Today’s Tipsheet: Amazon to Open 1st Book Store? | Sears Creates 2nd Seattle Office | Alice Walton #1 in Texas
Seattle: Rumors fly that Amazon bookstore is coming by Rachel Lerman at Seattle Times. “White plastic sheets block out light and wandering eyes at a corner store in Seattle’s University Village…A nearby construction worker, taking apart a cabinet for another U Village project, said workers on the corner site call the project the “mystery store” because no one knows what’s going into the former Blue C Sushi space. The one thing he knows is there are bookshelves inside.” Read more
…What we glimpsed inside this mysterious Seattle retail site by Taylor Soper & Todd Bishop at GeekWire. Read more
BJ’s sets opening date for Charlotte store by Jennifer Thomas at Charlotte Business Journal. “The retailer says it will open Nov. 14, with a grand opening celebration that includes food and beverage sampling. Read more
Field & Stream opens in Greensboro by Kristin Zachary at Triad Business Journal. See the 15 pics / Read more
Amazon starts one-hour delivery in parts of Twin Cities by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. “This is the 14th metropolitan market where the online retailing giant has launched its Prime Now service, which first debuted in New York last December.” Read more
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Boston Globe: Wegmans’ success shows it has arrived by Shirley Heung. “So it was on Thursday that Colleen Wegman, Danny’s 44-year-old daughter and president of the company, and her sister Nicole, 41, a senior vice president, stepped onto a makeshift stage inside the Westwood store to tell a few hundred employees: “Welcome to the family!” Read more / See the pics
…Sneak peek inside the new Wegmans in Westwood (MA) by Catherine Carlock at Boston Business Journal. See the 21 pics / Read more
Amazon Wants to Know How Its Employees Feel Every Day by Spencer Soper at Bloomberg. “The effort is being expanded two months after a scathing newspaper report portrayed the online retailer as a pressure cooker…Dubbed Amazon Connections, the internal system poses questions daily to employees to collect responses on topics such as job satisfaction, leadership and training opportunities, people with knowledge of the initiative said.” Read more
Sears acquires WallyHome sensor technology from startup SNUPI, creates second Seattle office by Todd Bishop at GeekWire. Read more
Bellingham family says Costco development causing home to slide by Eric Wilkinson at King 5 News. “A city engineer told Penny the problem was likely not connected to Costco. While she can’t directly prove it, Penny maintains things were fine here for a decade until the new development.” See the video / Read more
The Texas Rich List: Alice Walton #1 via Forbes. Read more
Retailers should be ready for consumers’ Facebook ‘Reactions’ by Zak Stambor at Internet Retailer. “The social network today announced it is running a test in Ireland and Spain of what it is calling Reactions—buttons that feature emojis meant to convey “love,” “yay,” “haha,” “wow,” “angry” and “sad.” The test also includes a more expressive Like button.” Read more
New Diet Pepsi Leaves Some Loyalists With Bad Taste by Mike Esterl at WSJ. “All of PepsiCo’s diet soda sales fell 6.6% in the U.S. in the four weeks ended Sept. 19, as the new Diet Pepsi was rolling out nationwide, worse than the 5.7% decline over the previous 52 weeks, according to Morgan Stanley, citing Nielsen store-scanner data. That also was steeper than the 3.4% drop in diet soda sales at Coca-Cola Co., which hasn’t removed aspartame from Diet Coke.” Read more (Subscription)
Tipsheet Extra
Amazon Prime Now Twin Cities test: 55 minutes late
Urban Outfitters asks employees to work for free on weekends
Sears seeks new credit card partner as end of JPMorgan deal looms
China Resources unit to sell stakes in Wal-Mart China stores
Eye-on-Retail Tipsheet is created early every weekday morning and read by retail merchants and executives worldwide. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s really happening in the world of retail. See our website at www.eyeonretail.net