Walgreens will now let customers use bathrooms based on gender identity by Chris Perez at NY Post. “Through [Meehan’s] efforts, with the backing of the ACLU of Southern California, the Walgreens pharmacy chain with more than 8,000 stores nationwide adopted a policy to address bathroom discrimination,” the group said in its statement Monday.” Read more

 

Activist Pushes Supervalu to Break Up, Explore Sale by David Benoit & Heather Haddon at Wall Street Journal. “Blackwells Capital LLC, which owns about 4.35% of Supervalu’s stock, privately urged the board to give it three seats and form a committee to review potentially separating Supervalu’s retail and wholesale divisions and selling the wholesale group, according to a letter it sent the board Tuesday evening.” Read more (subs.)

 

Container Store Q3 Comp Sales -0.2% Press release

 

Lululemon CEO left in part because of relationship with female designer at the company at CNBC. “The employee in the relationship with Potdevin resigned in 2014, after the relationship had begun. Lululemon later brought her back to work on discrete company projects as a contractor. In January 2018, it did not renew her contract.” Read more

 

Michael Kors’ same-store sales fall less than expected at Reuters. “Kors said same-store sales fell 3.2 percent in its third quarter ended Dec. 30, well below analysts average estimate of a decline of 6.8 percent.” Read more

 

Macy’s to launch a clothing line geared toward Muslims via CNBC. “Macy’s teamed up with a boutique called Verona Collection and plans to sell the collection of modest dresses, tops, cardigans, and hijabs online. The clothing will launch on Macy’s website on Feb. 15.” Read more

 

GameStop promotes 16-year company veteran to CEO role by Korri Kezar at Dallas Business Journal. “Mike Mauler formerly served as executive vice president and president of international for the company.” Read more

 

A First Look Inside Apple Park by Mark Wilson at Fast Company. “The press isn’t allowed in. But luckily, some of Apple’s own employees are on Instagram.” Pics/Read more

 

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SKIMMERS – Police in PA searching for men who’ve spent the last few months installing card and PIN skimmers at checkout lanes inside of Aldi supermarkets at Krebs on Security. Read more

 

Stew Leonard’s tops most-desired store by Long Island residents by Nick Musumeci at Long Island Business News. “35 percent of all voters were in favor of the grocery store. The second most popular option went to Amazon Go, with 18 percent of all votes. Also included on our poll was Target with 11 percent of votes.” Read more

 

Target Exits Memphis E-Commerce Distribution Center, Nearly 500 Workers to Be Laid Off by Burl Gilyard at Twin Cities Business. “But those workers are not Target employees: they work for Radial, a third-party logistics firm that operates the facility for Target.” Read more

 

Tesco faces record 4 billion pound equal pay claim in Britain at Reuters. “The BBC said that thousands of female workers in Tesco stores could receive back pay totaling 20,000 pounds if the legal challenge demanding parity with men who work in the company’s warehouses is successful.” Read more

 

Amazon Quietly Sets Its Sights on Discount Stores at Fox Business. “Amazon has launched a section of its app and website offering items for $10 and under with free shipping. It’s a below-the-radar, not promoted effort, but it’s a quiet attempt to see if the online giant can tap a new customer base.” Read more

 

Publix reverses policy denying coverage for HIV-prevention drug at Miami Herald. “Publix announced Tuesday it will include HIV prevention method PrEP in its employee healthcare plans, changing policy a day after meeting with Florida Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, the Legislature’s first openly gay Latino member.” Read more

 

Your smart TV may prey for hackers and collecting more info than you realize, Consumer Reports warns by Jefferson Graham at USA Today. “How bad is the security? So poor, according to its report, that it was able to take over complete remote control of the TVs from Samsung and TCL’s branded Roku TV, which included changing channels, upping the volume, installing new apps and playing objectionable content from YouTube. “ Read more

 

How Dick’s Sporting Goods Is Using the Olympics to Send a Message of Unity by Jeff Beer at Fast Company. “Chief Marketing Officer Scott Hudler says that in a time when people are seemingly more divided than ever, they set out to deliver the message that sports make people better.” See spot/Read more

 

7-Eleven Blasts Classical Music to Keep Loiterers Out by AJ Abell at Action News Now. Video

 

Amazon delivery man found wandering through Sarasota man’s home at News Channel 8. “A Sarasota man was stunned to find an Amazon delivery man wandering through his house. To make matters worse, it happened again the next day.” Video/Read more

 

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