Lowe’s Cuts | Aldi Yanks Eggs | Bezos Buys in B.Hills

 

Lowe’s is cutting more jobs by Katherine Peralta at Charlotte Observer. “The home-improvement retailer confirmed Thursday that it is laying off an undisclosed number of delivery workers nationwide as the company shifts to a third-party delivery service.” Read more

 

Aldi yanks eggs in Germany amid pesticide scare by Mike Corder at AP via Fox Business. “Aldi and rival Lidl had already taken eggs from farms under suspicion of Fipronil contamination off the shelves. Two other German supermarket chains, Rewe and Penny, have stopped selling all Dutch eggs.” Read more

 

Early warning signs point to a slowdown in beauty retail by Lauren Thomas at CNBC. “Ulta is a victim of their own success,” KeyBanc analyst Jason Gere told CNBC. “I think the stock is weak because people are saying all these good things can’t last forever. … [Business] has to slow at some point.” Read more

 

FedEx, in online pivot, backs away from holiday surcharges via ABC News. “FedEx will skip special charges for most packages shipped during the holiday season this year as it seeks to undercut rival UPS.” Read more

 

Jeff Bezos expands his domain in Beverly Hills by Neal J. Leitereg at LA Times. “Jeff Bezos has expanded his foothold in Beverly Hills, buying a home for $12.9 million in a deal completed outside the Multiple Listing Service. Never publicly listed for sale, the 1956-built house sits on a half-acre lot that backs up to the Spanish-style estate that Bezos bought in 2007 for $24.45 million. In other words, it’s a real-world firewall for the multibillionaire.” Read more

 

Sequined sneakers and ‘millennial pink’: 5 back-to-school trends to watch by Abha Bhattarai at Washington Post. “‘Millennial pink’: The year’s it-color…“It’s definitely the year’s big trend,” says Petter Knutrud, head of merchandising for Office Depot. “Notebooks, pencils, folders, erasers. We’re seeing it across multiple departments and designs.” Read more

 

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. Accelerates Realignment of Store Management Structure “…in approximately half of its U.S. Bed Bath & Beyond stores and about a dozen U.S. buybuy BABY stores, a limited realignment of its store management organization, primarily resulting in a reduction of about 880 Department and Assistant Store Manager positions.” Press release

 

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Charcoal grilling banned in Seattle by Mark Nowlin at Seattle Times. “An air-quality burn ban is in effect for King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties as smoke from British Columbia wildfires blankets the region.” Read more

 

Fred’s Pharmacy July comparable store sales decreased 0.1% “Fred’s Pharmacy’s total sales for the month decreased 3.5% year-over-year to $150.5 million from $155.9 million in July 2016. The decrease in sales is related primarily to the closure of 39 underperforming stores in the first quarter.” Press release

 

Cato Reports July Same-Store Sales Down 9.0% Press release

 

Wall Street Journal: Are Wines from Costco, Sam’s Club and Trader Joe’s Worth Drinking? by Lettie Teague. “…the other seven wines I bought at Trader Joe’s were some of the worst I’ve tasted in years. The two Charles Shaw —aka “Two Buck Chuck”—wines, a Cabernet and Sauvignon Blanc, were virtually undrinkable…The wines from Sam’s Club and especially Costco were better; some, quite good.” Read more (subs.)

 

Disappointing Cabela’s results add risk to merger with Bass Pro by Josh Kosman at NY Post. “I suspect Cabela’s is pretty nervous [about the merger] and without a lot of options,” a source close to the deal said.” Read more

 

Etsy lives to fight another day as new leadership shaves costs and delivers an earnings beat by John Mannes at TechCrunch. “Etsy announced revenue of $101.69 million with earnings per share of 10 cents. The finance gods prognosticated revenue of $101.14 million and a loss of $0.01 per share, making this quarter.” Read more

 

The Buckle July Comp Sales -8.4% Press release

 

Wal-Mart, Walgreens, CVS turn up the heat on generic drugmaker deals by Deena Beasley at Reuters. “There’s no question those guys are getting much better pricing and really squeezing the manufacturers on margins,” said Gabelli & Co portfolio manager Jeff Jonas. “It’s going to be a tough space for some time … they are just going to keep playing the manufacturers off against each other.” Read more

 

Dunkin’ Brands will test-drive abbreviated “Dunkin’ signage beginning with a California test location by Dan Orlando at Nation’s Restaurant News. Read more

 

Amazon’s shoe business sees double-digit growth, and the year is only halfway over by Lauren Thomas at CNBC. “In the first two quarters of this year, the internet giant has already seen its shoe revenues grow 18 percent from a year ago, the firm found, based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2016, Amazon’s total shoe sales climbed by 35 percent.” Read more

 

Ingles Markets Q3 Comp Sales (Ex-Gas/Easter) +0.8% Press release

 

Pirate Joe’s Ordered To Stop Reselling Trader Joe’s Products by Julia Goodman at Law 360. “U.S. District Judge Barbara Jacobs Rothstein ruled that Michael Hallatt must cease reselling Trader Joe’s products at his Canadian store, saying Hallatt hadn’t shown any legal reasoning or evidence that would invalidate a signed term sheet in which he agreed to close the store.” Read more (subs.)

 

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