“Dollar General Q2 Comp Sales +2.1%” “CEO: ‘In regards to our proposal to acquire Family Dollar, we remain firmly committed to the acquisition. The financial benefits of our offer to Family Dollar shareholders are indisputable, and the proposed combination would unlock tremendous value for Dollar General shareholders. We continue to believe the potential antitrust issues are manageable and that our transaction as proposed is both superior and achievable.’ Read the release

 

CNBC Headline: “Dollar General says committed to Family Dollar deal” “Dollar General, the No.1 U.S. deep discount retailer, said it remained committed to acquiring rival Family Dollar and reported a 7.5 percent rise in quarterly sales.” Read more

 

“Ex-Kroger CEO Calls His $12.8M Pay ‘Ludicrous’ “ by Alexander Coolidge at Cincinnati.com. “Dillon added his payout was “a little more responsible” – compared with peer companies. His pay is the bottom 25 percent of CEO pay among rival companies. “Still you’d argue, I think, it was pretty damn high,” Dillon said.” Read more

 

“Costco to begin selling AppleCare+ for iPhone and iPad today” by Mike Beasley at 9 to 5 Mac. “An internal memo sent to employees at Costco stores indicates that the company will begin offerring AppleCare+ on iPhones and iPads sold through its wireless kiosks (today).” Read more

 

“Ikea Just Bought Some Awesome, Bendy Lighting Tech” by Mark Wilson at Fast Company. “Design LED Products does a lot more than make some light bulbs. Its specialty is something called the “Light Tile.” It’s essentially a grid of LEDs embedded in resin, forming an LED blanket that’s less than 1 millimeter thick. The blanket can be wrapped inside a product to make it glow while drawing very little power.” See the pic / Read more

 

Lowe’s Survey: 52 percent of Americans feel that having a smart home is at least somewhat important to them  Read the release

 

“Home Depot’s Marvin Ellison Sells $6,455,402 Worth of Stock” at Insider Trading Wire. Read more

 

“Arthur T. Demoulas is back at the helm of Market Basket” by Eric Convey at Boston Bus. Journal. “After an eight-week battle that threatened to destroy the 71-store supermarket chain…shareholders aligned with Arthur S. Demoulas agreed late last night to sell control of the business to a group led by ousted CEO Arthur T. Demoulas. The price is reportedly more than $1.5 billion.” Read more

 

Canada: “Rona shares rise to price offered by Lowe’s two years ago” by Nicolas Van Praet at Financial Post. “Customers are looking for deals right now, said Rona chief financial officer Dominique Boies. And that’s what’s driving traffic. “Our shareholders finally they like what they see,” Mr. Boies said. “They like the execution, they like the progress. So they’re not big sellers.” Read more

 

Miami: Sam’s Club Filling Up Shelves With Holiday Gear In August (Only 1 Reindeer Left) by Walter Makaula at CBS 4 Miami. “Sam’s Club in Doral, since August 18th, has a 1400 square-foot area dedicated to Christmas; with indoor and outdoor lights for sale, tree ornaments, wrapping paper, ribbons, and candles lining shelves. The store manager in Doral said competition is tough during the holiday season but right now—in late summer—there is no competition. “They [customers] get so excited. It’s like an excitement, or ‘wow’ factor that hits them right away,” said Bruce Siddens.” See the video / Read more

 

“Amazon is giving away 50, $5,000 college scholarships” by Ben Miller at Puget Sound Bus. Journal. “Finalists will be selected based on GPA, community involvement, and leadership experience, and then invited to complete an essay to advance to the final round. Winners will be notified in April 2015 and the scholarship awarded in July 2015.” Read more

 

“Dairy Queen Breach Connected to Malware that Hit Target” by Clare Kennedy at Minn./St. Paul Bus. Journal. “Brian Krebs reported a flurry of fraudulent credit card activity tied to a possible data breach at Dairy Queen stores in the Midwest and the South.” Read more

 

Report: “Amazon has sold no more than 35,000 Fire phones” by Charles Arthur at The Guardian. Read more

 

***

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.