Costco August comp sales +7.3% “Costco reported net sales of $9.8 billion for the month of August, the four weeks ended August 27, 2017, an increase of 10.0 percent from $8.9 billion during the similar period last year.” Press release

 

Dollar General Q2 comp sales +2.6% “Net sales increased 8.1 percent to $5.83 billion in the 2017 second quarter compared to $5.39 billion in the 2016 second quarter…Same-store sales increases were driven by positive results in the consumables and seasonal categories, partially offset by negative results in the home products and apparel categories.” Press release

 

Five Below Q2 comp sales +9.3% “Net sales increased by 28.7% to $283.3 million…The Company opened 31 new stores and ended the quarter with 584 stores in 32 states…an increase in stores of 18.9% from the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2016.” Press release

 

Shoe Carnival Q2 comp sales +0.4% Press release

 

SAW IT COMING – Amazon targeted in class-action lawsuit claiming defective solar eclipse glasses by Alan Boyle at GeekWire. “In addition to compensation and damages, the plaintiffs are seeking a judgment that would force Amazon to fund a medical monitoring program for anyone who becomes part of the class-action suit.” Read more

 

Uber announces tie-up with Westfield’s US shopping malls that will feature taxi waiting lounges by David Reid at CNBC. “Uber is to have designated drop-off and pick-up areas at all of Westfield’s 33 shopping centers in the United States…The firms said the Westfield malls will each incorporate between one and 10 Uber pick-up and drop-off stations. Some locations will also include kiosks with Uber customer service employees.” Read more

 

Best Buy will expand same-day delivery to over a dozen cities by Dan DeBaun at Minneapolis/St.Paul Business Journal. “Starting Sept. 6, Best Buy’s same-day delivery will be offered in the following cities: Austin, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Columbus, Denver, Kansas City, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Orlando, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego and Tampa.” Read more (registration)

 

How Academy Sports Became Home Base for Harvey First Responders by Lynn Cook at Wall Street Journal. “As of Wednesday morning, retail chain Academy Sports + Outdoors was hosting more than 400 rescue-team members at its corporate campus west of Houston, with people coming to work in 12-hour shifts from as close as Waco, Texas, and as far away as Connecticut. Academy employees who were flooded out of their homes have also started to take shelter at work. One of the first to do so: Chief Executive J.K. Symancyk, along with his wife, two children and dog Sammy.” Read more (subs.)

 

Wal-Mart eyes $316 million in Brazil store reforms through 2019 at Reuters. “…to refurbish about 120 stores, as larger rivals in Latin America’s biggest economy invest heavily to retain cash-strapped customers. “We’ve already done about 10 percent of it this year,” Flavio Cotini, Wal-Mart’s chief executive in Brazil, told reporters at the Latam Retail Show in Sao Paulo on Tuesday.” Read more

 

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Hy-Vee announces strategic partnerships with Wahlburgers restaurants and Orangetheory Fitness by John Ewoldt at Star Tribune. “Wahlburgers was founded by executive chef Paul Wahlberg, his actor brothers Mark and Donnie and other investors. There are currently 17 locations in nine states and Canada.” Read more (tiered subs.)

 

Wal-Mart exec tells suppliers why OTIF was needed, says bar is high but necessary by Kim Souza at Talk Business. “Kathryn McLay, senior vice president of logistics at Walmart U.S…was the speaker at the WalStreet Breakfast in Bentonville on Wednesday (Aug. 30)…Suppliers also wanted to know about the in-full requirement of the OTIF protocol saying if their order is a box short because it was dropped in the DC is Wal-Mart still going to penalize them. “We are not grabbling over one case.” (McLay said)” Read more

 

Amazon is actually the weakest of the big U.S. retailers, Moody’s says at MarketWatch. “Amazon’s stock has outperformed rivals, but it’s mostly based on the company’s growth story, and particularly the success of its cloud business, Amazon Web Services, O’Shea wrote in a new report. “That potential is overshadowing the superior real-time operating performance of Amazon’s key retail competitors,” O’Shea wrote.” Read more

 

Former Wal-Mart chairman unloads $62 million in shares by Jeff Cox at CNBC. “S. Robson “Rob” Walton, the eldest son of company founder Sam Walton, sold his shares in two installments Wednesday and Thursday, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.” Read more

 

Nordstrom warns shareholders of the risks of going private by Coral Garnick at Puget Sound Business Journal. “The exploration of a possible ‘going private transaction’ by the Nordstromfamily could impact our relationships with our customers, employees, suppliers and partners, operating results and business,” the company wrote in its quarterly filing with the SEC.” Read more (registration)

 

Aetna scoops up rising star from Wal-Mart’s health group to lead Apple Watch partnership by Christina Farr at CNBC. “Health insurer Aetna has hired Ben Wanamaker from Wal-Mart’s health division to lead its joint venture with Apple, according to sources familiar with the matter. At Wal-Mart, Wanamaker’s role involved leading business development and strategy for the company’s health, wellness and e-commerce businesses, with a focus on partnerships.” Read more

 

Fourteen former Marsh groceries to convert to Needler’s Fresh Market brand at Indianapolis Business Journal. Read more

 

Amazon slashes prices for its Music Unlimited service for students by Jonathan Shieber at TechCrunch. “For students who are eligible to be Prime Student members, Amazon is offering students the option to enroll for six months for $6.” Read more

 

Walmart Taps Nvidia for Massive Cloud to Take on Amazon by Barb Darrow at Fortune. “Over the next six months, Walmart will go “full steam” into deep neural networks, using clusters of Nvidia chips, Global Equities analyst Trip Chowdhry says in a note released Tuesday…Neural networks, a subset of artificial intelligence (AI), are sophisticated computing systems that mimic how the human brain learns. Chowdhry says that Walmart is building a “GPU farm” that will be about a tenth of the size of rival Amazon Web Services “GPU” cloud.” Read more

 

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