Hurricane Harvey poised to unleash flooding disaster on Texas into early next week at AccuWeather. “Harvey is projected to make landfall along the Texas coast on Friday night as a Category 3 hurricane. The storm strengthened to a Category 2 hurricane early Friday morning.” Read more

 

…Ugly scenes as customers fight over water and grocery stores sell out of supplies before Hurricane Harvey at Daily Mail. “Photos show people waiting in long lines to check out with pallets of water bottles in their carts and cars lined up around blocks to get gas. One user wrote on Twitter: ‘People grabbing cases of water like it’s a Black Friday sale. Hurricane Harvey is real.'” Pics/Video/Read more

 

…”It’s kind of hectic, chaotic” Louis Tellez, beer and wine specialist for the H-E-B off San Felipe St., said. at Houston Chronicle. Read more

 

Big Lots Q2 comp sales +1.8% Press release

 

Ulta Q2 comp sales +11.7% “Retail comparable sales increased 8.3%, including salon comparable sales growth of 7.7%. Salon sales increased 15.3% to $68.0 million from $59.0 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2016.” Press release

 

GameStop Q2 global comp sales +1.9% (-1.4% in the U.S. and +9.8% internationally) Press release

 

Amazon to cut Whole Foods prices, escalating grocery turf war at Reuters. “Shares of Kroger closed down 8 percent…Starting on Monday (Amazon) will cut prices on organic grocery staples such as bananas, avocados, brown eggs, farmed salmon and tilapia, baby kale and lettuce, some apples, butter and other products.” Read more

 

…Whole Foods’s generic 365 brands as well as its store branded pet foods Whole Paws and seafood Whole Catch will now be available at Amazon.com, AmazonFresh, Prime Pantry and Prime Now. Fortune article

 

…Customers can have products shipped from Amazon.com to their local Whole Foods store (not available at all stores) for pick up or send returns back to Amazon during a trip to the store. Fortune article

 

Macy’s Picks BBDO New York as Creative Agency of Record for Its $700 Million Account by Patrick Coffee at Adweek. “According to multiple parties with direct knowledge of the matter, BBDO participated in a closed pitch that included Ogilvy and Publicis to win the business this summer…The agency also has a direct connection to the Macy’s marketing team. In May, Jim Reath, who served as evp, head of retail at BBDO New York and ran the Lowe’s and Toys R Us accounts, moved to Macy’s as its svp of marketing.” Read more

 

China’s Grocery Trolls Make Giant Piggy Banks of Wal-Mart and Carrefour at Bloomberg. “They are the No. 1 problem supermarkets in China are facing now,” says Chu Dong, vice chairman of the China Chainstore & Franchise Association, an industry group. “They are harming not just the retail industry but placing a heavy burden on regulatory and judicial authorities in China and betraying the spirit of the law.” Read more

 

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Thousands of Amazonians packs Seattle arena for ‘all hands’ meeting by Nat Levy at GeekWire. Pics/Tweets/Read more

 

Without Insurance, Some Vendors Are Balking at Stocking Sears’ Shelves via Fortune. “It’s too expensive,” Michael Fellner, owner of Montreal-based women’s wear company Lori Michaels Apparel & Manufacturing Inc, said of the specialized vendor insurance…Two other small vendors told Reuters they stopped supplying Sears this year because they could not afford the insurance.” Read more

 

Walmart CTO Jeremy King will be a keynote speaker at the NW Arkansas Technology Summit on Oct. 17 at the John Q. Hammons Convention Center in Rogers. by Jennifer Joyner at Talk Business. Read more

 

Hudson’s Bay says its president of international business is leaving via Financial Post. “The news of his move comes after U.S. activist investor Jonathan Litt warned he would consider a push to remove some of the company’s directors unless it took steps to make more money off its assets…Former J.C. Penney Co Inc executive Edward Record will start as chief financial officer of Hudson’s Bay on Monday.” Read more

 

Amazon’s social media ‘Influencers’ program opens up to YouTube stars by Sarah Perez at TechCrunch. Read more

 

Walmart Just Opened An Organic Fast Food Joint In Florida by Candace Brown Davison at Delish. “The Wally World off of Narcoosee Road in Orlando, FL, is bucking that trend, putting a unique — and unexpected — restaurant featured front and center. It’s called grown, an organic restaurant founded by former NBA player Ray Allen and his wife, Shannon.” Read more

 

Fashion line owned by Prada pulls clothes that feature yellow star patches some critics say resemble the Stars of David Jews were forced to wear during the Holocaust via Toronto Star. Read more

 

Amazon brings its cash deposit service for the underbanked to the UK by Natasha Lomas at TechCrunch. Read more

 

Ocean Beach residents push back against plan for TargetExpress by John Wilkens at San Diego Union-Tribune. “At an occasionally raucous meeting of the Ocean Beach Town Council Wednesday night, a crowd of about 100 people made it clear that they don’t want a large, profit-driven corporation in their backyard. A show of hands at the end of the 80-minute discussion at the Masonic Lodge saw only three go up in support of the proposal.” Read more

 

Amazon’s new ‘Hub’ delivery locker system is already a hit in San Francisco apartment building by Kurt Schlosser at GeekWire. “In the first few days, 90 of the 180 lockers were being used.” Read more/Pics

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

Hurricane Harvey likely to boost gas prices for US drivers

Apple CEO visits Cincinnati manufacturer to say thank you

This T-Shirt Sewing Robot Could Radically Shift The Apparel Industry

Powerball winner’s ex-husband was recently killed in freak accident

Amazon building fashionable AI that can quickly spot and reproduce the latest trends

Outdoor Voices clinches $9 million in round led by former J. Crew CEO

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

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