Today’s Tipsheet: NY Times Features Bullseye | Costco Outbreak Over | $95K Jacket Stolen

NY Times: Target’s Dog Mascot Learns New Tricks in Marketing Blitz by Hiroko Tabuchi. “We started thinking about how to bring Bullseye to more people,” said Jeff Jones, Target’s chief marketing officer. “It’s a fun dog, so scrappy and fearless.” Read more

Cincinnati: Thieves crash van into Downtown Saks Fifth Avenue store by Patrick Brennan at Cincinnati Enquirer. “Two vehicles approached the store at about 6:01 a.m., Cincinnati police said. A minivan twice rammed the gate and glass doors in order to get inside.” Read more

Ex-PetSmart Exec Joins Under Armour by Ryan Sharrow at Baltimore Business Journal. “(Chip) Molloy, a native of Maryland and a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, was executive vice president and CFO at Phoenix-based PetSmart from 2007 to 2013.” Read more

Costco E. coli outbreak appears to be over at Reuters. “The most recent illness in this outbreak reported to CDC started on Nov. 3, the federal agency said.” Read more

Shoplifters Steal $95,000 Jacket from Mag Mile by David Matthews at DNAinfo. “Staff at the Ralph Lauren store, 750 N. Michigan Ave., confirmed a $95,000 “Purple Label” alligator trench coat was stolen last week.” Read more

Analyst: Dick’s Sporting Goods-Cabela’s Merger ‘Makes Sense’ via Benzinga “He added that there could be $200MM in cost reduction, translating to 2 percent of the combined cost structure. The estimated cost reduction would be achieved over a three-year period.” Read more

Yesterday on Today: Guns topping Christmas lists thanks to terrorism concerns, fear over restrictions by Scott Stump at NBC. “Last month, the FBI ran more than 2.2 million firearm background checks on potential buyers, a 24 percent increase from November 2014. On Black Friday, a record 185,345 background checks were processed by the FBI.” Read more / See the video

DC: Wegmans Eyes Second Urban Format Store by Michael Neibauer at Washington Business Journal. Read more

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Chicago: Target plans new Lincoln Park store by Ryan Ori at Chicago Crain’s. “Target plans its fourth smaller-format store in Chicago next year, when it will move into a Lincoln Park space occupied by another Minneapolis-based retailer, Best Buy. Target will open a 32,000-square-foot store in July at 2650 N. Clark St., said company spokeswoman Kristy Welker.” Read more

Wal-Mart’s Puerto Rico Tax Case ‘Eye-Opening,’ Judge Says by Fola Akinnibi at Law 360. “A Puerto Rico federal judge said Tuesday that he needs more information from the debt-ridden territory before he can decide whether to toss a Wal-Mart subsidiary’s challenge to a tax hike that allegedly targets big-box stores, claiming it “is not a typical case.” Read more (subscription)

Amazon Seeks to Ease Ties With UPS by Laura Stevens & Greg Bensinger at WSJ. “Amazon has poached more than 40 UPS supervisors, managers and executives in the last three years, according to an analysis of LinkedIn data. In September, Kniffen Kelly, a 16-year veteran working on engineering UPS’s transportation networks, left to become Amazon’s director of sort center engineering.” Read more (subscription)

Bass Pro: Family’s outrage after Santa refused to take a seated photo with their special-needs baby by Kelly McLaughlin at Daily Mail. “The Bass Pro Shops in northwest San Antonio, Texas, has since apologized after their Santa Clause refused to sit down and instead took a standing photo with Baby Celeb Self.” Read more

Kroger’s app now sorts grocery list by aisle by Alexander Coolidge at Cincinnati Enquirer. Read more

Shoppers are opening those promotional emails by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. “Despite the fact that retailers, travel companies and other consumer-facing brands are sending out more emails, the percentage of people who opened those messages reached 17.5 percent. That’s up from 16.7 percent the prior year.” Read more

Three Black Lives Matter organizers barred from Mall of America protest, but not the masses by Nick Halter at Minneapolis/St.Paul Business Journal. “Mall of America’s latest over the top waste of tax payer $ to silence free speech has failed miserably. See you tomorrow,” Black Lives MPLS tweeted after the ruling.” Read more

Inside Chipotle’s Contamination Crisis – Smugness and happy talk about sustainability aren’t working anymore by Susan Berfield at Bloomberg. “For a long time, smug worked pretty well for Chipotle Mexican Grill. It’s grown into a chain of more than 1,900 locations, thanks in part to marketing—including short animated films about the evils of industrial agriculture—that reminds customers that its fresh ingredients and naturally raised meat are better than rivals’ and better for the world. The implication: If you eat Chipotle, you’re doing the right thing, and maybe you’re better, too…” Read more

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