Tuesday’s Tipsheet: Walmart Shutters Goodies | Target to Open 33 | Kroger’s ‘Snowflakes’
“Walmart Shutters Goodies Subscription Service” by Katie Evans at Internet Retailer. “The Goodies Co., a subscription service from @WalmartLabs that launched as a test late last year, announced on its site that it is shuttering its operations. Goodies subscribers received a surprise box of food items at their doorsteps once a month for $7 a pop including taxes and shipping.” Read more
“Target to open 33 more stores next month in Canada” by John Ewoldt at Star-Tribune. “Target announced Monday that it will open 33 more stores in Canada next month, bringing the total number of Canadian stores opened this year to 124. “It’s very clearly Target’s largest new store growth ever in a year,” said Amy Koo, an analyst at the Kantar Retail consulting firm in Boston. ..The rapid expansion hasn’t been entirely smooth. The retailer expected the Canadian stores to be profitable in the fourth quarter this year. Now the profitability expectation has been moved to the fourth quarter of 2014.” Read more
“Sears May Spin Lands’ End Off” by Tim Parry at Multi-Channel Merchant. “Sears Holdings Corp. said Oct. 29 that it is considering separating Lands’ End and Sears Auto Center from the rest of the company. The company said in a press release that separating Lands’ End and Sears Auto Center would allow them to pursue their own strategic opportunities.” Read more
“Kroger Knows Your Shopping Patterns Better Than You Do” by Tom Groenfeldt at Forbes. “Kroger calls the 11 million pieces of direct mail it sends to customers each quarter “snowflakes” — because if any two are the same, it is a fluke. The redemption rate is over 70 percent within six weeks of the mailing…Kroger uses the coupon dispenser company, Catalina, for point-of-sale coupons, but with a twist dunnhumby insists on — unlike other grocery stores which will offer a Pepsi coupon to a Coke buyer, dunnhumby doesn’t try to convert customers.” Read more
“H-E-B plans $100 million investment around downtown store” by Neal Morton at My San Antonio. “H-E-B has disclosed plans for a $100 million expansion of its headquarters, a move that would double its downtown workforce by 2030 and transform the area just north of the historic King William neighborhood. The master plan includes a grocery store, to be called Flores Market.” Read more
“Struggling Sears to abandon flagship store in Toronto” by Marina Strauss at Globe & Mail. “Sears Canada Inc. will abandon its flagship store at the Toronto Eaton Centre – one of the country’s prime real estate spaces – along with four other outlets in a leaseback deal that will generate $400-million for the struggling retailer but raises questions about the fate of its revival efforts. The move also could pave the way for Nordstrom Inc., which is opening its first store in Canada next year, to nab the prized Toronto Eaton Centre site.” Read more
“What the Harris-Teeter Acquisition Means for Kroger” by Michael Douglass at Motley Fool. “Here is where Kroger can make a big difference. As the largest grocery chain in the US, it can bring scale advantages and additional capital resources to protect and increase Harris Teeter’s market share in the Southeastern US…Harris Teeter will have additional resources and management talent to compete and retain (and grow) market share.” Read more
“Best Buy enlists star power for holiday ads” by David Phelps at Star-Tribune. “Best Buy is employing some star power to fortify its television advertising for the holidays with the likes of actors Will Arnett and Maya Rudolph. But the elephant in the TV spot is Amazon.com and other online retailers as Best Buy attempts to counter the “showrooming” phenomenon where customers shop the stores but order goods online.” Read more
“Safeway’s Pain Could Be Roundy’s Gain” by Brian Stoffel at Motley Fool. “The view from 30,000 feet is that Mariano’s is hitting the ball out of the park, while the rest of the players continue to be a drag. The problem is that while there are 11 Mariano’s stores — all located in Chicago — the traditional segment of the business has 150 locations. There simply aren’t enough Mariano’s locations to balance out the overall poor performance by the other chains.” Read more
“RadioShack Goes Retro with First Custom Concept Store” “A new “retro” RadioShack opens Wednesday, Oct. 30 at noon in the new Commerce Building in Sundance Square in downtown Fort Worth, Texas. The tenth RadioShack concept store open nationwide, this all new location was custom-designed for Fort Worth.” Read more
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