Home Depot’s Carol Tome at Atlanta Rotary Club:  Do-it-Yourself Automotive is Next Big Opportunity by Maria  Saporta at Atlanta Bus. Chronicle. “In response to a question about what was the next area of opportunity for the company, Tomé said the company currently had “Do-It-Yourself Automotive” in pilot “right now” in some of its stores. “And they make lots of money,” she said as she exited the stage. “Stay tuned.” After her talk, Tomé said Home Depot has pilots in about 50 stores in select markets across the country. “We really like what we are seeing,” she said. “It’s replacing your windshield wipers and spark plugs. It’s a natural extension of what we do. I like what I see.” Read more

 

“Target Canada winning price battle with Wal-Mart” by Marina Strauss at Globe & Mail. “In a comparison of 33 national brands in the grocery, health and beauty aisles, the prices at Target Canada were 3.9 per cent lower than those at Wal-Mart Canada, says the study, which was conducted last month by consultancy Kantar Retail of Boston.” Read more

 

…The bulk of the items in the basket — 67% — were priced within 3% of each other at Financial Post. Read more

 

Massachusetts:  “Walgreens Offers Walk-Up Pet Care in Parking Lots” by Donna Goodison at Boston Herald. “A Florida veterinary company is partnering with Walgreens to offer lower-cost, walk-up clinics for dogs and cats in the parking lots of about 50 of the drugstore chain’s Massachusetts stores….“There’s usually a long line so we advise people to get there early,” Borgman said. “It’s no exam fees. What customers say over and over again is this was fast, convenient, easy.” Read more

 

“Amazon to collect Minnesota sales tax starting Oct. 1 (Warehouse to follow?)” by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune. “Retail analysts said the most likely reason is that Amazon is quietly building a distribution center from which to roll out same-day delivery in the Twin Cities. “They could have one right now being built, and we wouldn’t know about it, as crazy as that sounds,” said Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray & Co. in Minneapolis. “But that could be hard to keep quiet.” Read more

 

“Home Depot’s security architect had a temper over earlier dismissal” by Howard Solomon at IT World Canada. “…The latest proof is a report that the former IT security architect of recently-breached Home Depot, Rickey Joe Mitchell wreaked some havoc on his employer at the time, an energy company, who he’d learned was about to fire him…About a month after this happened in 2012, Mitchell was hired by Home Depot.” Read more

 

Sam’s Club CEO: ‘No comment’ on ‘Did Target Contact You’ Question at CNN.  See the video

 

HuffPo: “A Target Intervention on Behalf of My Daughters” by Stephanie Giese. “You’ll always be my first choice. But you have a problem…You are making our daughters’ clothes wrong. I’m sure you already know this, but your size 5T shorts are actually smaller than many size 2T shorts made by other brands. Why are you offering my kindergartener clothes that are sized for children less than half her age?” Read more

 

“RadioShack turns to a major vendor for help” by Maria Halkias at Dallas News. “AT&T didn’t return a call asking whether it is in talks with RadioShack.” Read more

 

“Walmart Texts Prompt Killer to Turn Himself In” by Gavin Off & Mark Washburn at Charlotte Observer. “He began receiving text messages and voice mails from Walmart telling an Anita Townshed that her prescription was ready…Gibson later received an envelope with a Walmart advertisement in it but no return name or address. He felt someone was monitoring his calls, he said…If it hadn’t been for the messages and the letter from Walmart, Marquez said Gibson told her, he wouldn’t have said anything.” Read more

 

“Man won’t show Costco Wholesale staff receipt, suffers broken leg from karate chop, sues for $670,000” by Aimee Green at Oregon Live (Survey). “Walls had just bought $102.66 worth of goods from the 4849 N.E. 138th Ave. Costco location, and as he was leaving the store an employee grabbed and held onto his shopping cart and told him he couldn’t leave, according to the suit. Words were exchanged, and when the employee wouldn’t let go, Walls grabbed him by the shirt collar and pulled him away from his shopping cart, the suit states. That’s when another employee used “a martial arts type strike with his leg” that the employee had learned while training with the U.S. Armed Forces, the suit states.” Read more

 

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