“Walmart Pursues Three Year Exclusivity Agreements with Vendors” by Kim Souza at The City Wire.  “Wal-Mart is working with key suppliers providing three-year contracts, over the typical one-year deals.  “Suppliers know they can get $300 million annually / for three years when they give us better costs and access to better exclusive product,” Duncan Mac Naughton (Chief Merchandising Officer) said in a breakfast meeting with analysts Oct. 15.”  Read more

 

“Amazon hikes minimum order for free shipping to $35” by Jay Greene at Seattle Times.  “Amazon hiked the minimum order price to get free shipping Tuesday by $10, to $35, a move that should reduce its massive shipping costs and could drive more customers to its Amazon Prime service.”  Read more

 

“Cerberus, others explore deal for Safeway” by Olivia Oran & Soyoung Kim at Reuters.  “Safeway, the second-largest U.S. mainstream grocery store operator with a market value of over $8 billion, is not running an auction currently, but is aware of the buyout interest and reviewing options with advisor Goldman Sachs Group Inc, the people said on Tuesday.”  Read more

 

 “Amazon Launches Huge Office in Vancouver” at Vancouver Sun.  “Vancouver’s tech sector is slated for another boost in jobs as Amazon seeks to expand its presence in the city.  The online retail giant plans to open office space with room for as many as 1,000 employees in Vancouver’s Telus Garden, Canadian technology news site Tech Vibes reported Tuesday.”  Read more

 

“RadioShack’s 3rd-Quarter Loss Widens” by Drew Fitzgerald at WSJ.  “Sales at stores open at least a year dropped 8.4% as the company liquidated many unwanted products, while gross margin slid to 30.1% from 36%.”  Read more

 

“Lowe’s Sweeps EPA Honors For Environmental Leadership” at MarketWatch.  “Added to the 2013 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence Award that Lowe’s received in March, the recent honors give Lowe’s the distinction of being the only retail partner to receive all three EPA awards.”  Read more

 

“Sobeys to sell 23 stores in Western Canada” by Marina Strauss at Globe & Mail.  “Sobeys Inc. has agreed to sell 23 supermarkets in Western Canada to get the green light from the federal Competition Bureau for its $5.8-billion takeover of Safeway Canada.  The stores to be divested, in Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, are mostly Safeway supermarkets and some Sobeys stores, along with outlets operating under the Thrifty, Price Chopper and IGA banners.”  Read more

 

“Publix sells PIX chain” by Jacques Couret at Atlanta Business Chronicle.  “Publix Super Markets Inc. will sell its convenience stores concept PIX, which includes two stores in Georgia.  Circle K Stores Inc. will buy 11 stores in Florida and two in Georgia (Perry and Alpharetta), while Max Arnold & Sons LLC will buy one in Tennessee. The sales price was not disclosed.”  Read more

 

“Aaron’s agrees to stop spying on computer renters” by Stuart Pfeifer at LA Times.  “The Federal Trade Commission had accused Aaron’s and its franchisees of using software to monitor customers’ computer keystrokes and secretly watch them in their homes through the computers’ webcams.  In some instances, the company captured images of customers engaged in what the FTC called “intimate activities”.”  Read more

 

“The One Thing Successful People Do Every Day” by William Arruda at Forbes.  “Here’s the one personal branding habit you can’t be too busy for.  Document your wins. What’s the easiest way to do that? Keep a job journal.”  Read more

 

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