Whole Foods suffers data breach in some stores by Angelica LaVito at CNBC. “Whole Foods suffered a data breach of credit card information used in taprooms and full table-service restaurants in some of the grocery chain’s stores, the company said Thursday. Whole Foods noted these venues use a different point-of-sale system than the main checkout systems. Credit cards used at those systems were not affected, the company said.” Read more

 

Ikea has bought TaskRabbit by Kara Swisher & Theodore Schleifer at NY Post. “The price of the deal could not be determined, but the contract labor marketplace company has raised about $50 million since it was founded nine years ago. Sources added that TaskRabbit will become an independent subsidiary within Ikea and that CEO Stacy Brown-Philpot and its staff would remain.” Read more

 

Jet.com site to launch its own line of groceries by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. “…with plans to introduce more than 60 food and household items in the coming months…“The branded vendors are privately telling us that they are relieved about the Jet.com division becoming a big private label seller,” said Flickinger. “They see Jet.com as the best opportunity to slow Amazon’s march towards making unreasonable demands in its procurement.” Read more

 

Hemp pills and oils make brief appearance at Target.com, get purged from the site at Pioneer Press. “Although some medical marijuana advocates celebrated the appearance of Charlotte’s Web products on Target’s website, the product was quickly made unavailable.” Read more

 

Rite Aid Blames Walgreens Deal Drama for Poor Performance by Phil Wahba at Fortune. “Rite Aid tried to mitigate the blow by announcing it had tapped a respected executive in the drugstore industry to be its new president and operations chief. Kermit Crawford, who spent 30 years at Walgreens but left in 2014, will join the company next Thursday. At Walgreens, he had last served as executive vice president and president of pharmacy health and wellness.” Read more

 

Saks clerk and his psychic stole $50K from Fifth Avenue store by Rebecca Rosenberg at NY Post. “He [Axel] said if I returned the items so we could put them on gift cards and buy things. I was directed as to which things to take,” she confessed, according to authorities. The thieves grew even more brazen toward the end of their scheme, snatching goods and strolling out the door with them, court papers allege.” Read more

 

Fired Harris Teeter worker accused of stealing $78,000 from its charitable foundation by Joe Marusak & Maria David at Charlotte Observer. “Belk is accused of modifying employees’ approved financial hardship applications after payments were made to the workers. The changes caused additional checks to be issued to pay her expenses as well, according to the federal document.” Read more

 

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Finish Line in talks to sell itself to a British retailer by Josh Kosman at NY Post. “British-based Sports Direct — which owns brands including Everlast and Kangol — is in direct negotiations to buy Finish Line, and an acquisition could be announced in the coming weeks, a source close to the situation said.” Read more

 

Taco Bell and Forever 21’s new clothing line is the ultimate Generation Z bait by Whitney Filoon at Eater via CNBC. “Think a pink pullover sweatshirt with an embroidered “Live Mas” logo on the chest, or a tank top designed to look like a packet of the chain’s signature Fire Sauce. The collection will be available in Forever 21 stores and via Forever21.com beginning Wednesday, October 11, with a preview event slated for October 11 in downtown LA’s Fashion District.” Read more

 

P&G board member Frank Blake dismisses Nelson Peltz efforts at Bloomberg. “P&G board member Frank Blake, former CEO of Home Depot Inc., said that Peltz would be joining in the middle of a turnaround that is already yielding results. “If this were at the very beginning and someone said, ‘I have a ton of ideas’ that’s a different situation. We’re two years into this.” Read more

 

Loblaw says it’s exploring grocery home delivery partnership with Instacart at Toronto Star. “Currently, Canadians have few options for grocery delivery with a small number of companies, like Grocery Gateway, and a few large chains offering the service in limited locations.” Read more

 

Amazon Alexa To Give Billy Big Mouth Bass a Bigger Playlist by Barb Darrow at Fortune. “What that means is that the fish will be able to lip sync and move to whatever tunes you play on your Amazon Echo speaker. This significantly expands Billy’s repertoire from its early days, when it was limited to covering a few songs like Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” or Al Green’s “Take Me To the River.” Read more

 

A new Amazon plant stalled in the Philly suburbs at Philly Inquirer. “…a months-long state air pollution review has delayed the planned opening of its Amazon Woot! manufacturing facility near Norristown until next year.” Read more

 

Mattel Nursery Gadget Listens to Babies, Sets Off Privacy Alarms by Todd Shields at Bloomberg. Read more

 

Lowe’s chief innovation officer Kyle Nel talks to Entrepreneur Read more/38 min podcast

 

Toymakers say there is ‘widespread panic’ following Toys R Us bankruptcy by Abha Bhattarai at Washington Post via Chicago Tribune. “In total, Toys R Us owes $7.5 billion to a group that includes virtually every major toymaker in the country: Mattel (owed $136 million), Hasbro ($59 million), Spin Master ($33 million), Lego ($32 million), Radio Flyer ($12 million), Crayola ($2.6 million).” Read more

 

Whole Foods CEO says Amazon helped his company escape ‘whole paycheck’ trap by Eugene Kim at CNBC. “One reason the merger came about is Whole Foods was in a trap, and I couldn’t quite figure how to get out of that trap,” Mackey said at SNAC International’s Executive Leadership Forum, which Food Business news covered. “We escaped the trap. I feel a little bit like Houdini.” Read more

 

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