Jeff Bezos spotted having dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago at NY Post. “Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was seen sauntering into Mar-a-Lago late Wednesday night to have dinner with President-elect Donald Trump. Bezos walked in with his fiancée Lauren Sanchez for their first dinner with Trump since the soon-to-be 47th president won re-election.” Read more

 

Amazon workers strike at seven U.S. facilities ahead of Christmas rush at CNBC. “Warehouse workers in cities including New York, Atlanta and San Francisco are taking part in the “largest” strike against Amazon, said the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents about 10,000 workers at 10 of the firm’s facilities.” Read more

 

The Top Secret Gift Shop Where You Need Clearance to Get In at WSJ. “Skip the chintzy T-shirt vendors on the National Mall and head straight to the CIA. Just be ready to provide your social security number and leave enough time to clear multiple layers of security. And bring cash…Federal buildings hide what may be the world’s most exclusive gift shops…You can buy china at the Transportation Department, bathrobes at the State Department and playing cards at the Justice Department.” WSJ subs.

 

How Vuori reached a $5.5 billion valuation by taking share from Lululemon at CNBC. “When athleisure brand Vuori launched in 2015, it was headquartered in a garage, sold only men’s shorts and couldn’t get investors to give it the time of day. Now, the Carlsbad, California, retailer is expanding globally, backed by a string of marquee investors including General Atlantic, SoftBank and Norwest Venture Partners, after raising $825 million in November in a funding round that valued the company at $5.5 billion.” Read more

 

Nike’s new CEO is trying to clear out inventory and pressuring retailer partners at WSJ. “During one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year, Nike was the only brand to have a 30% discount on most of its footwear at Macy’s famous Herald Square location in New York City…Nike is now selling more to retailers such as Foot Locker and Macy’s than it did a couple of years ago. It is also rekindling relationships with retailers such as DSW that it cut ties with in 2022 under former CEO John Donahoe to focus on selling items directly to consumers.” WSJ subs.

 

Seeing low-income consumers squeezed, retailers target $10 and under gifts at Reuters. “In a sign of how retailers are rearranging their merchandise to cater to cash-strapped shoppers, the average price of Walmart’s 70 top toys was 10% lower than last year’s, at $40.16, according to D.A. Davidson.” Read more

 

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Amazon delays return-to-office in some cities due to lack of space at GeekWire. “Offices in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Nashville, New York, and Phoenix are affected, according to the reports. Some return dates are pushed back as much as four months.” Read more

 

Bitcoin’s rally is nudging more luxury companies to make crypto a payment option—and sends a strong message to its younger clientele at Fortune/Yahoo. “We’re delighted to see the luxury sector embracing cryptocurrency payments, as demonstrated by our recent partnership with Printemps in France,” a Binance spokesperson told Fortune. “This initiative has generated significant interest, and we’re already in talks with other luxury brands eager to integrate cryptocurrency payments.” Read more

 

Amazon devices chief gives free Kindle Paperwhites to people stopping by HQ fruit stand at GeekWire

 

Canada Post now ‘fully operational’ and couriers recovering — but backlog could take weeks to clear at Toronto Star. “While the labour fight may be ongoing — the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) said Tuesday evening that the federal labour minister’s directive that paused the strike is “an illegal breach” that it will “fight” — for most Canadians, mail delivery should be returning to normal, once the substantial postal backlog has been cleared.” Read more

 

Amazon One Medical sued after patient dies at Consumer Affairs

 

Dollar Tree Names Michael C. Creedon, Jr. as CEO “Creedon joined Dollar Tree in 2022 as Chief Operating Officer and over the past two years has taken on increasing levels of responsibility.” Press release

 

Marc Lore is betting artificial intelligence will choose your meals for you in the future at NY Post. “We’re talking about five to 10 years into the future here. But I’m thinking about the bigger vision… there’s a real opportunity for AI to have a place in telling people what they should eat on a meal basis,” he explained. “Think about an AI that knows you as well as you know yourself.” Read more

 

Stop & Shop names Lee Nicholson as new chief merchant at Chain Store Age

 

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