Friday Tipsheet: Target Moves 1,300 Employees | Tianjin Port Impact | Nordstrom +4.9% | H.Depot’s Rattlesnake
Target to sell its west campus building, move 1,300 employees to Brooklyn Park by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. “We decided that doing a consolidation between the downtown and north campus would align the teams in the best way,” Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder said Thursday. “We are very committed to our headquarters locations in Brooklyn Park and downtown.” Read more
NY Times: Stores Suffer From a Shift of Behavior in Buyers by Hiroko Tabuchi. “The religion of consumption has proven to be unfulfilling,” he said. “The ‘pile it high and watch it fly’ mentality at department stores no longer works.” The shift in consumer mind-sets, especially among younger consumers, is hurting major department store chains like Macy’s and Kohl’s.” Read more
Apple to develop ‘display for car windshields’ by Drew Harwell at Washington Post. “(Apple) is “very likely” working on a 27- to 50-inch head-up display, a technology most famously used by jet pilots, that could project vivid icons and information for drivers while on the road, a tech analyst with Global Equities Research said Thursday morning.” Read more
Restoration Hardware Is Going to Sell Fancy Furniture for Teenagers by Kim Bhasin at Bloomberg. “The seller of $2,000 armoires and $5,000 sofas is playing to a younger crowd with a new concept called RH Teen, which promises “tasteful, high-quality furniture” and home goods for teens.” Read more
Nordstrom sees strong gains from efforts in Canada and online by Angel Gonzalez at Seattle Times. “Comparable sales…rose 4.9 percent…Canada, a market the company entered last September with its first international store in Calgary, is performing “ahead of plan,” co-president Blake Nordstrom said in an earnings call with analysts.” Read more Earnings press release
Wall Street has low expectations for next Wal-Mart earnings report by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “The one area that analysts seem to agree on is tepid comparable sales forecast at 1% for Wal-Mart U.S. and Sam’s Club, without fuel impact. With fuel impact most experts believe Sam’s Club could see another negative comp sales number for the second quarter.” Read more
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Firms Gauge Impact of Devastating Explosions at Tianjin Port by Paul Page & Loretta Chao at WSJ. “A logistics company with a large presence at Tianjin said in an email to employees that some container yards had been “heavily damaged” and that communications at some warehouses and storage sites were destroyed. The operator said customs authorities had moved to a temporary location and were operating “at very low efficiency.” Read more (Subscription)
Macy’s director puts $4.75 million Scottsdale estate on market by Mike Sunnucks at Phoenix Business Journal. See the 12 pics
Why Nike Is Desperate to Keep Michael Jordan’s Sponsorship Money Secret by Kyle Stock at Bloomberg. “At the heart of the friction is Jordan’s 42-page agreement with Nike, a document that Gary Way, the company’s global counsel, has described to the court as “one of the most competitively valuable documents in the industry.” Way is one of only three Nike employees who has access to the document, which is kept under lock and key in a room separate from all of Nike’s other legal filings.” Read more
Amazon envisions package pickups on public transit, using lockers on buses, trains and subways by Todd Bishop at GeekWire. “An Amazon patent application, made public today, describes a plan for delivering packages via public transit…The patent application for “Mobile Pickup Locations” was originally submitted in February of 2014, and made public earlier today by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.” Read more
Etsy Taps Secret Irish Tax Haven and Brags About Transparency at Home by Alex Barinka & Jesse Drucker at Bloomberg. “The classification designates the business in Ireland as an unlimited liability company — a move that’s been used by corporations such as Google Inc. and LinkedIn Corp., enabling them to conceal how profits are shifted to zero-tax locales such as Bermuda or Isle of Man.” Read more
Canada: Loblaw and Metro upgraded as glory days for supermarkets expected to continue by Jonathan Ratner at Financial Post. “Canada remains one of the most favourable markets in the world for supermarkets,” said analyst Perry Caicco, upgrading both Loblaw Cos. Ltd. and Metro Inc. to sector outperformer. “It now looks like the glory days will extend into 2016, and possibly beyond.” Read more
Investors rally as Roundy’s beats 2Q expectations by Alison Bauter at Milwaukee Business Journal. “Roundy’s reported same-store sales declined by 3.9 percent on fewer customer transactions overall, despite a small increase in average transaction size. Wisconsin stores saw a 2.9 percent decrease and Roundy’s stores in Illinois dropped 6.4 percent.” Read more
Spring Hill Home Depot uses mechanical device to remove rattlesnake via The Tennessean. See the GoPro video
Tipsheet Extra
Screaming matches at public forum over possibility of Costco in Ridgeland
Kurt Cobain ‘solo album’ coming out in November
‘Roomba’ maker, iRobot, gets green light for robot lawn mower
P&G faces new Tide Pods lawsuit
Who What Wear Closes $8 Million Series B From Amazon, Others
Apple will reportedly delay launching a live TV service until 2016
Retail CEOs among panelists at next month’s Natural Products Expo East show in Baltimore
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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. See our website at www.eyeonretail.net