Amazon threatened to kill its Whole Foods deal if the grocer started a bidding war by Jason Del Rey at Recode. "Amazon’s bankers “also made it clear again ... that Amazon.com would disengage from its efforts to acquire the Company and pursue other alternatives and initiatives if the $42.00 per share price were not accepted,” the filing said" Read more   ...Reuters has reported that Albertsons was "Company X" in Whole Foods bidding at Fortune. Read more   Retailers offer deals for Amazon Prime Day -- but not Walmart, Target by Diane Kruzman at USA Today. "Walmart, Target and Lowe's are [...]

  Home Depot buying equipment rental company for $265M by David Allison at Atlanta Business Chronicle. "Fort Mill, S.C.-based Compact Power Equipment has been a business partner of Home Depot's since 2008. The companies' partnership began with three pilot equipment centers at Charlotte, N.C., stores, and by 2015 had grown to 1,000 Home Depot stores across the U.S. and Canada." Read more   Wal-Mart de Mexico Sales Pick Up in June via Fox Business. "Same-store sales in Mexico rose 7.2% in June, thanks to 0.2% more customers who spent on average 7% more per visit. Newly opened stores contributed another [...]

  QVC buying Home Shopping Network in deal valued at $2.1 billion at CNBC. "Liberty Interactive will purchase the 62 percent of HSNi that it didn't already own in an all-stock deal valued at $2.1 billion." Read more   Costco June Comp Sales +6.0% "Costco reported net sales of $12.17 billion for the month of June, the five weeks ended July 2, 2017, an increase of  seven percent from $11.33 billion during the similar period last year." Press release   KROGER VS. LIDL - Kroger sues Lidl for trademark infringement by Steve Watkins at Cincinnati Business Courier. "Kroger argues in [...]

  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, [...]