FreshDirect shopping itself after Bronx move fail: sources by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. “Amazon and Walmart recently vetted FreshDirect’s financial and performance data…In the past, FreshDirect brass have consistently brushed aside overtures — rebuffing offers from Amazon and Walmart in 2010 for $2.3 billion and $2.6 billion, respectively, according to a former executive with direct knowledge of those offers…but now JPMorgan…wants out of its investment, sources said.” Read more

 

Jeff Bezos’s Master Plan by Franklin Foer at The Atlantic. “To better understand him, I spent five months speaking with current and former Amazon executives…In the course of these conversations, my view of Bezos began to shift. Many of my assumptions about the man melted away; admiration jostled with continued unease. And I was left with a new sense of his endgame…” Read more

 

Target’s Chief Diversity Officer Caroline Wanga Is Here to Change the World by Ellen McGirt at Fortune. “Early in her corporate career, she hit rock bottom. “I hit a climax of faking it. And what became essentially an internal conflict between my psychology and my physiology rendered me paralyzed psychologically for 60 days. I was in a state of crisis and what I realized through getting help for that was that I had been carrying the burden of being somebody else for too long.” Read more

 

Seven & I Holdings to cut 3,000 jobs and close 1,000 7-Eleven convenience stores across Japan at The Japan Times. Read more

 

In heart of Amazon’s Seattle headquarters, a first-of-its-kind family shelter takes shape for Mary’s Place by Benjamin Romano at Seattle Times. “It appears to be the first of its kind anywhere built into a corporate office. Amazon essentially sliced off a 63,000-square-foot chunk of one of its new Seattle buildings to provide the nonprofit with a permanent space…When the shelter fills with up to 275 moms, dads and kids early next year, it will be a supportive, temporary home with help to find permanent housing…” Tiered subs.

 

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Sears Hasn’t Fared Better After Bankruptcy as Another 100 Stores Will Soon Close by Suzanne Kapner at Wall Street Journal. “Sears is still struggling to win back suppliers who curtailed shipments during the bankruptcy proceedings. That has left shelves bare of key items. When Mr. Dworsky visited a Kmart in Somerville, Mass., in May, he was surprised to find the garden center empty at the height of a spring planting season. That store is among those now closing.” WSJ subs.

 

Instacart shoppers are organizing a nationwide protest at Megan Rose Dickey at TechCrunch. “From November 3-5, thousands of Instacart shoppers plan to protest with three demands. They want Instacart to change the default tip amount to at least 10%, ditch the service fee and commit to always giving 100% of the tip to the shopper.” Read more

 

Low prices aren’t fun anymore—consumers have reached peak happiness with clothing purchases at CNBC. “The apparel market has “hit a ceiling” and is “going into structural decline,” according to a note from Morgan Stanley. The cause of it? Consumers have reached peak happiness with clothing purchases, wrote analyst Geoff Ruddell on Friday.” Read more

 

The Fresh Market Appoints Dan Portnoy As Chief Merchandising Officer “(Portnoy has) been the President and CEO at Kings Super Markets/Balducci’s Markets and the Chief Merchandising & Marketing Officer at Winn-Dixie Stores.” Press release

 

Kohl’s Promotes Finance Veteran to CFO in Effort to Boost Customer Traffic by Mark Maurer at Wall Street Journal. “Michelle Gass, the chief executive of Kohl’s, “has to deal with two major exits while she is under pressure to show that her strategy is working,” said David Swartz, an analyst at Morningstar Inc. “The results from the year’s first half didn’t give a lot of confidence.” WSJ subs.

 

DoorDash Just Expanded Into an Entirely New Business by Danielle Abril at Fortune. “DoorDash is going beyond online delivery and has opened its first brick-and-mortar shop: A shared kitchen for four of its restaurant partners. The company’s first DoorDash Kitchens location in Redwood City, Calif., provides cooking space for Nations Giant Hamburgers, Rooster & Rice, Humphry Slocombe, and The Halal Guys.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra

The weird and complicated past behind Maraschino cherries

Menards employee hit by fleeing shoplifter’s car will undergo rehab at Colorado

Victoria’s Secret cuts 50 from HQ staff, head of stores to step down

Here are the ‘oppressive’ working conditions at the farms that supply Whole Foods

Amazon lays out its positions on a wide range of issues

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

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