Sears chairman prevails in bankruptcy auction for retailer with $5.2 billion bid at Reuters. “The billionaire’s proposal, made through his hedge fund ESL Investments Inc, will save up to 45,000 jobs and keep 425 stores open across the United States.” Read more

 

Nordstrom says sales at some stores ‘below expectations’ this holiday season at CNBC. “… comp sales were up 1.3 percent overall for the nine weeks ended Jan. 5….off-price comp sales were up 3.9 percent during that time-frame…in-line with expectations. Full-price comp sales, however, were up just 0.3 percent.” Read more

 

U.S. Home Sales Plunged in December, Price Growth at 6-Year Low by Prashant Gopal at Bloomberg. “The median home price rose to $289,800 in December, a gain of 1.2 percent, the slowest monthly pace since March 2012. Sales dropped by almost 11 percent, the biggest decline for any month since 2016.” Tiered subs.

 

The Best Employers For Diversity 2019 (Big Y #23, IKEA #95) by Vicky Valet at Forbes. List

 

Shippers Worry They Will Face Increasing Delays as Shutdown Drags On by Erica E. Phillips at Wall Street Journal. “As the backlog of unresolved problems increases, the amount of them is going to build exponentially,” said Brandon Fried, executive director of the Airforwarders Association, a Washington-based group representing freight-shipping agents.” WSJ subs.

 

Neiman Marcus innovation lab founder Scott Emmons writes about why he left the retailer by Maria Halkias at Dallas Morning News. “Emmons said the three main roadblocks are a poor strategy that rushes out innovations “largely pressured to create PR moments,” inadequate buy-in that leaves sales associates untrained, and a lack of resources behind pilots, leaving them to fail.” Tiered subs.

 

Walmart On Campus store at University of Arkansas adds pickup lockers, grocery delivery by Kim Souza at Talk Business. “The store is also equipped with a complete pharmacy that delivers medications on campus twice daily. Store manager Randy Sterling said the display modulars in the store were also lowered to give shoppers better sight lines throughout the store.” Read more

 

The Top 100 Companies For Remote Jobs (Amazon #6, Williams-Sonoma #11, #92 HD Supply) at FlexJobs at Forbes. List

 

**A message from 2019 Sweets & Snacks Expo – See the category innovation of 2019 all in one place! Items selected during the Sweets & Snacks Expo’s Most Innovative New Product Awards go on to enjoy sweet success – see the 2018 New Product winners here.  Chicago’s McCormick Place, May 21-23. Exhibitors | Website/Register

 

Bringg, a delivery platform used by Walmart and DoorDash, has raised $25 million to expand its business by Ingrid Lunden at TechCrunch. Read more

 

You can lace Nike’s Adapt BB shoes with a smartphone app, but that’s just the beginning at CNBC. “Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum has been the guinea pig secretly testing the Adapt behind the scenes. Tatum will wear the Adapt BB in the shoe’s professional debut Wednesday night when the Celtics play the Toronto Raptors. The shoe is available to customers beginning Feb. 17.” Read more

 

Joe McFarland, EVP at Lowe’s, talks leadership skills by Lizann Lightfoot at Task & Purpose. “When he left the military in August 1993, he knew that his technical skills were not relevant: “No one was looking for someone to fire a .50-cal out of a door. My technical skills weren’t as important as my people skills.” Read more

 

Omaha couple who hoped to host Costco chicken plant is trying for another chicken farm by Aaron Sanderford at Omaha World-Herald. Read more

 

Shopper sues Whole Foods, security firm over supermarket spat at NY Daily News. “I started to go to Trader Joe’s,” she said. “One, it’s better on my budget. Two, nobody punched me there.” Read more

 

How Illinois bet on video gambling and lost at Chicago Sun Times. “Illinois now has more locations to legally place a bet than Nevada. But the meteoric rise of video gambling has proven to be little more than a botched money grab…far from helping pull the state out of its financial tailspin, the legalization of video gambling accelerated it and saddled Illinois with new, unfunded regulatory and social costs.” Read more

 

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Amazon is officially hiring at New York ‘HQ2’

Robot hotel lays off half the robots after they created more work for humans

Rihanna Sues Her Dad for Trademark Misuse

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

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