Market Force: Rankings of Favorite Grocery Store Chain (Trader Joe's-First, Walmart-Last) See the 14 Chains Ranked   CVS pays $22 Mil to resolve Florida painkiller probe by Jonathan Stempel at AP. "These revocations were part of a crackdown in Florida on illegal sales of controlled substances, at the height of what Bentley called the state's "pill mill crisis." Read more   Amazon Relents on Key Merchant Policy So Prime Members Can Get Better Selection by Jason Del Rey at Recode. "This year, Amazon has quietly been reaching out to a select group of merchants who sell on Amazon with [...]

  Target removes T-shirt from stores after designer claims it was copied from her by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune. "Joshua Thomas, a Target spokesman, said in a statement that Target has a "deep appreciation for design" and so was concerned when this was brought to the Minneapolis-based retailer's attention. "We've been in contact with the vendor that produced this tee," he said. "We've also reached out directly to the designer." Read more   Tenet: Top 100 Most Powerful Brands (Wgreen #33, Target #45, H.Depot #51, Family Dollar #100)  See the top 100 list   Kroger CEO gets a $667K raise [...]

  Target stores to introduce dedicated smart-home sections by Megan Wollerton at CNET. "Later this month, Target is launching an 8-foot connected-home statement in Target stores nationwide," said the Target rep. "Products featured within the statement include home cameras and sensors, location tracking devises and digital scales. By "statement," the rep later clarified she meant "a designated area within the electronics department where these products will be showcased on the shelf." Read more   Walmart: 630 Workers Turn Out 62,000 Pairs of Prescription Glasses Weekly at Fayetteville Lab by Kim Souza at The City Wire. "Carmen Bauza, senior vice president of OTC health [...]

  Ahold, Delhaize Shares Soar on Reports of Merger Discussions by Paul Jarvis & Elco Van Groningen at Bloomberg. "Together, they would control about 4 percent of the U.S. grocery market, analysts at Natixis estimate, and would have a presence along the entire East Coast. In Europe, a combined business would be the fourth-biggest food retailer, Natixis said." Read more   Northwest Arkansas Business Journal Names Two Walmart Employees to 'Fast 15 Class of 2015':   ...Drew Johnson, Manager, Global Treasury: "Last year he founded the Second Street Snack Packs Program in support of Washington Junior High in Bentonville, and [...]

  Target ball Web craze is merrily rolling along by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune. "If you search the hashtag on Instagram, there over 2,000 pictures from people around the country taking the selfies,” said Byington, 32, of Birmingham, Ala. “It’s crazy.” People sit on the red balls. They stand on them. They do yoga on them. They lay down on them like they’re Superman. And then, they post pictures to Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #targetballing." Read more   Home Depot's Craig Menear Speaks to MSU Graduates by Terri Hughes-Lazzell at Eli Broad College of Business. "He told them [...]

  Walmart Canada Scoops Up 13 Former Target Canada Stores by Marina Strauss at Globe & Mail. "(Walmart) said on Friday it has struck agreements to acquire Target store leases, one owned property and a distribution centre for about $165-million. It plans to invest another $185-million to renovate the 13 stores and distribution centre." Read more   Judge: Settlement between Target and MasterCard can go forward by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune. Read more   Lowe's To Eliminate Toxic Phthalates In Flooring By End Of 2015 "Lowe's confirmed the new policy to the "Mind the Store" campaign in a recent email [...]

  ***Announcing the new Eye on Retail website for more headlines and stories off the beaten path! www.eyeonretail.net   Costco April Comp Sales Flat / +7% Excluding Fuel "Costco reported net sales of $8.75 billion for the month of April, the four weeks ended May 3, 2015, an increase of two percent from $8.56 billion during the similar period last year." Read the release   Whole Foods Q2 Comp Sales +3.6%, Announces New Store Concept Geared Towards Millennials "We believe the growth potential for this new and complementary brand to be as great as it is for our highly successful Whole Foods Market brand,” added [...]

  Home Depot Aiming to Put Apple Pay in Its 2,000 Stores by Matt Townsend at Bloomberg. "(Home Depot) could accept mobile payments at those locations because its checkout terminals have near-field communication readers...Those devices have now been turned off for the past few weeks during an upgrade of its point-of-sale system, Holmes said. That led to some inaccurate reports that Home Depot had dropped Apple Pay." Read more   Can Nordstrom win where Target lost? Seattle retailer to open as many as 20 Rack stores in Canada by Rachel Lerman at Puget Sound Business Journal. "Nordstrom will open between 15 [...]