“Home Depot Q2 Earnings Beat Street” at CNBC.  “Home Depot, the world’s largest home improvement chain, reported a 5.7 percent rise in quarterly sales as customers spent more on home repairs after a severe North American winter…Revenue increased to $23.81 billion from $22.52 billion a year ago. Wall Street had expected the retailer to deliver second-quarter earnings of $1.45 a share on $23.61 billion in revenue.” Read more

 

“Home Depot’s Q2 US Comp Sales +6.4%” “The Home Depot today reported sales of $23.8 billion for the second quarter of fiscal 2014, a 5.7 percent increase from the second quarter of fiscal 2013. Comparable store sales for the second quarter of fiscal 2014 were positive 5.8 percent, and comp sales for U.S. stores were positive 6.4 percent.” Read the release

 

“Dick’s Q2 Comp Sales +3.2% (+7.8% Excluding Golf & Hunting)” “Net sales for the second quarter of 2014 increased 10.3% to approximately $1.7 billion. Consolidated same store sales increased 3.2%, compared to the Company’s guidance of an approximate 1 to 3% increase. Same store sales for DICK’S Sporting Goods increased 4.1%, while Golf Galaxy decreased 9.3%.” Read the release

 

“Ex-Target CMO’s new pet project: Reviving Lassie” by Mark Reilly at Minneapolis/St.Paul Bus. Journal.  “Michael Francis turned Bullseye the dog into a retailing star for Target Corp. Now he’s taking on a possibly tougher job: Orchestrating a canine career comeback for Lassie.” Read more

 

“Dollar General’s Family Dollar Bid Fails to Impress” at The Street via Dallas News. “It is the loser of this year’s dollar store sweepstakes that may come out the best. BMO calculates that Dollar Tree could use a $305 million breakup fee in the event Dollar General wins Family Dollar to repurchase $1 billion in stock in 2015, boosting earnings per share by 6%.” Read more

 

“Dollar General CEO: Dollar Tree bid for Family Dollar a ‘surprise’ “ by Jennifer Thomas at Charlotte Bus. Journal. “We have expressed interest in a combination with Family Dollar multiple times over the past few years,” Dreiling said during a conference call discussing Dollar General’s offer…“If I had thought this asset was in play, I would not have announced my retirement,” Dreiling said.” Read more

 

***A message from Orchard Road Canning Co: Home Canning sales are hot – are you getting your fair share of category sales? The home canning category continues to grow and younger female canners are driving its growth.  Orchard Road targets young females with a simple and elegant glass jar design and unique package graphics that feature authentic food-filled jars.  See the package design.  View the sell sheet.  www.orchardroadcanning.com.  Contact info@shiftmarketinggroup.net for more information.

 

Bloomberg:  “Walmart Offer for Family Dollar Unlikely” by Renee Dudley and David Welch.  “Wal-Mart determined that Family Dollarwouldn’t be a good fit with its smaller-format stores, according to one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations were private. The company also hasn’t approached Family Dollar about a bid, another person said.” Read more

 

“Why Wal-Mart should worry about Family Dollar’s fate” by Phil Wahba at Fortune.  “The combined Dollar-General/Family Dollar would have 20,000 stores and annual sales above $28 billion – making it as big as Macy’s…And because Family Dollar and Dollar General overlap a lot more with Wal-Mart than Dollar Tree does, with its single price approach that combination is a bigger potential threat to Wal-Mart.” Read more

 

“Nordstrom bets on a slow, cautious entry into Canada” by Marina Strauss at Globe & Mail. “Like Target, Nordstrom is using an outside warehousing firm, a departure for both retailers in their practice of running their own U.S. distribution centres. “This is a big change for us,” she said…Another key challenge was setting up a merchandise buying system for Canada, because the one in the U.S. couldn’t handle foreign-exchange currency and other matters. The retailer invested in an entirely new system, resulting in it now having two different ones, which is “not ideal,” she said.” Read more

 

“Michael Bloomberg Hits Kroger on Guns” at CNN Money.  “The Moms group that got Target, Chili’s and Chipotle to take a stance against guns called on Kroger to do the same Monday. The organization, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, wants the grocery chain to ban customers from openly carrying guns in its stores.” Read more

 

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