Nordstrom's red carpet event at the Tony Awards could drive online sales by Coral Garnick at Puget Sound Business Journal. "For the second year, the Seattle-based retailer is sponsoring the Tony Awards red carpet event. This year, though, it is upping its game to include styling the stars and making products instantly available for customers to purchase online." Read more   J.D.Power: Ace Hardware Ranks #1 in Customer Satisfaction among Home Improvement Retailers (Menards tops Lowe's and Home Depot) "Overall customer satisfaction with home improvement retailers is 795, up from 788 in 2015." See the rankings / Read the [...]

  COMP SHORTFALL - Michaels Q1 Comp Sales +0.9% "Chuck Rubin, Chairman and CEO: 'We saw a very positive customer response to our Easter and Spring assortment before trends softened in April, resulting in a comp shortfall for the quarter versus our initial expectations.' Read the release   Best Buy Shares Decline After CEO Joly Reduces Stake by 44% by Matthew Townsend at Bloomberg. "Joly, who joined Best Buy in 2012, sold 398,000 shares for an average price of $32.24, according to a regulatory filing. That left him with about 511,000 shares as of June 2." Read more   New [...]

  DID HE REALLY JUST SAY THAT? - Late night TV host adds edge to Wal-Mart shareholders meeting by Michael Tilley at The City Wire. "Loud and somewhat uncomfortable laughter was the result of Corden saying (Greg) Penner’s marriage had nothing to do with him being named chairman. Corden, with subtle sarcasm, said Penner earned the job by “working tirelessly for Wal-Mart.” “He worked tirelessly at marrying Rob Walton’s daughter,” Corden joked, pulling a direct punch line out of the sarcastic setup, and launching another round of loud laughter and “did he really just say that!?” looks among the crowd." Read [...]

  Gap May Comp Sales -5.0% "Comparable sales by global brand for May 2016: Gap Global: negative 3 percent versus negative 6 percent last year. Banana Republic Global: negative 11 percent versus negative 5 percent last year. Old Navy Global: negative 7 percent versus positive 6 percent last year." Read the release   Amazon Prime trial users turn into paying customers 73% of the time by Alison Enright at Internet Retailer. "CIRP survey data also shows Prime customers renew their memberships at a high rate. At the end of the first year, 91% renew their membership, CIRP estimates. Second-year customers renew 96% [...]

  Costco May Comp Sales +4% (ex. gas & f/x) "Costco reported net sales of $9.23 billion for the month of May, the four weeks ended May 29, 2016, an increase of three percent from $8.98 billion during the similar period last year." Read the release   Amazon targets sellers for first time in latest crackdown on fake customer reviews by Todd Bishop at GeekWire. "The company has filed demands for arbitration against three Amazon sellers, seeking to enjoin them from selling products on Amazon or opening new accounts on the site, and asking an arbitrator to require the sellers [...]

  Stars, shareholders return to Northwest Arkansas for the Wal-Mart annual meeting by Kim Souza at The City Wire. "The Wal-Mart employees peppered the Bentonville square on Monday and Tuesday (May 30 -31) touring the Walmart Museum and the Neighborhood Market located off the square. Roughly 14,000 shareholders are expected to attend this year’s event on Friday (June 3) at the University of Arkansas." Read more   Mom sues Target over ‘hazardous’ giant red balls outside store by Lla Eustachewich at NY Post. "A New Jersey mom is hitting Target right where it hurts with a $1.6 million lawsuit that claims [...]