"Whole Foods and Instacart turn up the heat in the delivery wars" by Beth Kowitt at Fortune. "Starting next month, rather than dispatching an Instacart shopper to a Whole Foods when an order is placed, shoppers will already be embedded in its stores. The service will start in Boston and Austin before rolling out to other participating cities." Read more   "Report Says Retailers Are Emerging From A Yearlong Apparel Slump" by Barbara Thau at Forbes. "For the first time since September 2013, apparel industry inventory levels are growing at a rate slower than sales growth, according to a [...]

"Target & Walmart Team Up on Sustainability" by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune. "The nation’s two largest discount retailers took the unusual step of co-hosting a meeting in Chicago to push beauty and personal care suppliers to be more transparent about the chemicals that go into their products...The forum was attended by about 75 people, including representatives from suppliers such as Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Estee Lauder and L’Oreal as well as other retailers such as CVS, Walgreens and Ulta. “It’s a pretty big deal,” said Janet Nudelman, director of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. “It’s surprising to see two such [...]

  "Costco Comp Sales +7% in August" "Costco reported net sales of $8.8 billion for the month of August, the four weeks ended August 31, 2014, an increase of ten percent from $8.0 billion during the similar period last year...For the 52-week fiscal year ended August 31, 2014, the Company reported net sales of $110.2 billion, an increase of seven percent from the $102.9 billion reported in fiscal year 2013." Read the release   "Wal-Mart exec outlines growth strategy for Latin America" by Kim Souza at The City Wire. "We plan to grow sales in three ways: Focusing equally on [...]

  "Walmart Workers Rant About the "Nonsense" New Dress Code" by Hamilton Nolan at Gawker. "The Walmart employee who sent us this information told us, "I believe Walmart is placing yet another financial burden upon the workers...I do hope that media attention will cause the company to either set up a hardship fund to help us pay for this, or even better, do away with it all together." Read more   "CVS Stops Tobacco Sales Today, Changes Name To Reflect New Era" by Bruce Japsen at Fortune. "The move to remove tobacco products effective this morning coincides with a company [...]

  "Dollar General sweetens cash bid for Family Dollar to $80 a share, or about $9.1B" by Andrew Ross Sorkin at CNBC. "Dollar General is willing to sell up to 1,500 stores if required by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, even though it feels its pledge to divest 700 stores in its prior proposal provides more than enough cushion to clear any regulatory review." Read more   "Kickstarter users fundraise for products already sold on Amazon" by Kaja Whitehouse at NY Post. "The Bellevue, Wash., company launched a Kickstarter campaign seeking $20,000 for its high-tech knife, whose pitch is that [...]