NLRB slaps down Walmart dress code by Sean Higgins at Washington Examiner. "Walmart violated its employees' rights when it instituted a restrictive new dress code last year that union activists said was intended to prevent workers from wearing labor insignia on their clothes, a National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge has ruled. The judge ordered the retail giant to rescind the dress code at all of its stores." Read more   Sears 1Q loss narrows but sales slump continues at AP. "Sales at Sears domestic locations open at least a year dropped 14.5 percent, while sales at Kmart [...]

  Target CEO invites civic leaders to HQ, reiterates commitment to Twin Cities by Kavita Kumar at Star-Tribune. "The 26th floor of Target Plaza South used to be a place that visitors rarely — if ever — glimpsed. But on Wednesday afternoon, Target Chief Executive Brian Cornell invited more than 50 community leaders to visit the nerve center of the Minneapolis-based retailer’s operations...“We’re not leaving town,” he said." Read more   Fortune 500 2015 (Walmart #1, CVS #10, Costco #18, Home Depot #33...) See the full list   Home Depot nails the top honor in the first Internet Retailer Excellence Awards [...]

  Costco May Comp Sales Flat "Comparable sales for these periods, excluding the negative impacts from gasoline price deflation and foreign exchange, were +6%" Read the release   Why Wal-Mart is ditching its Celine Dion soundtrack and getting a DJ by Sarah Halzack at Washington Post. "The CD was a punch line multiple times in executives’ presentation to workers, including when a puppet character named Willie joked that being a Wal-Mart store worker was getting dangerous. When Mike Moore, executive vice president of supercenters, asked why, Willie replied, “One of my fellow associates recently developed a serious eye-tic from hearing [...]

  Wal-Mart learns Texas free-market bravado has limits at Dallas News. "It happened in the session that ended Monday, with even the deep pockets of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. failing to summon enough lobbying power to overturn a law forbidding publicly traded companies from selling liquor." Read more   Amazon Debuts Free Shipping on Small Goods, No Minimum Order at Bloomberg. "Amazon.com is introducing free shipping on thousands of popular, smaller items -- makeup, mobile phone accessories, earplugs -- in its Web store, without requiring a minimum order. The new initiative applies to all customers, including those not enrolled in Amazon Prime." [...]

  Target offers free shipping on online orders this week by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. "This is only the third time Target has offered a free-for-all when it comes to shipping on its website." Read more   Target CEO Appears on Mad Money by Abigail Stevenson at CNBC. "...so how can Target appeal to all of those different constituencies at once? "We really can't. We've got to make sure we stay very focused and we understand our sweet spot. Our sweet spot today is what we call the demanding enthusiast," Cornell said." See the video / Read more   Wal-Mart [...]

  Broad organizational realignment underway at Walmart U.S. by Kim Souza at The City Wire. "Judith McKenna outlined the organizational changes in an email to workers on Friday (May 29). The City Wire obtained a copy of that email that details divisional and regional realignment as well as additional leadership moves..." Read more   Home Depot Idol? Salesman Uses His Ukulele And Becomes Internet Music Sensation at CBS Los Angeles. "He makes a sale and KCAL9’s Jennifer Kastner reports that is reason enough to start a serenade. “Then I grab the ukulele from down under and they say oh my god he’s [...]