“Fortune’s Most Powerful Women 2014 (Rosalind Brewer #15, Ann-Marie Campbell #38)”  See the Top 50 List

 

“Walmart & Others Looted in Los Cabos, Mexico After Hurricane” at WNEM-5. “The problem is no longer the hurricane,” resident David Garcia said in a radio interview. “Everything started with the looting. Not even eight hours had passed since the hurricane before people started destroying stores.”…Inside a waterlogged Wal-Mart superstore, there was nothing but puddles, trash, empty shelves and graffiti on the wall: “Long live crime!” Read more

 

“Home Depot Hacked After Months of Security Warnings” by Ben Elgin, Michael Riley & Dune Lawrence at Businessweek. “For a retailer with 2,266 stores and $79 billion in annual revenue, buying software to protect against hackers is a good idea. Using the software is a better one. In the year before cybercriminals penetrated payment systems of Home Depot stores in the U.S. and Canada, the retailer suffered at least two smaller hacks, according to internal company e-mails and reports.” Read more

 

“Home Depot: Breach cost $62M, exposed 56M cards” by Phil W. Hudson at Atlanta Bus. Chronicle. “The malware had not been seen previously in other attacks, according to Home Depot’s security partners.” Read more

 

“Target Handpicks Brand Partners for Sustainable ‘Made to Matter’ Push” at Ad Age. “I wanted to make sure I blew away Neil’s presentation,” interjected Eric Ryan, co-founder of Method, another early participant. Mr. Grimmer laughed. “That didn’t happen,” he said. But both succeeded in getting their products into the effort. Target’s “Made to Matter” partnership portfolio now includes sixteen different brands, giving the retailer an exclusive pipeline of over 100 products in return for end cap displays, colossal scale and the benefit of the marketing behind the program.” Read more

 

“Amazon Prime May Have 50 Million Members, Analyst Says” by Jason Del Rey at Recode. ” A survey of more than 4,000 Amazon customers conducted by RBC Capital this month found that 37 percent were current Prime members. And RBC says that percentage leads to its new estimates.” Read more

 

“Thousands Line Up for Cabela’s Grand Opening in Portland Area” at KOIN 6. “Cabela’s opened its 64th store in Tualatin Thursday morning, as thousands poured into the outdoor fishing and hunting store. Some had been waiting in line for days.” See the 27 Pics

 

“Family Dollar: Levine was prepared to accept HQ move to TN” by Ely Portillo at Charlotte Observer. “Family Dollar CEO Howard Levine was willing to accept the company’s headquarters moving to Tennessee last year in order to secure an acquisition by rival Dollar General, the company said in securities filings Wednesday.” Read more

 

” ‘This is the end’ for Sears: Credit Suisse” by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. “Let’s face facts. Sears is generating negative operating cash flow of between $1 billion and $2 billion [closer to upper end, it looks like] in 2014,” Balter wrote. “Unless it sells off real assets while somehow maintaining the cash flow from those assets, this story is not likely to have a happy ending, and that ending continues to depend on suppliers.” Read more / See the video

 

“Costco Canada switches to MasterCard from AmEx (U.S. Next?)” by Marina Strauss at Globe & Mail. “The end to a 15-year partnership between Costco Canada and New York-based AmEx suggests a rift between the two companies that have worked closely together, raising questions about whether they will continue to team up for the longer term in the chain’s core U.S. market.” Read more

 

“Amazon Beats Google With $4.6 Million Bid for “.Buy” Domain” by Jason Del Rey at Recode. “Amazon won with a bid of $4.58 million for the address, part of the Internet governing body ICANN’s initiative to create alternatives to .com.” Read more

 

“Best Buy recycles 1 billion pounds of electronics (five Eiffel Towers worth)” by John Reinan at Star-Tribune. “Calling Best Buy’s program “the biggest and, we believe, the best consumer electronics recycling program on the planet,” Joly joked that he wouldn’t mind seeing Best Buy customers recycle a TV every year.” Read more

 

“Hasbro offers ‘3D Me’ events at Walmart/Sam’s” by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “Dianna Gee, spokeswoman with Sam’s Club, said the retailer recently worked with 3DMe in some of its grand openings through a partnership formed with the Sam’s Club Road Show Events team. She said a recent opening of Sam’s Club in Moline, Ill., provided shoppers with the opportunity to impose their face on their favorite Major League Baseball player figurine.” See the video / Read more

 

“Rite-Aid Q2 Comp Sales +4.1% (Front End +1.1%)” “The company is also narrowing guidance for sales and same store sales. Sales are expected to be between $26.0 billion and $26.3 billion and same store sales to range from an increase of 3.00 percent to an increase of 4.00 percent over Fiscal 2014.” Read the release

 

***

About Eye-on-Retail Eye-on-Retail is a daily tipsheet read by thousands of Retail Merchants & Executives every weekday morning. Eye-on-Retail is unique because it’s timely, smart and fun. It’s created bright and early every morning and delivered between 7-8 am CT. 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.