August retail sales rose 0.1% vs. economists’ estimates for a 0.2% decline, according to Dow Jones. Excluding autos, the number also came in at a 0.1% increase, which slightly missed the 0.2% consensus forecast at CNBC

 

US retailer holiday hiring set to be lower than last year at Reuters. “Retailers are expected to add 520,000 new jobs in the final quarter of 2024 compared to 564,200 in 2023, according to the firm’s analysis of non-seasonally adjusted data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.” Read more

 

Holiday shopping time:

 

…Amazon to host its Prime Big Deals Day sales event on October 8 and 9 Press release

 

…Target Circle Week, Oct. 6-12 / Hiring ~100,000 additional seasonal team members Press release

 

…Best Buy Exclusive Member Sale, Sept. 27 to 29 Press release

 

Deal-hunting 8-year-old girl drives herself 10 miles to local Target at NY Post. “…police in nearby Bainbridge Township located the runaway vehicle in the parking lot of a local Target — about 10 miles and 25 minutes away from the girl’s home. She was found inside the store shopping, WKYC said…The girl did have a confession to make — she smashed into a mailbox somewhere along the way, leaving a dent in her parents’ vehicle…” Read more

 

USA Today: 10 best grocery stores in the US (Hy-Vee #1, The Fresh Market #2, Heinen’s #3) List

 

Amazon in-person, 5-day work week begins 1/2/25 “Before the pandemic, not everybody was in the office five days a week, every week. If you or your child were sick, if you had some sort of house emergency, if you were on the road seeing customers or partners, if you needed a day or two to finish coding in a more isolated environment, people worked remotely. This was understood, and will be moving forward as well. But, before the pandemic, it was not a given that folks could work remotely two days a week, and that will also be true moving forward…” Jassy memo

 

How Home Depot became the go-to shop for viral Halloween decorations at Fast Company. “Lance Allen, Home Depot senior merchant: ‘We started doing a space-productivity analysis, and a lot of items were wider at the time, which takes up more space on the floor. One of the thoughts was, if we go taller instead, we can get more productivity out of the floor space. So what classic Halloween icon can we do? That really started us off conceptually. Then we started watching all the old classic horror movies, walking through as many haunted houses as we could, and going to Halloween trade shows.'” Read more

 

Workers at Walmart’s Mississauga warehouse have voted to join Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union. It is Walmart’s first warehouse to unionize in Canada Union press release

 

Online Returns Fraud Finds a Home on Telegram, Costing Retailers Billions at WSJ. “…tips on exploiting the returns policies at specific retailers, are being shared across websites as well as groups on anonymous-messaging apps such as Telegram. Some of those viewed by The Wall Street Journal promote “refunding services” that can get customers full refunds in days without actually returning merchandise. Several of the groups list out the returns policies of large retailers to show customers what they are eligible to get refunded.” WSJ subs.

 

Washington begins its case to block the proposed merger between Kroger and Albertsons at Fox 13

 

Wegmans Holds the Future of Food at Progressive Grocer. “The future of food can be found nestled among emerald green pastures and rolling hills lush with wildflowers. Red barns, breathtaking valleys and pristine lakes dot the landscape. A visitor to the area might just think they’ve stumbled into heaven, instead of the cradle of innovation for one of America’s most beloved grocers.” Read more

 

Cuba slashes size of daily bread ration as ingredients run thin at Reuters