Costco sold counterfeit Tiffany engagement rings-U.S. judge by Nate Raymond at Reuters. "Despite Costco's arguments to the contrary, the court finds that, based on the record evidence, no rational finder of fact could conclude that Costco acted in good faith in adopting the Tiffany mark," (Judge) Swain wrote...Under the ruling, Tiffany may now take Costco before a jury to seek damages, including a recovery of Costco's profits from the sale of the diamond rings and punitive damages." Read more   ...Read Tiffany's Press Release   Macy’s and Best Buy partner to test consumer electronics departments inside Macy’s by Maria [...]

  Costco Photo Center finally back online after security breach forces seven-week outage by Jacob Demmitt at GeekWire. "The Issaquah, Wash.-based big-box retailer says customer photos weren’t compromised in the hack, but the company warns in an FAQ, “At this point, we believe that the credit card information of a small percentage of Costco members was captured.” Read more   Former Amazon VP leaving CIO role at Seattle Police Department after 6 months by John Cook at GeekWire. "It’s not entirely clear why Russell — a native of Scotland who was awarded an $180,000 salary — left. An unnamed source [...]

  Fans Lines Up at Midnight for new Star Wars Toys at CNN Money. "At Toys R Us in New York's Times Square just before midnight, hundreds of people were waiting for hours to be first in line...The BB-8 and Phasma toys sold out quickly, to the dismay of many of the biggest fans." Read more   ...A Bullseye View: "Target Exclusive BB-8 Droid is Here, Plus So Much More" See the toy pics / Read more   Online back-to-school shopping increases 12% by Matt Linder at Internet Retailer. "Mobile sales jumped 42%, accounting for a quarter of all such [...]

  Costco August Comp -2.0% (US +1.0%) "For the 52-week fiscal year ended August 30, 2015, the Company reported net sales of $113.7 billion, an increase of three percent from the $110.2 billion reported last year." Read the release   Target's Prices 25% Higher than Walmart in Back to School Study by Clare O'Connor at Forbes. "Profitero examined 3,849 of the exact same products with identical brands and barcodes across Amazon, Walmart and Target’s e-commerce sites on the same date (August 18th, around the annual peak for these purchases). The company found that Amazon’s prices were a fraction lower — 1% [...]

  Target lays off 235 in Twin Cities tech operations, 40 in India by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. "In addition to the new job cuts, Target said Tuesday it will close about 35 open positions at its corporate offices in Minneapolis and Brooklyn Park...One area still on the chopping block is some of Target’s corporate workforce involved in its pharmacy business...The layoffs — amounting to 2,735 jobs this year, or about one-fifth of its corporate staff." Read more   Washington Post: A case that Costco and other warehouse clubs have transformed retail more than Amazon by Sarah Halzack. "The four [...]

  Dollar Tree Q2 Comp +2.7% "Net sales increased 48.3% to $3.01 billion from $2.03 billion in the prior year's second quarter. The increase was the result of $811.6 million in sales from the Family Dollar segment since closing on the acquisition." Read the release   BJ's poaches Hess Retail CEO to lead its business operations by David Harris at Boston Business Journal. "Christopher Baldwin will have responsibility for business operations at the Westborough-based wholesale club, with oversight of its merchandising, logistics, membership, marketing and club operations. He also will join BJ’s board of directors." Read more  Press release   The [...]