Police arrest man carrying 5 guns, body armor into Georgia Publix at The Hill. “After officers saw Marley leaving the bathroom, they quickly apprehended him. They found two long guns, and three pistols, the newspaper reports, all of which were concealed. Authorities have not yet determined why Marley was carrying so many weapons. Marley has been charged with reckless conduct.” Read more

 

RH Q4 net revenues +22% Press release

 

Covid-19 Vaccinations, Tests Give Boost to Kroger’s Health Ambitions at Wall Street Journal. “Covid has taught us that pharmacy is always really important and will be important as we go forward,” Rodney McMullen, Kroger’s chief executive, said in an interview… The company plans to offer more nutrition counseling and sell curated boxes of healthy foods that are tailored to medical conditions. It is also discussing potential partnerships with hospitals.” WSJ subs.

 

Shoe Carnival Q4 comp sales +6.4% Press release

 

Lowe’s looks beyond gardening and grills this spring at CNBC. “Bill Boltz, executive vice president of merchandising, said…it makes sense for the retailer to sell trampolines and towels, along with lawn mowers, patio sets and bathroom shelving. “We’re not going to enter into the grocery space, but we think there’s an opportunity to do some things here and push it a little bit where we have a right to play,” he said in a CNBC interview.” Read more

 

…Lowe’s plans ‘SpringFest’ event with free curbside ‘Garden-to-Go’ projects for families at USA Today. “Spring just feels so metaphoric this year. Sort of this coming out of our winter, literally and figuratively,” (Marisa) Thalberg said in an interview with USA TODAY. “We’re already seeing that interest starting to really build quickly as the weather is starting to get warmer in different parts of the country.” Read more

 

IKEA Taps Linus Karlsson as Creative Chief Across Marketing and Product at Wall Street Journal. “Product development and communications are overlapping more and more,” Mr. Karlsson said. “Collaboration in all forms is definitely a way forward. It’s not good for things to be siloed.” Some of the shift can be attributed to consumers’ growing expressions of opinions on social media, as well as their interactions with marketers online, according to Mr. Karlsson.” WSJ subs.

 

Facebook, Amazon edge out other corporate giants in lobby spending at Seattle Times. “Facebook and Amazon.com became the largest corporate lobbying spenders in Washington, D.C., the last two years…Facebook increased spending 56% to $19.7 million between 2018 and 2020, while Amazon spent 30% more to reach $18.7 million.” Read more

 

H&M has been removed by major e-commerce and service apps in China at TechCrunch. “…after a Communist Party organization barraged it for a statement expressing “deep concern” over allegations of forced labor in Xinjiang’s cotton industry. On Thursday morning, a search for “H&M” yielded zero results on e-commerce platforms including Alibaba’s Taobao, JD.com…” Read more

 

Sobeys’ parent company teams up with manufacturers to draft code of conduct for embattled grocery sector at Financial Post. “I don’t love more legislation, more regulation — I don’t,” Empire chief executive Michael Medline said in an interview. “I just don’t see any other way to improve relationships in this industry, all the way from farmers to customers.” Empire co-wrote the code of conduct with Food, Health and Consumer Products of Canada (FHCP) — an improbable alliance, considering FHCP has for years been the loudest and fiercest critic of how the big grocers treat their suppliers.” Read more

 

Beauty and bargain retail could be the biggest winners in 2021, Wells Fargo predicts at CNBC. “Wells Fargo’s retail team recently polled 1,000 consumers in the United States to get a better sense of their post-pandemic shopping behaviors. When asked which products they are most likely to buy first, post-pandemic, respondents most frequently selected makeup, at 40%. That even surpassed “going-out apparel,” which was chosen by 37%.” Read more

 

7-Eleven is opening a taco drive-thru at CNN. “Typically, Laredo Taco locations can be found in 7-Eleven stores themselves. This is the first drive-thru for the taco chain, as well as the first drive-thru at a corporate-owned 7-Eleven store. Customers can order Slurpees in addition to items from the Laredo Taco menu…” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra

Q&A w/Brenda Lord, VP, private brands and quality assurance, CVS Health

Acme, Safeway add Bowery indoor-grown greens

Lidl cheers recognition from New York beer competition

New York Yankees team up with Amazon to offer 21 streaming games

Jay Leno apologizes for decades of jokes about Asians

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

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