Kohl’s says it has reached an agreement with activists, plans to bring new members to board at CNBC. "Margaret Jenkins and Thomas Kingsbury, will join Kohl’s board...Jenkins was previously chief marketing officer of the restaurant chains Denny’s and El Pollo Loco, and Kingsbury previously served as the CEO of Burlington Stores...will also at the same time be adding an additional independent director, Christine Day. Day served as CEO of the athletic apparel chain Lululemon from 2008 to 2013." Read more   Grocery workers died feeding the nation. Now, their families are left to pick up the pieces. at NBC [...]

  100 Best Companies to Work For (Wegmans #4, Target #14, Publix #42) Top 100 list   Gap to Replace Longtime Credit-Card Issuer Synchrony With Barclays at Wall Street Journal. "Barclays will take over Gap’s private-label and co-branded credit cards, including Athleta, Banana Republic and Old Navy, the people said. The portfolio includes some 11 million open card accounts, some of the people said, with total balances of roughly $3.8 billion at the end of March." WSJ subs. | MarketWatch   GameStop initiates search for new CEO - sources at Reuters. "GameStop Corp is looking for a new chief executive [...]

  McDonald’s will close hundreds of locations in Walmart stores at CNBC. "...as customers increasingly shop online and opt for the drive-thru window. The big-box retailer confirmed Friday that the fast-food chain will have some 150 locations that remain across its 3,570 SuperCenters. That has gradually fallen over the years from a peak of about 1,000 locations." Read more   BJ’s Wholesale Club CEO Lee Delaney dies unexpectedly at Fox Business. "BJ’s Wholesale Club chief executive Lee Delaney has died, the company announced on Friday...BJ's executive vice president and chief financial officer, Bob Eddy, has been named interim CEO, effective [...]

  Costco March comp sales (ex. gas & f/x) +11.1% : U.S. +11.3% / Canada +13.0% / Other Int'l +7.7% "Costco...reported net sales of $18.21 billion for the retail month of March, the five weeks ended April 4, 2021, an increase of 17.6 percent from $15.49 billion last year." Press release   Best Buy launches a new $200 membership program to fight Amazon at CNN. "... piloting a $199.99 annual membership program with free device installations, a concierge service for tech support and other perks. The program, Best Buy Beta, will be available at around 60 Best Buy stores in [...]

  Target says it will spend more than $2 billion with Black-owned businesses by 2025 at CNBC. "...the retailer said it will more actively seek out advertising firms, suppliers, construction companies and other kinds of businesses that are Black-owned. It said it will create a program called Forward Founders for early-stage start-ups led by Black entrepreneurs to help them develop, test and scale products to sell at mass retailers like Target." Read more   A ‘System of Espionage’ Reigned at Ikea, a French Prosecutor Charges at NY Times. "Ikea came to France touting an image as a homespun retailer with [...]

  GameStop plans $1 billion stock sale at Reuters. "The company said it would sell up to 3.5 million shares and use the proceeds to speed up the shift in its business model to e-commerce in an overhaul being led by top shareholder and board member Ryan Cohen." Read more   Pharmacies score customer data in vaccine effort. Some are crying foul. at Politico. "Privacy experts said that some retail pharmacies have been better than others at separating vaccine appointments from marketing efforts. The grocery chain Albertsons, at the point of securing a vaccine slot, allows people to opt-in to [...]

  Amazon exploring opening outlets selling home goods, electronics at Bloomberg/Fortune. "The outlets would carry unsold inventory sitting in Amazon’s warehouses at steep discounts, according to two people familiar with the plans. The company has considered opening permanent stores, as well as pop-up locations in malls or parking lots, said the people. The plans were preliminary and under discussion last year, but the pandemic and new Fresh grocery chain forced many employees to focus on day-to-day operations." Read more   US economy adds 916,000 jobs in March as service-sector hiring booms at Fox Business. "Employers added 916,000 jobs in March [...]

  Walgreens Q2 sales +4.6% "The United States segment had second quarter sales of $27.3 billion, an increase of 0.4 percent from the year-ago quarter...Comparable sales increased 2.0 percent from the year-ago quarter reflecting a 4.5 percent increase in comparable pharmacy sales and a 3.5 percent decline in comparable retail sales." Press release   Lululemon quarterly comp sales +21% at Fox Business. Read more   Chewy Q4 net sales +51% Press release   Macy’s CEO says company is already benefiting from vaccinations and stimulus checks at CNBC. "Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette said business from loyal Macy’s customers is already up [...]