"Walmart moves further into Target territory - 1.5 Miles from Site of First Target" by Tom Webb at Pioneer Press via San Jose Mercury News.  "Walmart is in the midst of an aggressive expansion into the Twin Cities metro, a market still dominated by Minneapolis-based Target and supermarket leader Cub Foods. The fact that both Target and Cub's parent Supervalu have headquarters here is widely seen as one reason Walmart shied away from this area for so long."  Read more   "Home Depot Chairman Blake’s total comp steady at $11M" at Atlanta Business Chronicle.  "Blake got about $11 million [...]

  "California Legislature: Shift Breach Responsibility to Retailers" by Marc Lifsher at LA Times.  "Last week, two members of the Assembly touted a bill to strengthen consumer safeguards and limit the type of information collected and retained by retailers. The measure, AB 1710, may trigger one of the year's biggest disputes over business-related legislation. "It'll be a big fight, a tough fight," said Bill Dombrowski, president of the California Retailers Assn."  Read more   "How Home Depot's Bernie Marcus won by refusing to let bitterness consume him" by Harvey Mackay at Atlanta Business Journal.  "In 1978, Bernie was fired as [...]

  "Sam's Club CEO Appears on CBS This Morning, Talks business' focus on "digital transformation," & micro business growth" by Amanda Cochran.  "Though Sam's Club members still like to shop and enjoy "the thrill of the hunt," Rosalind Brewer said there's still growth to be had online.  "Currently, you can buy online and pick up in-club and have your delivery ready for you when you're there. We think that there is more work to be done in that space." See the video / Read more   "Sam's Club CEO on why some small businesses owners love staying small" at CBS This [...]

  "Target's Shopper Satisfaction Scores Down Sharpest with Middle-and-Upper Income Shoppers" by John Vomhof Jr. "Target's customer service score fell 3.3 percentage points to 71 percent in the survey of 2,500 shoppers. Cowen found a "dramatic" decline among upper-income shoppers, with scores falling 9 percentage points to 70 percent."  Read more   "California:  Lowe's ordered to pay $18 million in hazardous waste lawsuit" by Karina Ioffee at San Jose Mercury News.  "Lowe's has been ordered to pay $18 million for illegally disposing hazardous waste, including pesticides, batteries, fluorescent bulbs and other toxic materials, following a civil enforcement action filed Tuesday [...]

  "Walmart's New Cost-Cutting Target: The Ad World" by Jack Neff at Ad Age.  "Having driven cost out of distributing goods for decades, Walmart has a newer vision: Driving waste out of advertising and media. And not just for itself. As Brian Monahan, VP-marketing of Walmart.com said in a talk at the Ad Age Digital Conference on Tuesday, the retailer hopes to do the same for its suppliers, too..."  Read more   "Home Depot's Director of Trend & Design Featured in Atlanta Magazine" by Mary Logan Bikoff.  "As the director of trend and design for the Home Depot, Sarah Fishburne [...]

  "Shopper/DJ Who Raided Jason Wu Collection at Target, Now Suing Target" by Allie Conti at Miami New Times. "Wills, who also goes by "DJ Midas" and spins at the Delano, snatched up $5,300 of Jason Wu merch in less than a minute...Now Wills wants payback for the fiasco. One customer allegedly slammed him in the legs with her cart as her similarly aggrieved husband said he was going to "kick his ass."...The Miami DJ is suing for emotional distress as well as negligence and false imprisonment." Read more   "eBay Signs Retail Chains (Home Depot, Walgreens, etc.) to Same-Day [...]