Best Buy reopens store in Puerto Rico after months of helping employees recover by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. “Best Buy spent about $750,000 to charter planes that made seven trips to take employees to the mainland and 14 trips sending much-needed supplies of diapers, water and food in the disaster’s immediate aftermath…Best Buy gave about 190 employees who had the most need $200 in cash in the first few days after the hurricane. In addition to continuing to pay workers their regular paychecks, the company also deposited an extra $1,000 in each employee’s account to help them buy emergency supplies.” Read more (tiered subs.)

 

Target CEO Brian Cornell Q&A by Matthew Boyle at Bloomberg. “Cornell: We’re expanding the beauty category, and in wine and craft beer. We just unveiled a new line of wines, California Roots, all sold at $5 a bottle. We’ve added dedicated team members who only work in the food department. And we have an opportunity to grow our own-brand food business. In apparel, 90 percent of everything we sell is our own brand. In food, it’s just in the low teens.” Read Q&A

 

Patrick Byrne, who runs Overstock.com, is launching a $250 million Initial Coin Offering today by Aaron Smith at CNN Money. “The company is one of the first retailers to accept bitcoin and will make the coin offering through its exchange, tZero. Its stock has tracked closely to bitcoin’s wild rise — Overstock’s stock rose 4-fold between July and December as bitcoin grew more than 7-fold.” Read more/Video

 

Dillard’s CEO says family’s retail chain is a survivor by Kim Souza at Talk Business. “He told the students Dillard’s online sales are roughly 10 times that of its second-highest performing store. When asked if retailers or investors planned to build more stores in urban areas, Dillard said he doesn’t foresee it.” Read more

 

Rapper 2 Chainz mad at Walmart over dabbing sweater by Charles Holmes at MTV. “The Atlanta rapper took the multinational retail corporation to task via Instagram for allegedly selling a sweater that is very similar to the one he popularized.” Pics/Read more

 

Walgreens joins pilot program to help youth find, keep jobs by Lisa Bertagnoli at Chicago Business. “Walgreens Boots Alliance is one of four employers that will participate in a pilot program designed to help high school students and graduates from (Chicago’s) poorer areas find jobs, keep them and get on a path to economic stability.” Read more (tiered subs.)

 

Hershey in $1.6 billion deal to acquire SkinnyPop parent Amplify at CNBC. Read more

 

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Tencent and JD.com invest $863M into e-commerce firm Vipshop to battle Alibaba by Jon Russell at TechCrunch. “Vipshop is best-known as an online discount retailer for brands, with a particular focus on the fashion space. It went public in a lackluster 2012 listing, but it is seen as a strategic ally for Tencent and JD.com in their ongoing battle to rival Alibaba.” Read more

 

Campbell Soup to buy snacks maker Snyder’s-Lance for $4.87 billion Read more

 

Cabela’s Sale Sends Ripples of Anxiety Through Rural Nebraska Town by Kirk Siegler at NPR. “In recent years, Sidney has built a new state-of-the-art hospital, an aquatic center, parks, bike paths that snake through cul-de-sacs of luxury homes: things you wouldn’t always see in a town of 6,000 people on the remote plains. That’s why the sale of Cabela’s stings. There have been three waves of mass layoffs already.” Read more

 

Target teams up with Dayton brothers’ Askov Finlayson on ‘North’ collection by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. “Eric Dayton, the great-great grandson of the founder of the company that became Target, has been a prominent voice pushing for the rebranding of this part of the country as the “North,” and celebrating the cold as an asset instead of a liability.” Read more (tiered subs.)

 

BMO: Buy Costco shares because it’s in the ‘early stages’ of an online sales surge at CNBC. “We believe an acceleration in Costco’s online business is in early stages and could continue to support a strong comp outlook and higher valuation as the company widens its competitive moat,” analyst Kelly Bania wrote in a note to clients Monday.” Read more

 

Ikea Is the Latest Multinational Being Investigated for Avoiding EU Taxes at Fortune. Read more

 

Small e-retailers could be hurt by the end of net neutrality by James Melton at Internet Retailer. “The reason, Hill says, is that, while Amazon has the financial might to forge relationships with ISPs, many smaller or mid-size merchants won’t be able to match it.” Read more

 

Costco discloses pay for CEO Craig Jelinek and his top executives by Coral Garnick at Puget Sound Business Journal. “Costco reported $6.6 million in total compensation to President and CEO Craig Jelinek for fiscal 2017, an increase of almost 2 percent” Read more | Disclosure

 

Chick-fil-A opens Sunday to feed stranded at Atlanta airport at WWLTV. Video/Read more

 

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There seems to be a barbershop at every shopping center in Miami. Here’s why.

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

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