Tipsheet: These CEOs Meet Trump Today | Lidl’s US Master Plan | New Amazon Store in CA | Wegmans Holds Firm
Heavyweight retail CEOs to meet with Trump today via Reuters. “The meeting will include Target CEO Brian Cornell, Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly, Gap Inc CEO Art Peck, Autozone Inc CEO William Rhodes, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc CEO Stefano Pessina, J.C. Penney CEO Marvin Ellison, Jo-Ann Stores CEO Jill Soltau and Tractor Supply Co CEO Gregory Sandfort, according to those familiar with attendees.” Read more
A first look at how German grocer Lidl plans to conquer the U.S. market by Sarah Halzack at Washington Post. “When it comes to the exterior of the store, focus groups were initially shown a design that hewed fairly closely to what Lidl stores look like in Europe. Turns out, U.S. consumers thought it looked like a car dealership. That sent Lidl back to the drawing board.” Read more
Amazon taking its bricks and mortar to the Bay Area with another bookstore location by Kurt Schlosser at GeekWire. “Amazon Books is coming to Walnut Creek, Calif., according to a report in the East Bay Times, which says the Bay Area city’s Broadway Plaza will be home to the store. Amazon currently has bookstores in Seattle, Portland and San Diego.” Read more
U.S. Retail Sales Beat Expectations in January at Fox Business. “Sales at clothing stores jumped 1.0 percent, the largest rise in nearly a year. Department store sales climbed 1.2 percent, the biggest increase since December 2015.” Read more
BJ’s Wholesale readying for IPO or sale by Greg Ryan at Boston Business Journal. “The firms, CVC Capital Partners and Leonard Green & Partners, are now hiring investment bankers to explore the options, the Journal reported, citing anonymous sources. An IPO would come in the second half of 2017, one source reportedly said.” Read more | WSJ article (subs.)
Amazon, Google Dial Up Plans to Turn Smart Speakers Into Home Phones by Ryan Knutson & Laura Stevens at Wall Street Journal. “Amazon is considering multiple options for how the phone feature could work, the people said. The Echo could get its own phone number. Call forwarding could enable calls to that number to be answered remotely on a cellphone, and vice versa. Another option is to sync a user’s existing phone number and contacts with the Echo. Incoming calls would ring on the user’s cellphone.” Read more (subs.)
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Etsy’s new marketplace aims to make it easier for everyone to start creating and selling their wares by Pavithra Mohan at Fast Company.”The simplified search results should help Etsy attract more creators to the platform. And if they still need a bit of inspiration, Etsy Studio will launch with 60 tutorials on everything from customizing a cutting board to creating a bezel setting for a ring.” Read more
Rent-A-Center major investor urging company to sell itself by Korri Kezar at Dallas Business Journal. “Engaged Capital, which owns a 12.9 percent stake in Rent-A-Center, released a letter on Tuesday alleging Rent-A-Center’s board of directors has “been largely ‘asleep at the wheel’” and allowed shares of the company to decline from over $35 two years ago.” Read more
H-E-B makes $1 million contribution to South San Antonio park construction by Katie Burke at San Antonio Business Journal. Read more
Nordstrom’s nixing of Ivanka Trump brand backed by sales data, reports WSJ by Janet I. Tu at Seattle Times via The Spokesman-Review. “The Wall Street Journal cited internal Nordstrom data in reporting that sales of the Ivanka Trump fashion line slid 32 percent last fiscal year, and plunged more than 70 percent in the second through fourth weeks of October, compared to a year earlier.” Read more
Wal-Mart Sued Over ‘Craft’ Labeling On Beer Collaboration by Kat Greene at Law 360. “Ohio beer shopper Matthew Adam said he bought a 12-pack of beer that was packaged to look like, and priced to sell like, the beer from other small beer makers.” Read more (subs.)
Amazon patents a plan to turn its drone delivery packages into gliders by Alan Boyle at GeekWire. “There would be control flaps on the package, which the drone could maneuver remotely to guide the package to its intended target. Parachutes could also deploy from the package to slow the descent.” Read more
Starbucks puts ice cream on menu at 100-plus stores by Janet I. Tu at Seattle Times. Read more
Wegmans faces boycott over Trump wines at USA Today. “The grocer is being called on to remove Trump Winery products from its Virginia stores, where it sells 237 different wines from 58 wineries in that state…”How a product performs is our single measure for what stays on our shelves and what goes” Natale said.” Read more
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