Target Canada’s liquidation will begin in 2-3 weeks by Pete Evans at CBC News. “…within four to five months, the chain’s entire Canadian presence — including its distribution centres across the country — will be gone.” Read more

 

Wal-Mart launches cash pickup option for tax refunds at CNBC. “The service could help people without bank accounts get their refunds more quickly and avoid high check-cashing fees. Wal-Mart also says it could prove convenient for others.” Read more

 

Home Depot given until July to respond to data breach lawsuits by David Allison at Atlanta Business Chronicle. “Thrash gave Home Depot until July 1 and July 15, respectively, to respond to the allegations of consumers and financial institutions.” Read more

 

J.C. Penney is not bringing back its Big Book by Maria Halkias at Dallas News. “It’s a single 120-page catalog, focused only on the home. This is just like the specialty catalogs we issued after we discontinued the big book and our catalog operation,” Coultas said. “It’s a marketing piece. It’s not a new shopping channel.” Read more

 

Target enlists bloggers to promote new plus-size line by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune. “Target flew the women to Minneapolis to meet with the team behind Ava & Viv, convey their irritations with plus-size offerings, and give suggestions for the fall line. Target also paid them to be models in Ava & Viv’s look book. “Things don’t ever get ­better if all of the input is ‘We love it,’ ” said Stacia Andersen, Target’s senior vice president of apparel and accessories. “They didn’t hold back.” Read more

 

Amazon wants changes to GOP Internet bill by Mario Trujillo at The Hill. “Paul Misener, Amazon’s vice president of global public policy, is slated to testify Wednesday before committees in the House and Senate on the draft legislation.” Read more

 

Lowe’s $10M Settlement Provides 3 Lessons For Firms Working With Independent Contractors by Jeff Wald at Forbes. “One of the more common misconceptions held by today’s businesses is that working with an LLC removes the risk associated with misclassification. The idea that sole proprietors are somehow riskier to work with simply isn’t true.” Read more

 

Macy’s plots to keep unused brand names on the shelf by James Covert at NY Post. “(Macy’s) appears headed to court in its long-running trademark dispute involving a slew of its dead-but-stirring regional department-store names, including Abraham & Straus, Marshall Field’s and Filene’s. California-based Strategic Marks LLC scooped up the rights to those names more than four years ago…After years of delays, a San Francisco judge recently ordered a jury trial to begin March 2.” Read more

 

UK: Amazon says Sunday deliveries have quadrupled by Graham Ruddick at The Telegraph. Read more

 

Houston: Grocery chains to add 32 new stores this year by Roxanna Asgarian at Houston Business Journal. “San Antonio-based H-E-B Grocery Co. will have the greatest expansion with seven new stores.” Read more

 

Could Kroger buy Dunnhumby? by Steve Watkins at Cincinnati Business Courier. Read more

 

Amazon to fund a big wind farm in Indiana by Robert Ferris at CNBC. “For the next 13 years, Amazon will buy the bulk of the output from a wind farm that Pattern Energy plans to build in Indiana. The company estimates it will draw about 500,000 megawatt hours from the farm, enough to power about 46,000 homes.” Read more

 

Investor urges Staples to merge with Office Depot by Marcia Heroux Pounds at Sun Sentinel. “Staples didn’t outright dismiss a potential merger, issuing a statement Tuesday that the company “values constructive shareholder input an dialogue.” Staples said it has met with Starboard Value on several occasions to discuss its ideas.” Read more

 

Hair drama: 40% of women under 40 cried at least once over their hair in the past six months “Nearly a quarter (23%) of women under age 40 think that while having sex, a partner ruining their hair would be worse than a partner who can’t perform” Read the release

 

Fender’s move to sell instruments directly to musicians upsets dealers by Ryan Faughnder at LA Times. “It’s hard to not call it a bit of a betrayal,” said Gabriel O’Brien, sales manager at Larry’s Music Center in Wooster, Ohio, which dropped Fender as a supplier a year ago, partly because it anticipated Fender would start selling its guitar lines through its site. “I feel it undercuts dealers whose backs these brands were built on.” Read more

 

Target displays ’50 Shades of Grey’ toys next to children’s toothbrushes by Adrienne Cutway at Orlando Sentinel. “A man named Jacob tweeted the photo to Target…although he later clarified in another tweet that he wasn’t offended, just baffled. Target’s customer service account tweeted back a few days later saying the merchandising team would look into the placement. At the time of press, Target hasn’t given an official response explaining the situation.” Read more

 

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