Walmart’s CEO says Americans urgently need another stimulus check at CNBC. “Doug McMillon said more customers spent their recent stimulus checks on necessities, such as groceries, rather than big-screen TVs. He said the spending patterns indicate that more families are hurting and need help.” Read more

 

Lights come back on in Texas as water woes rise in the South at AP. “Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said residents will probably have to boil tap water in the fourth-largest U.S. city until Sunday or Monday.” Read more

 

Michaels Stores’ Strategy for Keeping the Covid Bump Alive at Wall Street Journal. “MR. BUCHANAN: I toured a lot of stores before I joined the company, and what I saw was stores out of stocks, kind of a cluttered presentation. The website, I would not say it was great. It was really more around promotions, coupons, quite like a flea market. But the store was crowded, despite what I thought was perhaps mismanagement. I’ll never forget one customer who said, “I love it here, you all just make it really hard to love it.” Q&A WSJ subs.

 

Walmart Canada defends controversial new supplier fees as sales soar at Financial Post. “Since announcing the fees last July, Walmart has been relatively tight-lipped as tensions mounted in the sector. But Barbeito on Thursday laid out exactly why he believes the new fees — up to 6.25 per cent of the cost of goods sold to Walmart — are fair. He said retailers now deal with a “customer that’s channel agnostic,” after an unprecedented shift to online ordering during the pandemic. That kind of customer is more expensive to deal with.” Read more

 

Sam’s Club name VMLY&R its first agency of record after review at Ad Age. “The move follows a review, conducted entirely over Zoom and handled by Select Resources International, that included five agencies that Senior VP-Chief Member Officer Tony Rogers declined to name…“We were blown away by the caliber of the agencies showing up,” Rogers says. “Sometimes, even internally, you think of us as a subsidiary of Walmart. And then you put an RFP out there, and you see the market realizes how big Sam’s Club is.” Ad Age subs.

 

Portland cops guard Fred Meyer dumpsters as scavengers rummage through mountains of food thrown out after freezers fail at Daily Mail. Read more/Pics

 

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Biden privately tells governors: Minimum wage hike likely isn’t happening at Politico. “I really want this in there but it just doesn’t look like we can do it because of reconciliation,” Biden told the group, according to a person in the room. “I’m not going to give up. But right now, we have to prepare for this not making it.” Read more

 

California eclipses Washington as Amazon’s biggest state for jobs, with 153k employees and counting at GeekWire. Read more

 

Trader Joe’s reveals hottest products in freezer case at Winsight Grocery Business. “We definitely saw trends that we were not expecting. Overall frozen has seen great growth,” said Trader Joe’s category manger for frozen, identified as Mary Ann. “Appetizers—huge growth there—more than just double-digit growth. Everything from items we’ve carried every day for many years, like the Mac and Cheese Bites, our Samosas, and new favorites like the Buffalo Chicken Poppers. [And] breakfast items—our croissants, our Chocolate and our Almond Croissants, especially.” Read more

 

Walmart’s Mexico unit posts 12.2% rise in Q4 net profit at Reuters. Read more

 

These store brands were among the 2021 Product of the Year winners at Store Brands. “Chosen by 40,000 American shoppers in a national survey conducted by Kantar each of the winning products has been awarded as the most innovative in their category by Product of the Year.” List of winners

 

Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner sends letter to associates Read letter

 

Girl Scouts releasing cookie-inspired sneakers with K-Swiss at Fox Business. “”Girl Scout x K-Swiss Court 66″ is set to be released next month and will be available at K-Swiss, the Girl Scouts online store and Foot Locker, according to Good Morning America.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra

Giant’s Philadelphia flagship readies opening

Yeti is bringing its indestructible product savvy to luggage

Best Buy settles price-inaccuracy allegations by paying $633K to four CA counties

‘H-E-B for governor’: Texans praise H-E-B for winter storm response

Ideoclick Extends E-Commerce Platform Support to Instacart, Walmart and Target

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

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