SELLER FLEX – Amazon is reportedly testing its own delivery service by Spencer Soper at Bloomberg. “The service began two years ago in India, and Amazon has been slowly marketing it to U.S. merchants in preparation for a national expansion, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the U.S. pilot project is confidential. Amazon is calling the project Seller Flex, one person said. The service began on a trial basis this year in West Coast states with a broader rollout planned in 2018, the people said. Amazon declined to comment.” Read more

 

Whole Foods’ parking lots were busier after Amazon bought it – Kroger not so much at CNBC. “For the month of September, car traffic at Whole Foods stores was up 4.6%, the biggest increase since June 2014. To be sure, JPMorgan analyst Ken Goldman explained in a Wednesday note to clients that car traffic was “perhaps not as high as some observers may have expected.”…At Kroger, Satellite data showed a 7.3% decrease during the month.” Read more

 

Walgreens Expands Medication Disposal To 1,500 Stores In Opioid Battle Press release

 

Americans may be propping up North Korea by buying salmon at US stores at AP. “They cannot leave their compounds without permission. They must take the few steps to the factories in pairs or groups, with North Korean minders ensuring no one strays. They have no access to telephones or email. And they are paid a fraction of their salaries, while the rest — as much as 70 percent — is taken by North Korea’s government.” Read more

 

Easygoing Whole Foods Culture Faces Amazon Discipline by Ronald Holden at Forbes. “It hasn’t been widely reported, but Whole Foods is tightening the leash. There’s long been an internet portal for vendors, and there’s increasing pressure on vendors to use the web to manage their products. And they’ve got to get permission from district managers to actually set foot inside the store, even to do a spot-check on inventory.” Read more

 

How Macy’s Is Turning Beauty Store Bluemercury Into Its Secret Weapon by Phil Wahba at Fortune. ““We are gushers of innovation,” Barry Beck, Bluemercury co-founder, tells Fortune in an interview. Beck acts as Bluemercury’s operations chief; his wife, Marla, serves as CEO. After giving us a tour of the Bluemercury store in Manhattan’s TriBeCa district, he lists some of the ways in which the chain is breaking new ground…” Read more

 

Office Depot to acquire IT services firm CompuCom for $1B by Emon Reiser at South Florida Business Journal. Read more

 

WALMART TIRES OF JOY – How Walmart is growing Carolinas manufacturing jobs by Ken Elkins at Charlotte Business Journal. “About 200 local officials, workers, state execs and tire industry people attended a dedication ceremony on Wednesday. The two-hour event included a tearful speech by Giti employee Arlene McIver, who had been unemployed for as many as eight years before finding the permanent job in Richburg.” Read more

 

Home Depot’s Top Picks for Product Innovation 2017 Top 10 products/Press release

 

**A message from Hot Shot – When bugs cross your threshold, count on Hot Shot. There’s no place like home. And when you rule the roost, you do it all… keep the peace, dry the tears, mop up the messes – even squash the spiders. Count on Hot Shot brand for practical, easy-to-use, effective home insect solutions that take care of the creepy-crawlies for you – without breaking the bank. Facebook page

 

Camping World CEO opens upscale women’s fashion store in Chicago by Brigid Sweeney at Chicago Business. “”This” is Marcus, an upscale, two-story shop at 110 E. Delaware Pl. in the Gold Coast. …the bright, loft-like store opened quietly last week. It will be joined by outposts in Aspen, Colo.; New York and, early next year, west suburban Hinsdale, according to Menkin.” Read more

 

The era of holiday deals is dead, and so is Black Friday by Abha Bhattarai at Washington Post via Denver Post. “Thirty-five percent of consumers who plan to shop during Thanksgiving week say they will do so on Black Friday, down from 51 percent last year and 59 percent the year before, according to consumer markets research from PwC.” Read more

 

Costco co-founder Sinegal donates $1.14M for 20 college students in Washington by Miles Jay Oliver at Yakima Herald. “I’m not gonna change the world, but maybe I can make a few differences in a few lives” Sinegal said.” Read more

 

Sears Canada to Choose Between Chairman’s Bid and Liquidation by Andrew Scurria & Jacquie McNish at Wall Street Journal. “A special committee of the Sears Canada board will decide this week on Executive Chairman Brandon Stranzl’s bid to purchase some of its stores out of bankruptcy as a going concern.” Read more (subs.)

 

Mattel cancels plans for a kid-focused AI device that drew privacy concerns by Hayley Tsukayama at Washington Post via Houston Chronicle. “It also triggered broader concerns about how quickly companies are marketing products to parents without understanding how technology could affect early childhood development.” Read more

 

Casper now has ties to two of the most powerful mattress reviews sites on the web by Jason Del Rey at Recode. Read more

 

Bump stocks disappearing from online stores by Dennis Green at Business Insider. “Cabela’s previously offered the Slide Fire bump stock for sale on its website, but that listing has been taken down…A similar search at Bass Pro Shops yielded the same result…A version of the bump stock was previously available for sale by a third-party seller on Walmart’s website for an unknown period of time, but the retailer has pulled the listing.” Read more

 

BEZOS 25TH-LARGEST LANDOWNER IN US – The Many Places Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Calls Home by Nancy Keates at Wall Street Journal. “…includes several homes on over 10 acres of land on the shores of Lake Washington in Medina, Wash.; two neighboring houses in Beverly Hills, Calif.; a former museum in Washington, D.C.; four linked apartments in a landmark Art Deco tower on Manhattan’s Central Park West; and over 300,000 acres in West Texas.” Read more (subs.)

 

Zefo, an online store for secondhand goods, gets $9.2M Series B led by Sequoia India by Catherine Shu at TechCrunch. Read more

 

Shopify shares slide after company called ‘get-rich-quick scheme’ via Toronto Star. “In a stinging tweet and video rebuke, Citron founder Andrew Left called Ottawa-based Shopify a “get-rich-quick” scheme and “dirtier” than Herbalife Ltd., which has been targeted by regulators for deceptive business practices.” Read more

 

Off-price retailers are starting to cannibalize themselves by Tonya Garcia at MarketWatch. ““With department stores struggling, fewer off-price stores opening, and different location strategies emerging, sales siphoning could be taking place,” Kroll wrote.” Read more

 

Tractor Supply CEO joins home decor retailer Kirkland’s board by Eleanor Kennedy at Nashville Business Journal. Read more

 

“Dollar Dog” – named for his frequent trips to Dollar General – lured into road and killed WSAZ Newchannel 3. “…a couple people had actually seen where somebody had intentionally put a little pile of of dog food right at the intersection of 40 and 172,” said Price. “It wasn’t consistent with somebody hauling dog food and maybe some of it spilling out of the bed. This was intentional that somebody had set up a little pile of food just to lure it out there.” Video/Read more

 

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Woman creates Twitter account specifically to call out abandoned Costco carts

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More than 1 million chickens die in Indiana egg farm fire

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Sam’s Club Shoplifting Suspect Dies While In Custody

Former H-E-B exec found guilty on 48 counts in child porn case

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

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