"Can interim Chairwoman Roxanne Austin help turn the tide at Target?" by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune.  "Target Corp. has been mired in quite a storm since last year, so it’s perhaps fitting that one of the people leading the company through it was once nicknamed “Hurricane Roxanne.”  Roxanne Austin, who was tapped earlier this month to serve as the retailer’s interim board chairwoman, was bestowed with the moniker more than a decade ago by employees at DirecTV during her two-year reign as president."  Read more   "Texas to Get First Walmart Express by Christmas" by Mike Sackett at Daily [...]

  "Target's New Ad Campaign Highlights Impact on Communities" by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune.  "The company is ready to begin airing four spots that will run from Sunday through the end of June on cable and network channels...One of the ads features an urban high school in San Diego where Target has donated money for a community garden. In another, Target’s coffee buyer gets choked up when talking about how using direct trade coffee helps farmers invest in their families and land. And another spot is in Spanish and highlights the company’s school library makeover program."  Read more   [...]

  "Walmart Reports Q1 Earnings:  Comp Sales Down 8 Basis Points / Sam's Down .5%"  "Sam's Club delivered 10.9 percent membership income growth for the quarter...E-commerce sales globally increased approximately 27 percent for the quarter...Walmart U.S. comp traffic decreased 1.4 percent, while average ticket increased 1.3 percent...April marked the 46th consecutive month of positive comps for Neighborhood Market."  Read the release   CNBC's Take:  "Wal-Mart misses, blames it on the tough winter"  "Wal-Mart reported quarterly earnings and revenue that missed analysts' expectations on Thursday, laying the blame on a tough winter that chilled business activity and cost it about 3 [...]

  "Millennials may kill Costco, and mobile app Boxed is happy to speed that along" by Erin Griffith at Fortune.  "Today (Boxed) announces it has raised $6.5 million in new funding to expand, adding to its prior $1.1 million seed round...Boxed launched last year to bring bulk shopping to mobile...Boxed doesn't charge membership fees...CEO Chieh Huang says he expected the app to be popular with millennials in cities, many of whom don't drive or don't live near suburban Costco locations. But Boxed has been popular in rural areas simply because it's convenient, he says."  Read more   "Bezos Backed Pro.com [...]

  "Target’s Chairman Takes Hands-On Role (Moving from CA to MN)" at Bloomberg.  "Facing a leadership void after abruptly replacing its chief executive officer this week, Target has turned to seasoned director Roxanne Austin to play an unusually active role as interim chairman."  See the video   "Sozzi:  Walmart Store Closings Expected This Year" at The Street.  "No updates have been provided on the status of these laggard stores. I continue to expect Walmart to announce a store closure plan this year related to its large pool of underperforming locations. Note that Target will have closed seven stores by August of [...]

  "Amazon's New Picture Patent is the Most Ridiculous Tech Patent Ever" by Eric Hal Schwartz at In the Capital.  "Tech companies sometimes have a tendency to try and make the mundane seem really impressive, but it's hard to imagine topping Amazon and its newest patent, a way of taking pictures of things against a white background."  Read more   "Bezos: 86% of deliveries are under 5 lbs (Live tweeted from appearance at kids' school) by Emily Parkhurst at Puget Sound Bus. Journal.  "Bezos reportedly told the kids that 86 percent of Amazon’s deliveries are under 5 pounds, which is about [...]

  Happening Today:  "Obama to promote energy efficiency at Wal-Mart appearance (labor not happy...calls Obama 'numbskull' !)" by Jim Kuhnhenn at AP via Star-Tribune.  "Obama on Friday was to announce commitments from more than 300 companies and local and state governments to use solar energy technology..."What numbskull in the White House arranged this?" former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, who served in the Bill Clinton administration, said in a posting on Facebook on Thursday."  Read more   Walmart/Obama Release:  "Obama and Walmart Team-Up on Solar Energy"  "At an event with President Barack Obama, Walmart today announced that it will double the [...]

  "Costco Comp Sales +5% in April"  "Costco Wholesale Corporation today reported net sales of $8.56 billion for the month of April, the four weeks ended May 4, 2014, an increase of seven percent from $7.98 billion during the similar four-week period last year."  Read more   "Wal-Mart gets green light to build its drive-in grocery center" by Kim Souza at The City Wire.  "According to the plan the consumers will drive up to the kiosk and get a parking slot number where they will park and wait on the delivery of their groceries. Early descriptions of the drive-in facility [...]