows sale on platform at Reuters. "Ebay Inc on Tuesday allowed the sale of non-fungible tokens for digital collectibles like trading cards, images or video clips on its platform, the first e-commerce company to tap into the recent frenzy around [...]

  U.S. Home Prices Surge the Most on Record in Buying Frenzy at Bloomberg/Yahoo. "Prices jumped 16.2% from a year earlier to a record high of $319,200. The growth eclipsed the 14.8% rate in the fourth quarter, which was the highest in data going back to 1989, the (National Assoc. of Realtors) said in a report Tuesday." Read more   US job openings soar to highest level on record at AP. "Job openings rose nearly 8%, to 8.1 million in March, the most on records dating back to December 2000, the government said. Yet overall hiring that month rose less [...]

  Atlanta Mayor Bottoms not going to Walgreens at 11 Alive. "What I know is that in the absence of my speaking my truth, people will insert a narrative, which is why I'm here today. Ros Brewer is my girl, I love her dearly, but she didn't get to be the CEO of Walgreens by offering jobs to random friends," the mayor said. "I am not going to Walgreens in Chicago, (her husband) Derek is not going to Walgreens in Idaho. I can't get Derek to move two miles off of Cascade Road, so I promise you that is not [...]

  Costco April comp sales (ex gas & f/x) +24.5%: US +24.9% / Canada +23.8% / Other Int'l +20.3% / Ecom +17.3% Press release   Marc Lore’s next attempt to woo the affluent consumer: A fleet of on-demand food trucks at CNBC. "Jay Zuckerman, a 47-year-old father of two who resides with his wife in the pilot area, said his family has used Wonder about six or seven times for dinner over the past few months...“It was like ordering from a gourmet restaurant, but you don’t have the issues of waiting, and you don’t have the issues of the food [...]

  Circle K launches beverage subscription program for $5.99 per month at CNBC. "Starting Wednesday, U.S. customers who pay $5.99 per month can have one tea, coffee, Froster slushy or Polar Pop fountain drink of their choosing every day. Circle K’s Sip & Save program looks to build loyalty and coax people into its stores again on a regular basis." Read more   The Untold Story of How Jeff Bezos Beat the Tabloids at Bloomberg. "'Raise your hand if you think you’ve had a harder week than I’ve had.' It was Feb. 14, 2019, in the early afternoon, and for [...]

  CVS Health earnings top estimates at CNBC. "Same-store sales across its pharmacy and front store combined were up just 0.4% compared with growth of 9% a year earlier. Same-store sales for the front store fell 11.4%." Read more   Camping World Q1: Revenue increased by $530.5 million to $1.558 billion / Gross profit increased by $217.8 million to $520.5 million Press release   Publix Q1 comp sales up 2.4% Press release   Walmart and Sam’s Club Now Administering Walk-Up COVID-19 Vaccines at 5,100+ Pharmacies Nationwide Press release   Q&A with former Amazon exec Jeff Wilke at GeekWire. "Wilke’s interests [...]

  Shaw’s, Star Market truckers go on strike in New England at AP. "Truck drivers for Shaw’s supermarkets represented by the Teamsters went on strike Monday, stopping shipments to Shaw’s and Star Market grocery stores in New England. The drivers are responsible for delivering grocery store staples to more than 100 supermarkets across the region..." Read more   Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales at Politico. "An internal audit seen by POLITICO warned Amazon's senior leadership in 2015 that 4,700 of its workforce working on its own sales had unauthorized access to sensitive third-party seller data on [...]