Tipsheet: WM Shuffles Execs | Wgreens Cut/Boost | HEB’s New Cafe
Walmart Reshuffles Senior Execs in E-Commerce, Grocery by Kim Souza at Talk Business. “Steve Breen is moving from eCommerce to the stores team as SVP of central merchandising…promoted Kieran Shanahan to SVP of eCommerce retail for Everyday Living…Ralph Clair was named VP of merchandising operations snacks, beverage and impulse items…Diane Marshall was named VP, divisional merchandise manager of sporting goods.” See more changes
Bernie Sanders asks Amazon to clarify whether wage hike will cost workers at Fox Business. Read more
Walmart Canada ponders possibility of selling cannabis products by Kristine Owram at Bloomberg via Toronto Star. “As we would for any new industry, Walmart Canada has done some preliminary fact-finding on this issue, but we do not have plans to carry CBD products at this time,” spokeswoman Diane Medeiros said in an email.” Read more
Billionaire Bill Ackman discloses new $900M bet on Starbucks at Fox Business. Read more
Walgreens cutting some employee benefits after announcing $100M pay boost by Lisa Schencker at Chicago Tribune. “Walgreens is changing the benefits it offers employees and eliminating health insurance for most of its eligible retirees…Starting in 2019, employees…won’t qualify for paid time off unless they work at least 30 hours a week…Currently, employees can qualify for paid time off if they work at least 20 hours a week.” Tiered subs.
Lauded New York City chefs ready to launch The Roastery Cafe at HEB by Alaena Hostetter at Eater. “The new venture at 5106 Bissonnet is owned and lead by Jason Giagrande, a former vice president of food operations at corporate giants NBC Universal and Barnes & Noble. He’s launching the concept in Houston with his powerhouse group Four J.” Read more
Amazon patents new Alexa feature that knows when you’re ill at The Telegraph. “One example given in the patent is a woman coughing and sniffling while she speaks to her Amazon Echo device. Alexa first suggests some chicken soup to cure her cold, and then offers to order cough drops on Amazon.” Read more
Cramer’s ‘power ranking’ for consumer discretionary: 1) Amazon, 2) TJX, 3) Kohl’s, 4) VF Corp, 5) Nike at CNBC. Read more
…Costco #2 in consumer staples ‘power ranking’ Read more
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Retail industry saw its rate of announced CEO changes among S&P 500 companies rise to nearly 23% last year, from 16% by Andria Cheng at Forbes. Read more
Costco Has Considered Video Streaming Service for Executive Members by Jessica Toonkel at The Information. “The retailer has talked to at least two providers of existing streaming services about the possibility of offering such a service free for its “executive” members, people familiar with the matter said. Talks with one of the providers broke down when the two companies couldn’t agree on the terms of the deal, said one of the people.” Subscription
Sears arranges financing for a potential bankruptcy filing at CNBC. Read more
Bon-Ton Seeks to Join TV Ad Price-Fixing Suit by Maria Armental at Wall Street Journal. “Companies like Sinclair and Tribune own dozens of local TV stations that carry programming from national broadcast networks like ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox and typically compete to win advertising business. But the suits paint a picture in which the companies allegedly coordinated higher prices in certain markets.” WSJ subs.
New Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison makes first public appearance in Charlotte by Ken Elkins at Charlotte Business Journal. 16 pics/Story subscription
Amazon scraps secret AI recruiting tool that showed bias against women by Jeffrey Dastin at Reuters. “In effect, Amazon’s system taught itself that male candidates were preferable. It penalized resumes that included the word “women’s,” as in “women’s chess club captain.” And it downgraded graduates of two all-women’s colleges, according to people familiar with the matter.” Read more
7-Eleven announces its first location at a professional sports venue – Texas Motor Speedway Press release
Home Depot Names Manuel Kadre to its Board of Directors Press release
Google’s smart home sell looks clustered and incoherent by Natasha Lomas at TechCrunch. “What’s the average consumer supposed to make of all this incestuously overlapping, wallet-badgering hardware?! Smartphones at least have clarity of purpose — by being efficiently multi-purposed.” Read more
Food Lion announces grand re-openings of 63 Roanoke-area stores Press release
Tipsheet Extra Stories
Procter & Gamble granted tariff exemption for razors
Nebraska Furniture Mart name Nora Gomez chief merchandising officer
29 shipping containers are the building blocks for wild-looking new Starbucks
Saks Fifth Avenue Hits Back at Cartier with $55 Million Countersuit
Amazon delivery van carjacked; thief arrested after chase
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