TERROR AT AMARILLO WALMART – ‘It was mayhem’ – Gunman killed, two hostages rescued by Robert Stein at Amarillo Globe News. “…shots rang out inside an Amarillo Walmart, a disgruntled employee took two hostages, panicked customers fled, an army of area law enforcement descended, the national news media covered and, ultimately, a gunman was left dead. Amarillo police shot and killed 54-year-old Mohammad Moghaddam and rescued two hostages in just a little more than an hour.” Read more

 

…“I was ready to go to war for my buddy.” – Families of Walmart employees agonized for hours by Lauren Koski at Amarillo Globe News. “They were yelling, ‘They’ve got somebody and the manager in the office,’ and I knew immediately it was Glen,” Mooneyham said. Mooneyham said he ran alongside the employees searching for the door to the manager’s office at the front of the store. He said it took him about five minutes to arrive there and by that time, officers were already at the door trying to get in.” Read more

 

Tesla Plans to Sell Its Electric Cars At Nordstrom by J.J. McCorvey at Fast Company. “On Saturday, Tesla Motors, will open one of its “galleries” in Nordstrom at The Grove, the Los Angeles retail multiplex…Tesla will feature its Model X SUV inside the boutique-ish, 400-sq. foot outpost, and try to entice Nordstrom shoppers with mix-and-match interior car panel displays, as well as on-site test drives with Tesla employees.” Read more

 

Lowe’s Canada Announces New Leadership Team See the 6 leaders

 

EX-WALMART CEO SPEAKS AT RETAIL CONFERENCE – Wal-Mart veteran David Glass shares insights on busted watermelons, retail, baseball by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “Glass shared a few stories of how Wal-Mart and his retail mentor Sam Walton succeeded despite their first meeting in Harrison, Ark., with the second Wal-Mart store opening amid busted watermelons and donkey poop in the hot summer sun….He drove to Harrison and toured the store with Walton and then told him it was the worst retail store he had ever seen.” Read more

 

FDA warns about Whole Foods’ not so wholesome foods by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. “A New England food-prep facility run by the grocer — which serves 74 stores — had a ceiling dripping condensation on pesto pasta, egg salad and couscous, among other prepared foods, and an employee who inadvertently sprayed “ammonium-based sanitizer” on ready-to-eat mesculin salad, according to a Warning Letter posted Tuesday on the Food and Drug Administration Web site.” Read more

 

One Kings Lane Just Got Acquired by Bed Bath & Beyond by Adele Chapin at Racked. “Once valued at $900 million, the past few years have been rocky for One Kings Lane: In January, Racked’s sister site Re/code reported that the furniture e-tailer was looking to sell the company in a “fire sale.” Read more

 

Wal-Mart Experimenting With Robotic Shopping Cart for Stores by Spencer Soper at Bloomberg. “Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is working with a robotics company to develop a shopping cart that helps customers find items on their lists and saves them from pushing a heavy cart through a sprawling store and parking lot, according to a person familiar with the matter.” Read more

 

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Home Depot sues Visa and Mastercard over chip cards by Russell Grantham at AJC. “In its lawsuit, Home Depot accused Visa and Mastercard of trying to block the use of PINs and pushing merchants toward accepting less-secure transactions that earn higher fees.” Read more

 

BREAKING GROUND – HD Supply starts work on $100 million HQ by Carla Caldwell at Atlanta Business Chronicle. “HD Supply broke ground Monday on the company’s new eight-floor headquarters and training and support center in Cobb County’s Cumberland area.” Read more

 

Wal-Mart and P&G: A $10 Billion Marriage Under Strain by Sarah Nassauer & Sharon Terlep at WSJ. “A battle last year over the popular Swiffer mop suggests the tensions aren’t likely to abate soon. P&G’s consumer research revealed that existing packages weren’t large enough to prompt repeat purchases, and so it upped the number of wipes in a pack…Around the same time, Wal-Mart introduced a less expensive store brand, irking P&G…“They sell crappy private label, so you buy Swiffer with a crappy refill,” said one of the people familiar with the product changes. “And then you don’t buy again.” Read more (subscription)

 

Neiman Marcus Q3 Comp Sales -5.0% Read the release

 

The Container Store partners with tech company to replace walkie-talkie by Evan Hoopfer at Dallas Business Journal. “Employees can use the wearables’ Apps to have one-to-one conversations, share expertise and product information, support one another, and guide new teammates all while remaining heads-up and hands-free,” said John Thrailkill.” Read more

 

Kroger Names Dennis Gibson President of King Soopers Read the release

 

Millennials rank Target as 55th most-desired employer (Nordstrom #45, Walgreens #56, Costco #69) by Jim Hammerand at Minneapolis/St.Paul Business Journal. “The survey included 13,000 students ages 15 to 32 who are lifetime members of the National Society Of High School Scholars.” Read more | See the top 130 co’s

 

Toys “R” Us Q1 Comp Sales +0.9% Read the release

 

Menards hits the pause button on Cincinnati expansion by Tom Demeropolis at Cincinnati Business Courier. “We are not building any new stores until things are a bit more settled economically and politically,” (Spokesman Jeff) Abbott said.” Read more

 

Walmart asks suppliers to help it woo customers with ‘retailtainment’ venues in stores by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “(Tony) Rogers spoke on the value and importance of retailtainment at the 2016 Emerging Trends in Retail Conference in Rogers on Tuesday (June 14). More than 300 retail and supplier professionals attended the annual event. Walmart set up mock demonstrations for the types of retailtainment it has planned for stores…” Read more

 

Fulfilling web orders from stores wasn’t always easy for Target by Bill Briggs at Internet Retailer. “Soon after launch 15% of web sales were fulfilled by order pickup…about what senior vice president of supply chain transformation Karl Bracken expected. In 2015 the volume of online orders for store pick-up grew by 60%, and by 50% year to date in 2016, Bracken told attendees last week at the Internet Retailer 2016 Conference & Exhibition in Chicago…” Read more

 

MARS INC. HEALTH KICK – M&M maker may shake up McFlurry, Blizzard, Snickers Pie by Chris Prentice & Lisa Baertlein at Reuters. “Mars is concerned desserts that feature its candies – such as the McFlurry, Burger King’s Snickers pie and Dairy Queen’s Blizzard – exceed in a single serving the amount of sugar the U.S. government recommends anyone eat in a day, the source said.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

Janitors’ protest turns into celebration outside Best Buy shareholders meeting

Shari Redstone meets with Alibaba founder over possible Paramount deal

American Express Trying To Retain Costco Card Members Before Switch

One person hospitalized after car crashes through Target store doors

Walmart Canada to name new CEO amid global management shakeup

Trump criticizes Jeff Bezos, Amazon for ‘monopolistic tendencies’

Dick’s shareholders elect 3 directors

Staples’ New Same-Day Delivery Can’t Hide Its Awful Business Model

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

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