Pharmacy staff from CVS, Walgreens stores in US start three-day walkout at Reuters. "The walkout, which has been dubbed "Pharmageddon" on social media platforms such as Meta's Facebook where it was largely planned, started on Monday and led to the closing of some stores in New York City, two organizers told Reuters." Read more   100 Best Large Workplaces for Women at Fortune Wegmans #22 Publix #69   Walmart Celebrates Re-Grand Opening of 117 Remodeled Stores Across U.S Press release   Home Improvement Retailers Amp Up Radio Presence at Inside Radio. "Lowe’s leaps 13 positions up the weekly spot [...]

  U.S. GDP grew at a 4.9% annual pace in the third quarter, better than expected at CNBC. "The chain-weighted price index, which takes into accounts changes in consumer shopping patterns to gauge inflation, rose 3.5% for the quarter, up from 1.7% in Q2 and higher than the Dow Jones estimate for 2.5%." Read more   Tractor Supply Q3: Net sales increase of 4.3% / Comp store sales decline 0.4% Press release   UPS to Acquire Happy Returns, a Leader in Reverse Logistics Press release   Time: The 200 Best Inventions of 2023 Read more/List   America's broken pharmacy system [...]

  A first-hand look at Amazon’s new ‘Sequoia’ warehouse robotic system at GeekWire. "We got a first-hand look and a guided tour of the new robotic system with Rain Wang, an Amazon senior technical product manager who leads the Sequoia project, during a tour at Amazon’s “Delivering the Future” event in Sumner. Later, we sat down to discuss the details with Scott Dresser, Amazon Robotics vice president." Read more/Video   Ex-Amazon manager writes tell-all memoir about working while female at Seattle Times. "It’s a place, as she describes it, where no feedback is good feedback, “where you never feel like [...]

  Costco’s CEO will step down in January at AP. "He’ll be succeeded by the company’s president, Ron Vachris, who has been with Costco for more than 40 years...Vachris started with Costco as a forklift driver...Jelinek will remain with the company through April in an advisory role and will continue as a member of Costco’s board." Read more   Amazon will start testing drones that will drop prescriptions on your doorstep, literally at AP. "...customers in College Station, Texas, can now get prescriptions delivered by a drone within an hour of placing their order. The drone, programed to fly from a [...]

  Retail sales rose 0.7% in September, much stronger than estimate at CNBC. "...well above the 0.3% Dow Jones estimate. Excluding autos, sales were up 0.6%, also well ahead of the forecast for just 0.2%." Read more   Amazon, Expedia, Glassdoor, and others form coalition to fight fake reviews at GeekWire. "The new Coalition for Trusted Reviews was announced Tuesday morning by  Amazon, Booking.com, Expedia Group, Glassdoor, Tripadvisor, and Trustpilot. The companies say they “will define best practices for hosting online reviews and sharing methods of fake review detection, aiming to stop fake reviews at the source.” Read more   [...]

  Consumer prices rose 0.4% in September, more than expected at CNBC. "Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the so-called core CPI increased 0.3% on the month and 4.1% on a 12-month basis, both exactly in line with expectations." Read more   Walgreens profit outlook comes up short at CNBC. "Walgreens’ U.S. retail pharmacy segment generated $27.66 billion in sales in the fiscal fourth quarter, an increase of 3.7% from the same period last year. Comparable sales at individual locations rose 5.7%. Pharmacy sales for the quarter increased 6.4% compared with the fiscal fourth quarter of 2022, with comparable sales up [...]

  Consumers starting to buckle for first time in a decade, former Walmart U.S. CEO Bill Simon warns at CNBC. "They usually say 50-inch TV [is] $199 or something like that. And now, they say 50-inch TV [is] 40% off,” said Simon. “You use percentages when you’re not real proud of your price point. I think you’ve got inflation pushing the relative price points up.” Read more/Video   Walgreens pharmacy staff walk out, citing unsafe working conditions at Washington Post via MSN. "Thousands of Walgreens pharmacy staff across the country are walking off work this week, alleging that poor working [...]

  Costco September comp sales (ex fuel and f/x) +3.7% / US +2.7% / Canada +8% / Other Int'l +4.9% / Ecom +3.5% "Costco reported net sales of $22.75 billion for the retail month of September, the five weeks ended October 1, 2023, an increase of 6.0 percent from $21.46 billion last year." Press release & Top 10 | Fortune subs.    CANADA: Grocers mum on plan to lower food prices ahead of Thanksgiving deadline at Toronto Star. "The federal government’s Thanksgiving deadline is fast approaching for major Canadian grocers to come up with a plan to stabilize prices amid [...]