Costco Q4 Comp Sales Flat / +3.0% (excluding gas & f/x) "Net sales for the fourth quarter were $35.73 billion, an increase of two percent from $34.99 billion in fiscal 2015. Net sales for the fiscal year were $116.07 billion, an increase of two percent from $113.67 billion last year." Press release   Fox Business: Costco Wins on Lower Fees to Visa "The lower payments helped offset falling prices of grocery and fresh food in the quarter, Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said on a post-earnings call." Read more   Target sets up website to invite pitches from startups by [...]

  Pier 1 Q2 Comp Sales -4.3% "Alex W. Smith, President and CEO, stated, “Our top-line results reflect soft store traffic levels throughout the second quarter, most notably in July...we remain cautious regarding our sales outlook given that it’s early in the quarter and our biggest selling season is still ahead of us.” Press release   Academy CEO: 'Golf will continue to be a part of our business' by Jack Witthaus at Houston Business Journal. "Overall, fitness is on fire. Running continues to grow, soccer is very strong," Symancyk said. "Lacrosse is one of the fastest-growing sports in the U.S." [...]

  Amazon has scared Target into a management shake-up, just like it did to Walmart by Jason Del Rey at Recode. "What the shake-up really comes down to, though, is simple: A panicked decision driven consciously or unconsciously by the realization that nothing Target has done has slowed Amazon from eating up more and more market share in North America." Read more   Firms are passing up chance to buy 650 Walgreens amid merger by Josh Kosman at NY Post. "The PE firms feel the stores, sprinkled across the country, are not of a high-enough quality or quantity to support [...]

  Neiman Marcus Q4 Comp Sales -4.1% "The impairment charges highlight the erosion in Neiman Marcus's value over the past year, Neil Saunders, CEO of research firm Conlumino, said." Read more | Press release   ...Neiman Marcus Blames Fashion Bloggers for Its Sales Woes by Phil Wahba at Fortune. "Today, fashion shows are now blogged and broadcast all over the world via social media,” said Karen Katz, Neiman Marcus Group CEO on a conference call with investors on Monday. “By the time the merchandise ships many months later, the newness and excitement had worn off and in many cases, the customer [...]

  Houston: Active shooter taken down by police via ABC 13. "Multiple people were injured and a shooting suspect was taken down by police after he opened fire at a strip center in southwest Houston..."We received a call at 6:29 that we had a shooting at the Petco store...the first units were directed to the parking lot where the shooting was still active," HFD's Jay Evans says." Read more   Best Buy will highlight products by start-ups in section of store, website by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. "The initiative is reminiscent of Amazon’s move last year to create Launchpad, [...]

  Target removes kids' shopping carts after kids went wild with them by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. "(Target) pulled the plug on the test earlier this week, just a few weeks into it, after receiving an earful of complaints as customers vented on social media about bruised ankles and shins and the difficulty of managing their children who often got carried away with the carts. They described shopping cart collisions and meltdowns that resulted from parents not wanting to buy all of the items they put in the carts." Read more   MALFUNCTIONS - CVS pushes curbside pick-up service launch [...]

  Rite Aid Q2 Comp Sales -2.5% "...consisting of a 3.6 percent decrease in pharmacy sales, partially offset by a 0.1 percent increase in front-end sales." Press release   ...Fox Business: Rite Aid Same-Store Sales Pressured by Generics  Read more   Bed, Bath & Beyond Q2 Comp Sales -1.2% Press release   Nordstrom.com gets new president; company leaders shuffle assignments by Janet I. Tu at Seattle Times. "Ken Worzel, who has been serving as the company’s executive vice president of strategy and development since 2010, was named president of Nordstrom.com...The company also shuffled the responsibilities of two of its triumvirate of [...]

  Target's first tech incubator with Techstars already hatching tangible results by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. "Target Corp.’s first experiment in sponsoring a tech incubator has already produced tangible results, including at least six partnerships with the retailer among the 11 start-ups that took part...Those were some of the highlights revealed Tuesday at Demo Day, the pinnacle of the 3-month-long boot camp in which the early-stage companies were given access to hordes of mentors to help finesse their business plans." Read more   Wal-Mart pays quarterly bonuses to more store employees at Reuters. "Wal-Mart said it paid more than [...]