Friday Tipsheet: #1 Grocery Chain | CVS Pays $22M Fine | Bass Pro Got $78M for Pyramid?
Market Force: Rankings of Favorite Grocery Store Chain (Trader Joe’s-First, Walmart-Last) See the 14 Chains Ranked
CVS pays $22 Mil to resolve Florida painkiller probe by Jonathan Stempel at AP. “These revocations were part of a crackdown in Florida on illegal sales of controlled substances, at the height of what Bentley called the state’s “pill mill crisis.” Read more
Amazon Relents on Key Merchant Policy So Prime Members Can Get Better Selection by Jason Del Rey at Recode. “This year, Amazon has quietly been reaching out to a select group of merchants who sell on Amazon with a new pitch: We’ll let your goods qualify for Prime’s free two-day shipping program without storing your inventory with us, according to multiple people familiar with the program.” Read more
The New Organic Walmart Is Eating Whole Foods’ Lunch by Leslie Patton & Craig Giammona at Bloomberg. “It’s not unique to millennials—they’ve grown up with it,” she says. “There’s no cachet.” Read more
Target sells its office furniture business to Omni Workspace by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune. “A Target spokeswoman would not disclose the sale amount, but said it was under $10 million.” Read more
Bass Pro Shops resort cost Memphis taxpayers $78 million, says one estimate by Chris Butler at Tennessee Watchdog. “That’s about $33 million more than the city of Memphis originally agreed to pay — about 18 months past its scheduled opening date. Bass Pro Shops failed to return numerous requests for comment to discuss how much it put into the project, but Memphis television affiliate WHBQ reported the total cost at $113 million.” Read more
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Cottage Grove mayor fumes over Home Depot building sale conditions by Bob Shaw at Pioneer Press. “I am not going to shop at Home Depot. I am encouraging our citizens to not shop at Home Depot,” Bailey fumed Wednesday. “But I am not literally calling for a boycott. He said that after leaving the building empty for seven years, Home Depot is demanding a ban on neighboring businesses that sell anything it sells.” Read more
Kroger exec: Mergers are like a ‘duck on the pond’ by Steve Watkins at Cincinnati Business Journal. ““That duck on the pond, the head always looks pretty calm but those feet are going fast, and that’s how mergers typically are when they’re big like that. You have to make sure that the feet moving that fast does not disrupt what you’re trying to do for the customer, and if it does, that’s where it can wind up creating an opportunity for us.” Read more
Corporate Culture Shock As Wal-Mart Hosts Film Festival Celebrating Diversity by Ellen Killoran at Forbes. “But the idea for the Bentonville Film Festival emerged from the unlikeliest of places: Wal-Mart’s executive offices. Louis Greth, Wal-Mart’s senior director for movies, said the possibility of a festival promoting underrepresented demographics first came to him about a year ago….“We had to think more creatively. If we can’t buy from women and diverse suppliers more directly, what if we were able to provide a platform where films could actually be made by women and more diverse filmmakers?” Read more
Nordstrom Q1 Comp Sales +4.4% by Rob Smith at Puget Sound Business Journal. “It plans to open 300 Rack stores by 2020, up from 177 today.” Read more
Dillard’s Q1 Comp Sales -1.0% Read the release
Canadian Tire Q1 Comp Sales +4.7% “We once again owned the seasonal business and customers responded well to our assortments, helping drive the Canadian Tire banner to its best comparable store sales result in a decade,” said Michael Medline, President and CEO, Canadian Tire Corporation.” Read the release
Q&A: Kohl’s CEO talks about Scott Walker, dipping stocks, corporate headquarters by Alison Bauter at Milwaukee Business Journal. “Q: The Innovation Center on your corporate campus opens June 15. What comes next for headquarters?…A:…”I’m in that facility and if you go to that Innovation Center, the first thing you’re going to say is, ‘Hey, how do I get some of that over here?’ “ Read more
Tipsheet Extra
Woman Who Accused Target of Copying Accused of Copying Tootsie Pop Design
Amazon lets Echo users easily restock their home with a voice command
Amid mounting tension, Mexico agrees to subsidize farmworkers’ wages
Amazon eliminates some Seattle jobs
Glidden Literally Asks People to Watch Paint Dry on Periscope
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Eye-on-Retail Tipsheet is created early every weekday morning and read by retail merchants and executives worldwide. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s really happening in the world of retail. Contact us at info@shiftmarketinggroup.net.