Fresh off IPO, Blue Apron CEO says Amazon’s grocery focus is ‘good for us and good for others’ by Monica Nickelsburg at GeekWire. "There have been tons of players trying to bring online grocery penetration up historically that haven’t been successful because quality is so important,” Salzberg told CNBC...Unlike Amazon, Blue Apron owns and operates its own farm and gets exclusive deals on about 70 percent of food from suppliers." Read more   Retail stands to lose $70 billion over 10 years if food stamp benefits are slashed, and here's who gets hit the most by Courtney Reagan at CNBC. [...]

  Walgreens scraps Rite Aid deal - will buy 2,186 stores instead via CNBC. "Walgreens Boots Alliance terminated its agreement to buy smaller rival Rite Aid after struggling to win antitrust approval, and said it would instead buy 2,186 Rite Aid stores and assets for $5.18 billion in cash. Walgreens also said on Thursday it ended a related deal to sell 865 Rite Aid stores to Fred's Inc. sending the company's shares plunging 27 percent in premarket trading." Read more | Press release   Amazon says third annual Prime Day will start July 10, running for 30 hours by Nat [...]

  Kroger CEO Appears on CNBC "The [Amazon-Whole Foods] deal didn't surprise me," McMullen said in a rare, exclusive interview with CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" on Tuesday. "I think the retail industry is in constant change. We've been saying that for years." Read more/Video | Interview Transcript   Target launches Restock home delivery service, takes aim at Amazon by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. "Orders placed by 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday will reach customers’ doorsteps by the next day, Target said. That cutoff time is a half-hour later than when Target first announced the program last month. Orders [...]

  YES OR NO? - Skepticism persists around Walgreen-Rite Aid deal by Josh Kosman at NY Post. "Despite recent optimism, multiple sources close to Walgreen remain skeptical about the odds for the drug chain’s $9.7 billion deal to buy Rite Aid. The Federal Trade Commission is expected to vote Thursday." Read more   Lidl announces $100M investment in Georgia by Eric Mandel at Atlanta Business Chronicle. "...will create 250 jobs and invest $100 million over the next five years in a new regional headquarters and distribution center in Cartersville." Read more   Kohl’s Announces Bruce Besanko as CFO "Most recently, Besanko [...]

  It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere—Unless You’ve Been Acquired by Wal-Mart by Sarah Nassauer & Brian Baskin at Wall Street Journal via Fortune. "Those moves backfired. According to the Journal, Jet executives complained that fewer employees were attending happy hour after it was moved off-site. To its credit, Walmart reversed its stance, allowing happy hour to return to the Jet office and loosening similar restrictions on other recently-acquired startups." Read more | WSJ article (subs.)   With its 'endless aisle' Walmart Canada takes another swipe at Amazon by Hollie Shaw at Financial Post. "If you own the centre of the plate, [...]

  Bed Bath & Beyond Q1 Comp Sales -2.0% "Net sales for the fiscal 2017 first quarter were approximately $2.7 billion, an increase of approximately 0.1% from the prior year quarter." Press release   Target Begins Removing Hampton Creek's Products From Stores by Olivia Zaleski at Bloomberg. "The Target spokeswoman said the company received allegations of food safety concerns as well as accusations of manipulation and adulteration of Hampton Creek’s products. She said one concern involved reports of pathogens found in a manufacturing facility used by Hampton Creek. Target also received allegations that Hampton Creek products had tested positive for [...]

  BRAVE FACE - Kroger Is Oddly 'Excited' About Being Invaded By Lidl by Lindsay Rittenhouse at The Street. "I'm glad their stores are finally open," Kroger CFO Michael Schlotman said at Oppenheimer's Consumer Conference on Wednesday, June 21...One of the biggest markdowns Schlotman highlighted at Wednesday's conferences was on the price of a half-gallon carton of milk. He said at some of those southern stores, milk is sold for 99 cents." Read more   Menards, Home Depot face lawsuits over descriptions of 4x4s by Rick Romell at Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "They haven’t measured 4 inches by 4 inches since [...]

  Amazon Prime is testing a try-before-you-buy option on up to 15 pieces of clothing at a time by Jason Del Rey at Recode. "The service — called Prime Wardrobe — lets customers pick from more than a million products across men’s and women’s fashion, as well as baby clothing. Shoppers have to order at least three items on the low end, but can order up to 15 pieces in a box. Keep three or four items, and customers save 10 percent. Keep five or more and the discount increases to 20 percent." Read more   Wal-Mart to Vendors: Get [...]