Tipsheet: Lowe’s Backs Moved | Wegmans #28 Women | Overstock Soars
‘Amazon tax’: Britain is reportedly mulling over a special tax to help local online retailers, finance minister says at CNBC. “Hammond’s comments come as department store House of Fraser was placed in administration on Friday, shortly before being bought by retailer Sports Direct for $115 million.” Read more
Forbes: Best Employers for Women (Sephora #15, Wegmans #28, Gap #66) Ranked list
Canadian Tire Quarterly Comp Sales +1.6% at Reuters. “However, retail margins dipped 3 basis point, while analysts at Raymond James were expecting a rise of 21 basis points.” Read more
Lowe’s Ventures backs Moved by Anthony Ha at TechCrunch. “Pittenger decided to make the whole (moving) process a lot easier by founding Moved…it’s raised $3.2 million in seed funding from Lowe’s Ventures, FJ Labs, AngelPad, Real Estate Technology Ventures and others.” Read more
Private equity giant Leonard Green buying hot online retailer Shade Store for $325 million at CNBC. “For Leonard Green, it marks a shift in strategy away from its larger retail bets in recent years, like J.Crew, David’s Bridal and BJ’s Wholesale Club…The Shade Store sells its window products online and in 60 showrooms across the country.” Read more
Ingles Q3 Comp Sales +1.8% Press release
Target Names John Bauer SVP, Global Inventory Management “Bauer most recently served as chief logistics officer for The TJX Companies, Inc. and held prior supply chain leadership positions at Kohl’s and Starbucks. He previously worked at Target from 1999 to 2007.” Press release
Amazon plans internal healthcare clinics for employees at Seattle headquarters by Clare McGrane at GeekWire. Read more
QVC.com’s online sales +8% / Zulily.com’s sales +13% / HSN and the Cornerstone sales decrease by April Berthene at Internet Retailer. “Zulily had the most sales growth among Qurate’s assets…total customers for Zulily.com grew 29%.” Read more
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The Buckle July Comp Sales +2.3% Press release
Kroger adds branding and marketing to Gil Phipps’ role as vice president of Our Brands by Steve Watkins at Cincinnati Business Courier. “Kroger’s store brands set the company record for the top retail dollar share during the first quarter this year, with store-brand sales rising 5.1 percent in the quarter.” Read more
The Fresh Market Appoints Oded Shein as CFO “Shein brings more than 25 years of financial experience from a variety of retail stores, including serving as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Stage Stores.” Press release
After aborted Rite Aid deal, Albertsons faces rocky path at CNBC. Read more
Amazon doubles down on vehicles as the next domain for digital brain Alexa with new tools by Nat Levy at GeekWire. “The new Alexa Auto Software Development Kit includes code to program in capabilities like calling, media streaming, navigation and search, all via voice command.” Read more
CINCY: Kroger partners with Grammy nominee Jewel to create the Wellness Your Way Festival by Erin Caproni at Cincinnati Business Courier. “It will be held Oct. 4-7 at the Duke Energy Convention Center. Among the most recognizable festival participants are singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw, Cincinnati celebrity Nick Lachey, master fitness trainer and creator of P90X Tony Horton…” Read more
H-E-B reportedly closing Houston area store, transforming it into e-commerce center by Jen Para at Houston Business Journal. Read more
CANADA: Credit card firms to trim merchant fees, but some retailers ‘underwhelmed’ via The Province. “Ottawa announced Thursday it has reached voluntary, five-year deals with Visa, MasterCard and American Express to cut fees by about 10 basis points.” Read more
Overstock shares soar 20% after a massive private-equity investment in its blockchain unit tZero at CNBC. Read more
Former Sears CEO sells Chicago area home for less than two-thirds what he paid for it at Crain’s Chicago Business. Read more
J.C. Penney adding infant and toddler gear near the closed Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores by Maria Halkias at Dallas Morning News. “The retailer is adding cribs, high chairs, strollers, car seats and everyday baby essentials such as bottles, pacifiers, diaper bags, snack cups and crib sheets in about 500 stores.” Tiered subs.
Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy’s Score Top Spots in Advertising Effectiveness by Tracy Greenstein at WWD. Subscription
Golf equipment sales see 8 percent uptick by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. “Last year, sales declined by 6 percent as golfers scooped up huge deals when Sports Authority and Golfsmith liquidated.” Read more
Homeless people wearing barcodes to accept cashless payments by Camilla Turner at Telegraph. “A new social innovation project, called Greater Change, hands homeless people a QR code, similar to the kind issued for online tickets. Passersby who wish to give money…can scan the code using their smart phone, and make an online payment to the person.” Read more
Tipsheet Extra Stories
McDonald’s opens sleek, new 19,000-square-foot restaurant in Chicago
Outdoor fun dwindles as smoky haze hangs over California
Saint Louis University putting 2,300 Amazon Echo Dots in student housing
How Ikea quietly tweaks its design around the world
Tiffany shares fall on concern sales to Chinese tourists will decline
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