REI boosting wages for workers in 7 cities, including Seattle by Janet I. Tu at Seattle Times. “…it comes after employees have been increasingly vocal about wage and scheduling issues…The cities include Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Denver and Washington, D.C.” Read more

 

Former Target exec joins Patterson as CMO by Katharine Grayson at Minneapolis/St.Paul Business Journal. “(Todd) Marshall spent 14 years at Minneapolis-based Target, most recently serving as the retailer’s senior vice president of marketing. His responsibilities included overseeing digital aspects of the company’s customer-rewards program, including expansion of its Cartwheel mobile app.” Read more

 

Sports Authority creditors want bankruptcy case converted to Chapter 7 via Denver Post. “The debtors are hopelessly administratively insolvent and will never, ever be able to propose a confirmable plan,” the unsecured creditors said in court papers.” Read more

 

How Sobeys screwed up Safeway in a messy takeover that left empty shelves, massive losses, and drove customers away by Hollie Shaw at Financial Post. “Seeing strawberries out of stock again was the final straw for long-time Safeway shopper Kevin Wipf. The Calgary resident is one of hundreds of consumers who are still taking to social media to complain about the grocer in the wake of Sobeys Inc.’s messy takeover of the Western Canadian grocery chain — even though the acquisition happened close to three years ago.” Read more

 

Wal-Mart beats shareholder appeal in Mexico bribery lawsuit by Jonathan Stempel at Reuters. “By a 3-0 vote, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis upheld a lower court dismissal of a federal lawsuit accusing the defendants, including former chief executives Mike Duke and Lee Scott, of breaching their duties in failing to stop alleged bribery at Wal-Mart de Mexico.” Read more

 

A New U.S.-European Grocery Giant Is Born by Stephen Wilmot at WSJ. “Its U.S. chains will account for 63% of sales this year, reckons brokerage Jefferies. An investment in the company is therefore a bet on U.S. grocery, in which it will become the fourth-largest player after Wal-Mart, Kroger and Albertsons.” Read more (subscription)

 

**A message from Alma Italy – Enjoy the innovative, yet simple elegance of Alma Cookware. Alma Cookware produces non-stick aluminum cookware products and delivers healthy and tasty foods with the security of a professional product. Featuring La Sughiera – the thick-tempered glass lid with upper hole allows for spice-adding and stirring without removing the lid. Featuring Egizia – this warm color pottery connects modern technology with a traditional rural aesthetic. Made in Italy | Website | Italy-America new product connection | Retailers request samples at info@shiftmarketinggroup.net

 

Amazon exec: Bezos has planned for the eventual end of the company by Marc Stiles at Puget Sound Business Journal. “Jeff said to me, ‘John, opportunities like this come along once every 125 years. One hundred twenty-five years from now, when people have forgotten about Amazon…'”Schoettler was shocked, and wondered why Bezos would say that about the company he founded.” Read more

 

BJ’s starting work on first South Carolina store at The Post & Courier. “BJ’s Wholesale Club recently inked a 20-year lease for an 87,000-square-foot store it plans to open in Summerville as the chain makes it South Carolina debut.” Read more

 

A Year In, Jet.com Is Still Trying to Take On Amazon by Leena Rao at Fortune. On private-label – “It’s absolutely something we have in the works,” said Lore, calling the opportunity “low hanging fruit.” Some of the areas where Jet will be developing their own products include health and beauty, baby, and groceries.” Read more

 

LVMH to Sell Donna Karan to G-III Apparel for $650 Million by Thomas Mulier & Corinne Gretler at Bloomberg. Read more

 

7-Eleven Just Used a Drone to Deliver a Chicken Sandwich and Slurpees by Jonathan Vanian at Fortune. “After the drone reached the house, it hovered above while lowering the container to the family’s backyard using a rope…7-Eleven said it plans to work with Flirtey on future drone deliveries, but it did not say when it would roll out a broader drone delivery program for all of its stores.” Read more

 

Execs Remember Former Wal-Mart executive Don Soderquist by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “At 29 years old (Andy) Wilson said he had interviewed with executives all day for a job promotion that would take him from overseeing 12 stores to more than 120 stores. The last interview of the day was with Soderquist. Wilson said he will never forget that interview because Soderquist asked him to begin in prayer so that the two of them could align their focus before discussing the promotion.” Read more

 

…Doug McMillon: Remembering Don Soderquist Read more

 

Uncovering the rise and fall of the queen of Tupperware by Larry Getlen at NY Post. “One night in 1947, a salesman for the popular Stanley Home Products company — seller of mops, cleaners, detergents, and other products for housewives — knocked on the door of 34-year-old secretary and divorced mother of one, Brownie Wise. The man’s pitch was so inept that Wise could only think, “I could do better than that.” The ensuing years would show how right she was…” Read more

 

Europe: Here’s why P&G just launched online magazine for women over 50 by Barrett Brunsman at Cincinnati Business Courier. “The term “a woman of a certain age,”…is sometimes thought of as a polite reference to having reached a mature stage in life. But in France, one of the markets targeted by P&G, the term is considered sexy.” Read more

 

Lululemon CEO talks candidly about looming athleisure bubble by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. “Athleisure, that bubble will pop and the people that are not in it for the right reasons will go away,” Potdevin told CNBC in an exclusive interview.” See the video / Read more

 

From the Archives: Sol Price and the FedMart story by Bob Dorn at San Diego Reader. Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

Target and other companies turning to ‘reverse mentoring’ to tap millennials’ knowledge

Computers will use more electricity than the entire world can generate by 2040, tech experts claim

Adweek’s Creative 100: The 2016 List

Former Microsoft leader Marc Whitten joins Amazon after stint with Sonos

P&G sells massive product innovation center

Jacksonville: Land sold for expected Amazon.com center, setting stage for 1,500 jobs

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

 

QUICK-SUBSCRIBE to Eye on Retail Tipsheet here