Target Canada owes billions to long list of creditors by Marina Strauss at Globe & Mail. “Much of Target Canada’s amounts owing are in the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars per creditor, but some are noticeably larger. Target owes more than $4.2-million to Warner Bros. Entertainment Group, almost $2.2-million to Universal Studios Canada Inc. and more than $3-million to grocer Sobeys, which supplied food to the U.S.-based chain.” Read more

 

Costco can keep selling gray market Omega watches by David Post at The Washington Post. “Omega misused its copyright “by leveraging its limited monopoly in being able to control the importation of [the Globe Design] to control the importation of its Seamaster watches.” Read more

 

NY Post: Family Dollar shareholders to approve Dollar Tree takeover by Josh Kosman. “The $8.5 billion takeover is also likely to open a new chapter in the retail sector — about how Richard Dreiling, CEO of the No. 1 chain in the sector, Dollar General, misread regulators and blew his chance to grab hold of the long-coveted Family Dollar chain…“They should have approached the Federal Trade Commission earlier [about its higher rival proposal] and been more hostile with them,” a hedge fund trader said Wednesday about Dreiling and Dollar General.” Read more

 

Amazon Pulls Its Line of Diapers Less Than Two Months After Launch by Jason Del Rey at Recode. “Amazon’s grand plan to sell its own line of diapers has crapped out after seven weeks. At least for now…“Based on early customer feedback, we are making some design improvements to the diaper,” the company said in an email to customers on Wednesday that was flagged by Gigaom. Amazon offered these shoppers a $25 credit for their troubles and said they’d these like customers to try out the new diapers when they are ready for sale.” Read more

 

Sam’s Rosalind Brewer: Gas prices now fueling spending by Tom DiChristopher at CNBC. “We saw the turn just before the holiday. We saw the oil prices moving and gas prices moving at the same time. We saw traffic tick up,” she said during a CNBC “Squawk Box” interview from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.” Read more

 

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EBay’s breakup plans may open door for e-commerce M&A at CNBC. “No one knows what’s going happen down the road,” Donahoe said in an interview on Wednesday, after eBay reported fourth-quarter earnings. “But each business will have the flexibility they need to do what they need to do to win.” Read more

 

…eBay to shed 2,400 jobs by Jeremy Owens & Patrick May at Mercury News. Read more

 

Tracy Morgan Crash: James McNair’s Family Reaches Settlement With Walmart by Aaron Katersky at ABC News. “The amount of the settlement was subject to a confidentiality agreement between Walmart and McNair’s children, 19-year-old Danita and 26-year-old Jamel.” Read more

 

Former founding director of Lowe’s home improvement dies by Fran Daniel at Winston-Salem Journal. “(“Pete”) Kulynych joined Lowe’s in November 1946 as a bookkeeper and the company’s first employee. He became one of five men to manage the home-improvement company when Ralph Buchan, who co-owned Lowe’s with Jim Lowe, died in 1960. He helped take the company public in 1961.” Read more

 

Walgreen Co. Is the Latest to End Monthly Sales Reports at Nasdaq. “…preferring to detail its performance in a “single unified report” when it reports quarterly results.” Read more

 

Home Depot wants 250,000 square feet in Marietta, GA for IT center by Carla Caldwell at Atlanta Business Chronicle. “The Home Depot is looking to move its IT center to a vacant building off Franklin Road in Marietta. The move would bring 1,200 jobs to the site.” Read more

 

Target aiming TargetExpress format at Washington, D.C. area by Rebecca Cooper at Washington Business Journal. “Target Corp. is in talks to take retail space in an office building at 1500 Wilson Blvd. in Arlington, Va. The retailer declined to confirm it is considering space in Arlington but acknowledged it is targeting the Washington metro area.” Read more

 

Lowe’s To Hire 30,000 Seasonal Employees at MarketWatch. Read the release

 

Amazon ends its mobile wallet app trial after six months by April Dahlquist at Internet Retailer. “Amazon’s success has made it increasingly hard for them to partner with top retailers who view them as a competitive threat,” Wingo says.” Read more

 

Daughter Knows Best: Inside The 84 Lumber Saga by Dan Alexander at Forbes. “In March 2009 Maggie Magerko sat in her office, ignoring her dad’s phone calls. When she finally picked up, things went downhill fast: He told her she was thinking irrationally. She let out a stream of expletives and hung up. The stakes surrounding this father-daughter clash could hardly have been bigger. The housing market was collapsing, taking construction down with it…” Read more

 

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Eye-on-Retail is a tipsheet read by thousands of Retail Merchants & Executives. It’s created and delivered early AM every weekday. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s happening in the world of retail.

 

Americans shake off economic pessimism – NBC/WSJ poll by John Harwood at CNBC. “The proportion of Americans who say they are satisfied with the economy has risen 10 percentage points in the last five months, to 45 percent.” Read more

 

Retailers expect stronger growth in 2015 by Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz at Chicago Tribune via Star-Tribune. “Retail sales are expected to rise 4.5 percent this year, a full percentage point more than the 3.4 percent growth in 2014, according to Kantar Retail…Online sales, though still 10 percent of total retail sales, are expected to grow 15 percent this year.” Read more

 

Snake bites customer on head in Lowe’s by Therese Apel at The Clarion Ledger via USA Today. “The unidentified customer opened a cabinet inside the store around 2:30 p.m. and was bitten by a chicken snake inside of it, WTVA reported. Amanda Manna, spokeswoman for Lowe’s, acknowledged the incident but said she couldn’t comment. “All I can share is that we’re currently investigating the incident,” she said.” Read more

 

J.C. Penney Resurrects Its Catalog by Suzanne Kapner at WSJ. “The new, 120-page book will feature items from Penney’s home department and will be sent to select customers in March, the first time the struggling department-store chain has sent out a catalog since 2010.” Read more (Subscription)

 

…J.C. Penney stopped mailing the ‘Big Book’ catalog in 2009 and phased out its distribution of 70 smaller catalogs a year later via Yahoo.  Read more

 

Younger folks want healthier food – and will pay for it by Bruce Horovitz at USA Today. “The most health-centric are Generation Z — consumers under age 20 — with 41% saying they would willingly pay a premium for “healthier” products. That compares with 32% of Millennials (ages 21 to 34) and about 21% of Baby Boomers (about 50 to mid-60s).” Read more

 

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Why Lilly Pulitzer for Target is Going Where No Capsule Collection Has Gone Before Old-money label meets big-box retail by Robert Klara at Adweek. “But there’s something else going on here, and it has more to do with age-old class divisions than it does with prices. Target may have partnered with high-end brands in the past, but Lilly Pulitzer is the first old-guard, social-register brand to sign on, and that makes a big difference.” Read more

 

Porch.com Raises $65M Series B Round As It Prepares To Take Its Service Nationwide by Frederic Lardinois at TechCrunch. “Other investors in this round include previous investors Lowe’s Companies, Inc. and Capricorn Investment Group, as well as Founders Fund, Battery Ventures, Panorama Point Partners, and “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” star Ty Pennington.” Read more

 

Wal-Mart Takes Aim At Shareholder Bid To Limit Gun Sales by Aebra Coe at Law 360. “Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is on the warpath over a federal court decision forcing the retail giant to include in its proxy materials a Wall Street church’s proposal to tighten board oversight of certain gun sales, saying the decision could have a ripple effect across the entire retail industry.” Read more (Subscription)

 

Six arrested in bar code scam by Marcos Ortiz at ABC Utah 4. “It was so easy because nobody paid attention,” said Leishman “We would go in and buy tools, like $200 tools for $8 bucks…Switching out bar codes may be catching retailers off guard, especially big box stores where there is self-checkout. Jake Hunsaker is a store manager for Cricket cellular. Their store was not targeted by the group.” See the video / Read more

 

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Eye-on-Retail is a tipsheet read by thousands of Retail Merchants & Executives. It’s created and delivered early AM every weekday. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s happening in the world of retail.

 

Source: Dollar General waving the white flag in battle for Family Dollar by Jennifer Thomas at Charlotte Business Journal. “It seems that Dollar General is throwing in the towel when it comes to acquiring Family Dollar. The company did not raise its bid or offer any reassurance to Family Dollar shareholders that the deal would close — instead, it said it needed more time.” Read more

 

Kroger eyeing major acquisition, analyst says by Steve Watkins a Cincinnati Business Courier. “All signs point to management’s willingness to make a major acquisition,” Carol Levenson wrote in a report last week analyzing Kroger’s bonds. She’s director of research at New York-based corporate bond research firm Gimme Credit.” Read more

 

15 years of training Walmart supplier analysts by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “Can you imagine all the universities, including the University of Arkansas, that would like to have this access to Retail Link? It was given to NWACC for the purpose of training up an analytical retail workforce and it has not been duplicated,” Halliburton said.” Read more

 

Sellers Need Amazon, but at What Cost? by Angus Loten & Adam Janofsky at WSJ. “Mr. North of Terapeak said he cautions people who are just getting into the game that “it’s more competitive than ever” to be a third-party merchant on Amazon. “Larger merchants and retailers have become far more present online, and you’re competing with low-cost shipping and same-day shipping.” Read more (Subscription)

 

Why Whole Foods, Dollar General, and Panera have all been sued over a tiny hiring technicality by Claire Zillman at Fortune. “Employers are getting tripped up by a little-known law related to background checks, and it’s costing some of them serious time and money. When it comes to background checks—dare we say it—the devil is in the details.” Read more

 

New Cuba rules could flood island with U.S.-made goods by Alam Gomez at USA Today. “One of the surprises in the rules that go into effect Friday allows U.S. companies to sell “tools, equipment, supplies and instruments for use by private-sector entrepreneurs” in Cuba…”Americans can actually go down there on a business trip, market their products, research the market,” Oleynik said. “And they’re already asking about it. I’ve got clients climbing out of the woodwork asking questions. It’s a hopping day.” Read more

 

Target will cut U.S. jobs next by Steve Watkins at Cincinnati Business Courier. “We are going evaluate each of those positions on a case-by-case basis,” Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder said. “We don’t have details today, but we expect there will be a reduction in headcount in the U.S. related to the Canada news.” Read more

 

Brian Cornell Addresses Questions About Exiting Canada at A Bullseye View. “Target Canada business had reached the point where, without additional funding, it could not continue to meet its liabilities. Simply put, we were losing money every day.” Read more

 

Target tries to soften blow with unprecedented employee fund by Jeff Gray & Tim Shufelt at Globe & Mail. “But in what bankruptcy lawyers say is an unprecedented move, Target Canada’s U.S. parent has set up a trust fund of as much as $70-million to be kept completely separate from the restructuring process and to cover its employees’ severance payments. Most are to receive 16 weeks pay, Target says” Read more

 

Target’s Canadian retreat leaves a 20-million-square-foot hole by Tasmin McMahon at Globe & Mail. “Some predicted that several stores may have to be demolished, others carved into several smaller locations and some, particularly in Western Canada, may struggle to find any tenants amid the turmoil of sinking oil prices.” Read more

 

Wal-Mart, Sears ‘sad’ to see Target go by Lisa Wright at Toronto Star. “We are sorry to see a competitor leave the Canadian marketplace as we believe competition is ultimately good for customers,” said Andrew Pelletier, Walmart Canada’s vice-president of corporate affairs and sustainability.” Read more retailer quotes

 

Cramer on Target at Seeking Alpha. “You don’t just parachute into a foreign country and open 130 stores at once and expect great results,” Cramer said. “It has proven to be one of the dumbest moves of all time,” he added, targeting previous CEO Gregg Steinhafel for the flawed Great White North strategy.” Read more

 

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Eye-on-Retail is a tipsheet read by thousands of Retail Merchants & Executives. It’s created and delivered early AM every weekday. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s happening in the world of retail. 

 

Home Depot’s Frank Blake Accepts Gold Medal award from NRF by Sarah Rand at NRF. “Frank Blake…gave a humble acceptance speech, saying he didn’t belong on a list with retail legends like Costco founder Jim Sinegal and Macy’s Chairman and CEO Terry Lundgren…Blake recalled his advice to The Home Depot board of directors when they asked him to serve as CEO: to think again about their decision and find a more seasoned retailer.” Read more

 

Dunnhumby searches for buyer by Erin Caproni at Cincinnati Business Courier. “Beleagured parent company Tesco announced last week that it had appointed advisers to look for strategic options for the data analytics firm…And potential buyers are already lining up to purchase Dunnhumby for about $3 billion. Interested parties reportedly include global ad giant WPP.” Read more

 

Target’s Mobile Site Shows The Value Of An SEO Spring Clean by Chris Liversidge at Search Engine Land. “So, how much value is Target throwing away? Well, let’s check. Run a search chaining negative “inurl” operators to see how many indexed URLs are left in Google’s index…Yep, just 330,000 results — which is more like the number that should be there. So, we have 3.9 million duplicate URLs, just on their mobile platform. That’s an 85% duplication ration for the site. Ouch!” Read more

 

Supervalu testing culture-specific Save-a-Lot stores by Mark Reilly at Minn./St. Paul Business Journal. “Supervalu hasn’t disclosed how many stores have been included in the program or what changes are involved, though the effort does seem to be deeper than just offering more Mexican food and calling the store “Hispanic.” Read more

 

Game Stop Holiday Comp -3.1% “Total global sales for the holiday period were $2.94 billion, a 6.7% decline compared to the 2013 holiday sales period.” Read the release

 

Companies Tiptoe Back Toward ‘Made in the U.S.A.’ by James R. Hagerty & Mark Magnier at WSJ. “Willy Shih, a professor at Harvard Business School, is less optimistic. “China has really captured the whole electronic supply chain,” he said, and that is unlikely to return to the U.S.” Read more (Subscription)

 

How Amazon Tricks You Into Thinking It Always Has the Lowest Prices by Jason Del Rey at Recode. “Amazon may not actually be the lowest-priced seller of a particular product in any given season,” the report reads, “but its consistently low prices on the highest-viewed and best-selling items drive a perception among consumers that Amazon has the best prices overall — even better than Walmart.” Read more

 

Amazon.com’s prices beat Walmart.com on popular items by Don Davis at Internet Retailer. “Amazon’s prices were 4% lower on average on the most popular products, and it was particularly aggressive in certain categories, including home audio, video games, phones and electronics…For 63% of the products studied, the two retail sites had exactly the same price in the Boomerang study of 39,122 identical products.” Read more

 

This will be a big trend in e-commerce: Macy’s CEO by Tom DiChristopher at CNBC. “Macy’s CEO and Chairman Terry Lundgren predicted on Tuesday that any major company that only sells online today will have bricks-and-mortar stores in five years.” Read more / See the video

 

San Antonio: H-E-B’s Nogalitos store to open Friday after undergoing major makeover by Stephanie Guzman at San Antonio Business Journal. “After tearing down its oldest operating store and building a new store in its place, H-E-B’s Nogalitos location will re-open Friday, Jan. 16 as the company’s first two-story grocery store in Texas.” Read more

 

Company bursting at seams due to product inspired by ‘cream can suppers’ by Cole Epley at The World-Herald. “McGinn said he got the idea to move the method off the ranch and onto the patio when he realized he was spending hours behind a grill during summer cookouts. “I thought to myself, ‘This is dumb. I’m having a party and doing all the work while everyone has a good time and I only get to see these people two or three times a year,’ ” he said.” Read more

 

Bauer opening North American stores with indoor rinks to target hockey lovers by Hollie Shaw at Financial Post. “If too few kids are lacing up to get onto the ice these days, Bauer Hockey hopes bringing the ice rink to the kids will do the job. Opening eight to 10 North American retail stores offering a venue for customers to test the merchandise live on an indoor hockey rink.” Read more

 

Ohio State win means $1.5 million in free furniture by Shauna Steigerwald at Cincinnati.com. “As part of the company’s “Big Game Promotion,” many customers who bought at least $1,999 worth of furniture in a single day between Dec. 17 and 7 p.m. Jan. 1 qualified for a full rebate because the Buckeyes won by at least seven points.” Read more

 

Deloitte: 80% say they are more likely to buy from consumer products companies that they believe protect their personal information, yet only 37%  believe that these companies are adequately doing so  Read the release