Macy's to stick with Thanksgiving hours, open even earlier by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. "BestBlackFriday.com, which tracks retailers' holiday deals and hours, received confirmation from five U.S. shopping centers that their Macy's locations would open at 5 p.m. Thursday. That compares with 6 p.m. in both 2014 and 2015." Read more   Target Removes Clown Masks From Stores After Recent Scares at WCCO 4. "Given the current environment, we have made the decision to remove a variety of clown masks from our assortment, both in stores and online,” Target spokesperson Joshua Thomas said." Read more   Former Schnucks president [...]

  TARGET PRESSURE - Retail janitors in the Twin Cities unionize, after pressure from retailers on contractors by Adam Belz at Star Tribune. "...the first major metropolitan area in the U.S. where retail janitors are unionized...“When Target took that leadership step, the rest of the industry followed,” Mendez Moore said." Read more   WIKILEAKS ON WALMART by Simon Dumenco at Ad Age. "Former Walmart exec Leslie Dach chimed in, suggesting that the letter from Nader et al might not merit a response -- and that perhaps it wasn't wise for Hillary Clinton to remind people of her past Walmart ties. 'I [...]

  Sam’s Club John Furner keynote speaker at Bentonville Bella Vista Chamber breakfast by Kim Souza at The City Wire. "Furner said last week at the retailer’s investor conference he was talking with an analyst, and answering a question when the analyst spotted Jet.com founder Marc Lore and quickly followed after him. When asked how Lore might work with Sam’s Club, Furner said running Jet and Walmart’s global ecommerce business was enough to keep Lore busy for a while." Read more   Costco & Nordstrom team with University of Washington to debut new Urban Freight Lab by Taylor Soper at [...]

  Here's Why Walmart Is Upping Its Salaries for Entry-Level Managers via Forbes. "Wal-Mart raised salaries from $45,000 to $48,500 annually for employees including store management, spokesman Randy Hargrove said on Tuesday." Read more   Amazon plans to introduce C-stores by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. "According to The Wall Street Journal, the e-commerce giant plans to open convenience stores that sell milk, produce and other consumables, as well as drive-up destinations where shoppers can have their orders brought to the car. People familiar with the strategy told the newspaper that shoppers could use their smartphones or screens scattered around the shops [...]

  Amazon’s Prime Air 767s may be en route to Charlotte airport by Ken Elkins at Charlotte Business Journal. "Amazon is finalizing plans for a 397,800-square-foot distribution center at 10240 Old Dowd Road for a “receiving center.” That’s within 5 miles of Charlotte Douglas." Read more   Analysts not convinced that a Kroger-Whole Foods deal will happen by Steve Watkins at Cincinnati Business Courier. "Kroger’s same-store sales growth declined during the second quarter...“That makes it harder to service debt in a deflationary environment,” Meyer said. “I think it would be unlikely Kroger would be interested.” Meyer put the likelihood at less [...]

  Holiday Sales Forecasts About as Real as Santa by Shelly Banjo at Bloomberg. "Fewer than half of U.S. retail chains saw sales increase in the second quarter from a year earlier, the lowest percentage since the end of the recession in 2009. The downbeat results are at odds with some overwhelmingly rosy predictions for the upcoming holiday season..." Read more   JCPenney has started stationing greeters at the entrances of stores by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. "Penney’s greeters are already full-time employees who are being redeployed to front-of-the-store duty for just two hours of their shift, according to one [...]

  Wal-Mart Balks at Paying $600-Million-Plus in Bribery Case by Tom Schoenberg & Matt Robinson at Bloomberg. "With the impasse, prosecutors have gone back to elicit more evidence from witnesses about alleged bribe-paying in Mexico, the people said. That will put additional pressure on the company to settle. Some of the people familiar with the matter said the U.S. could propose a penalty well above $600 million." Read more   Could Kroger buy out Whole Foods? by Alexander Coolidge at Cincinnati Enquirer. "Industry speculation that Kroger is mulling a takeover of Whole Foods Market powered the stock in both companies [...]

  Costco September Comp Sales +1.0% "Costco reported net sales of $11.06 billion for the month of September, the five weeks ended October 2, 2016, an increase of three percent from $10.75 billion during the similar period last year." Press release   PUMP THE BRAKES - Wal-Mart plans to slow store openings, to invest in digital by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. "Wal-Mart will open 130 U.S. stores, down from its original projection for 135 to 155. And next year, it will open just 55 U.S. stores. That breaks down into 35 supercenters and 20 of its smaller Neighborhood Markets." Read [...]