“10 Ways Shopping At Wal-Mart In China Is Completely Different From How It Is In The US” by Ashley Lutz at Business Insider via SF Gate.  “Despite the recent scandal, the mega-retailer has become wildly popular in China. Wal-Mart plans to open 110 additional stores there in the next few years.  Shopping at a Chinese Wal-Mart is totally different from shopping in one in the U.S.  We highlighted some notable contrasts…”  Read more / See the Pics

 

“Costco CEO Can’t Fully Support $15 Minimum Wage Proposal (Without Looking into it Further)” by Nina Shapiro at Seattle Weekly.  “We at Costco could manage it,” (Jelinek) says.  What he says he doesn’t know is whether small businesses could manage it. And that’s why he says he can’t fully support a $15 minimum wage without looking into the matter more.  The plight of small businesses is one of the central questions everyone will be looking at as the $15 wage movement comes to Seattle.”  Read more

 

“NYC Residents Line-up at Trader Joe’s (Yesterday) Ahead of Snow Storm” by Pamela Engel at Business Insider.  “People have been tweeting pictures of the crazy lines at multiple Trader Joe’s locations.  The Union Square location has a line out the door.”  See the Pics / Read more

 

…and in Philly  See the Pics

 

“Walk 14 Miles, Get $5 in Store Credit at Sears & Kmart” by Sandra Guy at Chicago Grid.  “Sears officials have said the company has invested “several hundred” million dollars in the Shop Your Way program to transition 124-year-old Sears into an omnichannel (retailer)…The fitness tracking announcement follows a similar move by Walgreen Co., which recently introduced a program for Walgreens loyalty-program users to track their activity in exchange for points that can be redeemed for in-store cash.”  Read more

 

“Enter the Buzzards:  Class-Action Lawyers Hope Target Is a Bull’s-Eye” by Randy Maniloff at WSJ.  “As of year-end, about 40 suits seeking class-action status have been filed against Target in federal courts around the country. Seven were filed on Dec. 19, the same day the company disclosed the data breach. For some plaintiffs’ lawyers this was the Black Friday door buster to end all others.”  Read more

 

“Analyst:  Bullish on Target; Raises Holiday Estimate to 1.5% Gain” by Thomas Lee at Star-Tribune.  “Piper Jaffray & Co. on Thursday predicted relatively strong holiday sales for Target Corp. despite the recent theft of credit and debit card information at its stores.  Thanks to strong sales of video-game consoles and a solid debut of its promotion to buy online, pick up in store, analyst Sean Naughton said he believes sales at stores open for at least a year will rise 1.5 percent, compared with his earlier prediction of flat results.”  Read more

 

“Dominick’s Suspends Worker (On His Last Day) Over ‘Thanks Safeway’ Sci-Fi Video Skewering Store Closings” at Huff Po.  “The video, titled “Thanks Safeway,” was created by Steve Yamamoto and posted on YouTube on Friday, Dec. 27. Before long, the video was noticed by area media outlets and, come Saturday, Yamamoto was informed he had been suspended.”  See the video / Read more

 

“Wal-Mart recalls card table, chair sets after finger amputations” at NBC News.  “The Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday that Wal-Mart has received 10 reports of injuries, including one finger amputation, three fingertip amputations, sprained or fractured fingers and one report of a sore back.”  Read more

 

“Amazon Starts Collection of Sales Tax in Indiana, Nevada, and Tennessee” by Jasmine Harper at Morning News.  “The online retailer started in January 1 the collection of sales tax in every order in those three states. Thus, Amazon now collects those levies in a total of 19 states.”  Read more

 

“Whole Foods Commits $25 Million in Funding for Loans to Local Growers”  “Whole Foods Market announced today that its Local Producer Loan Program has reached the initial goal of funding $10 million in low-interest loans to local and independent food businesses, and has now committed up to $25 million in funding. The Local Producer Loan Program has provided 184 loans to 155 companies since its inception in 2007.”  Read more

 

“Man Defrauds Home Depot of Nearly Half a Million $ in Elaborate ‘Identical Shopping Cart’ Scheme” by Naomi Nix at The Star-Ledger. “Chalet and his partners would assemble two shopping carts with identical items and stash one in the store somewhere…They would then purchase the items in one of the carts with cash or fraudulently obtained store credit…Chalet and his partners would go back into the store with the receipt they got from the first cart and retrieve the second cart from its hiding place in the store.  The group would say they had forgotten to buy an item, and deceive the cashier into believing that they had already purchased the items in the second cart by presenting the receipt they had from the first cart.”  Read more

 

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