Costco Q4 Comp Sales (Ex FE/Gas) +5.7%, September +6.2% “Net sales for the 17-week fourth quarter were $41.36 billion, an increase of 15.8 percent…Net sales for the 53-week fiscal year were $126.17 billion, an increase of 8.7 percent from $116.07 billion in the 52-week fiscal year of 2016.” Press release

 

…Reuters: Shrinking margins cloud Costco’s profit beat, shares fall “Costco Wholesale Corp’s quarterly profit scraped past estimates, helped by a hike in membership fees, but a fall in gross margins fueled concerns of an intensifying grocer price war, sending shares down 3.6 percent in after-market trading.” Read more

 

Costco debuts new grocery delivery service and expands partnership with Instacart by Taylor Soper at GeekWire. “Costco rolled out a new two-day delivery service called CostcoGrocery for customers across the U.S., with the exception of those in Alaska, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico. Costco already sold products online, but now it labels items available as part of the new 2-day service with a “CostcoGrocery” logo.” Read more

 

Walmart Takes a Swing at Amazon, Says a $99 Membership Shouldn’t be Required to Get Free Shipping by Kristina Monllos at Adweek. “Walmart svp and CMO Tony Rogers gave the audience at the ANA’s Masters of Marketing conference in Orlando, Fla., a sneak peek at the company’s upcoming holiday spot which touts free shipping. “Free shipping two-day for orders over $35,” said Rogers, after showing the upcoming new spot (Walmart declined to send Adweek the new ad, as it won’t be released for a few weeks). “No membership fee because, you know, we just don’t think you should have to pay $99 a year for the privilege of free shipping.” Read more

 

Bruce Springsteen swings by Barneys amid Broadway prep by Ian Moore & Emily Smith at NY Post. “Bruce Springsteen took a break from prepping his Broadway show at the Walter Kerr Theatre on Thursday by stepping out for lunch at Freds Madison Avenue atop Barneys New York.” Read more

 

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Tesco to Review Contracts and Centralize Orders, CFO Says by Nina Trentmann at Wall Street Journal. “We have been operating on a decentralized and more fragmented basis,” said Mr. Stewart in an interview with CFO Journal. The grocer is now working with suppliers and potential suppliers to “get the most out of contracts” when they are up for renewal, he added.” Read more (subs.)

 

Tesco’s top bosses ‘cooked the books’ and inflated profits by £250million amid immense pressure from budget rivals Lidl and Aldi at Daily Mail. “Tesco executives ‘inflated profits by £250million because of pressure from budget chains Aldi and Lidl’. Carl Rogberg, 50, Chris Bush, 51, and John Scouler, 49, face 13-week trial.” Read more

 

Layoffs, transitions within Meijer’s IT department at Fox 17 West Michigan. “Meijer: ‘One of these changes is a new relationship with IBM which leverages their strengths in cloud-based computing, and involves transitioning a number of our ITS professionals to IBM.'” Read more

 

Sears gets another $100M in Lampert cash for holiday season by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. “That brings to $499.4 million the total of Lampert’s outstanding loans to the money-losing chains. The loans, from units of Lampert’s ESL Investments, carry an interest rate of 11 percent and are backed by mortgages of certain stores.” Read more

 

Bankrupt U.S. retailers begin to catch a break at Reuters. “We’re seeing a set of situations come together in which the constituencies have more interest in the retailer surviving than not,” said Holly Etlin, a managing director at AlixPartners LLP, a consulting firm that worked on the bankruptcy of Gymboree.” Read more

 

Hy-Vee is Progressive Grocer’s 2017 Retailer of the Year Read more

 

CHICAGO SODA TAX TROUBLE – John Daley flips on soda tax, boosting repeal effort by Hal Dardick at Chicago Tribune. “The change of heart by Daley, the brother of the former Chicago mayor and a longtime Preckwinkle ally, gives opponents nine votes in favor of repeal. That’s just enough to overturn the pop tax, but foes will need to round up two more votes to override a potential Preckwinkle veto.” Read more

 

Saks Unveils The Angelina Jolie $5 Million Star Sapphire by Anthony DeMarco at Forbes. Read more

 

German giant Kaufland plans first store in Australia by Simon Johanson at Sydney Morning Herald. “Kaufland, part of the world’s fourth-largest grocery conglomerate, has paid $25 million for the sprawling Le Cornu site in the Adelaide suburb of Forestville, where it will open its inaugural and flagship store.” Read more

 

Lowe’s hiring 200 employees in San Antonio, South Texas to meet Harvey demand by Joshua Fechter at My San Antonio. Read more

 

BEER ON THE GO – 7-Eleven gets ok to serve draft beer at Love Pattaya. “It is not clear at this time how many stores will start selling draft beer but the owners of 7-Eleven CP All have said that both of Thailand’s leading breweries are interested in “experimenting in the market.” Video/Pics/Read more

 

Michigan State honors Home Depot CEO Craig Menear as an outstanding alumni Press release

 

Where Amazon Is Failing to Dominate: Hollywood by Ben Fritz & Joe Flint at Wall Street Journal. “We were supposed to bring the best practices of one of the most successful companies in America to Hollywood,” said an Amazon Studios executive. “Instead, we’re getting chewed up.” Read more (subs.)

 

CVS taps Target’s designer for prescription labels Press release

 

A peek inside Nordstrom Local – Nordstrom’s store without any inventory at CNBC. Pics/Read more

 

Wal-Mart says it stopped fish imports from N.Korea-linked plant at Daily Mail. “Wal-Mart gave the Hunchun facility a “red” rating after it did not cooperate with a company investigation into labor problems, said Wal-Mart spokeswoman Marilee McInnis.” Read more

 

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