Tipsheet: Target Shutters Several Pic Studios | McMillon Pic @ Sun Valley | Costco June Flat | Michaels Featured in Forbes

 

Costco June Comp Sales Flat / +3% (excluding gas & f/x) “Costco reported net sales of $11.33 billion for the month of June, the five weeks ended July 3, 2016, an increase of three percent from $11.03 billion during the similar period last year.” Read the release

 

Target closes several portrait studios around the U.S. by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. “That front of store space is valuable real estate in our stores,” said Kristy Welker, a Target spokeswoman, adding that the company has been evaluating the best and most profitable use of that space as it remodels some stores.” Read more

 

Walmart’s Doug McMillon attends annual power conference in Sun Valley, Idaho via Daily Mail. See pics of attendees / Read more

 

Forbes: How Michaels Stores Are Crafting A Modern Brick-And-Mortar Experience by Samantha Sharf. “…A decade ago Michaels, which prided itself on stocking the basics, probably wouldn’t have carried those books and certainly wouldn’t have displayed them prominently. Now trendy products are front and center, part of Michaels’ attempt to attract new types of customers and make its cavernous stores more navigable. “We’re not Apple. We don’t make the new iPhone that people will line up in advance for,” Rubin says. “We need products that people want in an environment they want to shop in.” Read more

 

NEW CHAMPION – Dutch robot rises to Amazon Challenge by grabbing and stowing items the best by Kurt Schlosser at GeekWire. “Team Delft, from a technical university in the Netherlands, won $50,000 by beating out 15 top teams with its more accomplished picking and stowing machine. The Challenge was held during RoboCup 2016 in Leipzig, Germany.” Read more / See the video

 

88% of WalmartPay transactions are from repeat customers by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “…in the last week as WalmartPay became available nationwide there was a 45% increase in use from the previous week. He said 3 out of 4 customers who used it give it a 5-star rating, and 4 out of 5 users recommend it to their friends.” Read more

 

**A message from Pirola Italy – Colorful, designer-inspired ironing boards add spice to any home. Exclusively made in Italy for 45 years, these high-quality boards bring design and excitement to the category. Featuring the Arco board from the Design Line and the Luna board from the Plus Line. Custom colors and designs available. Retailers request samples at info@shiftmarketinggroup.net. Italy-America new product connection

 

LOWE’S WAS VR BEFORE VR WAS COOL – Lowe’s Tangos With Google To Help You Remodel Your Home In Augmented Reality by Steven Melendez at Fast Company. “When we did this story, it was way before Oculus Rift came out—this was way, way back when nobody was really talking about VR/AR in any meaningful way,” Nel says. “And since then, we’ve been iterating a number of times to help achieve that vision.” Read more

 

STUDY: 20% of Americans are too poor to shop by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. “These 26 million Americans are juggling two to three jobs, earning just around $27,000 a year and supporting two to four children — and exist largely under the radar…“The poorest Americans have stopped shopping, except for necessities,” said Britt Beemer, chairman of ARG.” Read more

 

ANALYST SLAMS MACY’S NEW BOSS JEFF GENNETTE by Andy Brownfield at Cincinnati Business Courier. “Gennette has participated in the total collapse of the brand, and as a merchant for decades, failed to see the shifting demographic and spending habits that were proliferating in the retail landscape,” Golden wrote. “The move by Macy’s to promote Gennette is akin to taking a Major League Baseball player with a career batting average of .200 and making him the hitting coach for a Major League Baseball team.” Read more

 

Wal-Mart in China faces employee protests by Joe McDonald at AP via Montreal Gazette. “Employees said Wal-Mart wants them to work 11-hour shifts on weekends and as little as four hours on weekdays under a system it started to roll out in June…Last week, staff members protested on Friday and Saturday outside Wal-Mart stores in the cities of Nanchang and Shenzhen in southern China, Chengdu in the west and Harbin in the northeast…” Read more

 

MIAMI – Publix is getting into the grocery delivery business with Instacart by Justine Griffin at Tampa Bay Times. “On July 12, Publix customers in some Miami neighborhoods will be able to order groceries online or through the Instacart smartphone app and have their groceries delivered to their home. The service will be available ZIP codes from Hallandale Beach to South Miami.” Read more

 

Walgreens CEO ‘Confident’ Rite Aid Deal ‘Will Go Through’ by Bruce Japsen at Forbes. “By December, we believe that everything will be done,” Walgreens Boots Alliance CEO Stefano Pessina said in answering questions about a U.S. regulatory review of its acquisition of Rite Aid.” Read more

 

…Expects to Shutter 500 Stores After Rite-Aid Deal Closes by Phil Wahba at Fortune. “That’s much less than what some analysts, or even the company, initially expected when the all-cash deal was announced last October.” Read more

 

Whole Foods promoted documentary about lives of farm animals to air by Bethany Clough at Fresno Bee. “At the Fork” follows filmmaker John Papola, who says he loves a big plate of ribs, and his vegetarian wife as he tracks how food ends up on his plate.” Read more / See the trailer

 

Hardware chain Orchard Supply eyeing Orlando area by Kyle Arnold at Orlando Sentinel. “Orchard Supply Hardware has about 70 stores in California and Oregon, but does not have any presence outside of the West Coast.” Read more

 

Possibly Rabid Animal Bites Walmart Shoppers via CBS Boston. “At least two people were reportedly bitten by a small black mammal that might have been a ferret, mink or weasel, according to authorities.” Read more

 

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Family Dollar Employee Fatally Shot Trying to Stop a Shoplifter

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Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

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