TV STATION FINDS NATIONWIDE PRICING GLITCH AT TARGET – Baby aisle more expensive than Pharmacy by Jessica McMaster at 41 KSHB Kansas City. “The 41 Action News Investigators called Target’s corporate offices to find out why the store was charging two different prices for the same item.  Kristy Welker, a spokeswoman for Target, said it was the first time she heard of the issue…After several hours, she contacted the 41 Action News Investigators, saying a glitch was found in Target’s pricing system.” See the video / Read more

 

Best Buy Q2 Comp Sales +0.8% “This is on top of comparable sales growth of 3.8% last year. We saw continued positive momentum in our online sales – delivering a second straight quarter of nearly 24% growth.” Press release

 

…Fox Business: Best Buy Surprise Sends Shares Soaring “Total revenue slightly rose to $8.53 billion in the second quarter ended July 30, snapping a three-quarter streak of declines.” Read more

 

Citigroup Stumbles Anew With Errant E-Mails to Costco Customers by Jennifer Surane at Bloomberg. “Citigroup Inc. mistakenly sent e-mails to some active Costco Wholesale Corp. members telling them their wholesale club membership had lapsed and that their cards would be canceled, bringing a fresh headache to the new partnership.” Read more

 

Target CIO: Prioritizing Stores, Digital, Supply Chain and Hiring Engineers at A Bullseye View. “About 70% of our engineering staff was third-party contractors vs. 30% Target team members. We had far more contractors than we needed…In just a year’s time, we’ve completely flipped that ratio—so that now about 70% of our engineering staff is team members while 30% is made up of contractors. And going forward I’d like to see that ratio get up to 80:20.” Read more

 

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Wal-Mart Reviews Welspun Records After Target Pulls Sheets by K Oanh Ha & Rajhkumar K Shaaw at Bloomberg. “(Walmart) plans to hold further discussions with Welspun and “handle it appropriately” if any issues are discovered, according to spokeswoman Marilee McInnis. Wal-Mart is Welspun’s third-largest customer, behind Target.” Read more

 

Hollywood Target, still dormant, remains at the center of furious legal fight by David Zahniser at LA Times. “For a fleeting moment, it looked as if the long-stalled, partly built Target shopping center in Hollywood might finally be in the clear…The city’s lawyers now say that, in the wake of a new ruling Target will need to obtain permission from a Superior Court judge  to resume construction. Read more

 

Cramer: We’ve got retail all wrong — time to bury the ‘death of the mall’ story at CNBC. “Amazon’s $50 billion in domestic sales in the past year was an indicator to Cramer that there is market share for everyone, as the U.S. had $4.71 trillion in retail sales during the same time period. Brick-and-mortars, which once seemed like zombies, once again have a pulse.” Read more/See the video

 

Best Buy opens connected home display in Mall of America by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. “The project is reminiscent of the experimental store called “Open House” that Minneapolis-based Target Corp. opened in July 2015 in San Francisco.” Read more

 

Warby Parker’s First Standalone Austin Store to Open Aug. 27th by Will Anderson at Austin Business Journal. “Warby Parker also plans to open a second Austin location this fall at Domain Northside, part of Endeavor Real Estate Group’s new addition to the North Austin master-planned development.” Read more

 

Couche-Tard is now the largest fuel retailer on continent by Geoffrey Morgan at Financial Post. Read more

 

Loblaw makes $170-million cash bid for B.C. medical records company QHR Corp. by Sean Craig at Financial Post. “The country’s largest food retailer offered $3.10 cash per share of Kelowna’s QHR Corp. — or 22 per cent over the stock’s price on the TSX Venture Exchange at Friday’s close — saying it will be a “natural complement” to its Shoppers Drug Mart division.” Read more

 

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