Macy’s holiday same-store sales fall 0.6%. Smaller-than-expected decline sends shares higher at CNBC. Read more

 

…Macy’s is closing at least 19 stores in the next couple months at USA Today. Read more

 

Walgreens’ shares fall after company misses earnings expectations at CNBC. “Earnings per share: $1.37 adjusted, vs. $1.41 expected. Revenue: $34.34 billion, vs. $34.6 billion expected…Same store sales increased by 1.6% from the same period a year earlier.” Read more | Press release

 

Alibaba undercuts Amazon in Europe to woo wary brands at Reuters. “A flood of small businesses have joined its European platform, AliExpress, in recent months but some larger brands are holding back…AliExpress has approached well-known brands including Mango, Benetton and Spanish fashion group Tendam…Some of the brands did not feel the site, whose fashion offerings include an imitation leather miniskirt for about $18 and an acrylic batwing sweater for $14, was the right showcase for their products, sources said.” Read more

 

Kroger launches private-label vegan beef as demand for meat substitutes soars at CNBC. “The new meat-free ground beef and burger patties made with pea protein will be a part of Simple Truth Emerge, a plant-based meat extension of its organic Simple Truth line, which grossed more than $2.3 billion in sales in 2019.” Read more

 

Walmart veteran JP Suarez recounts how the retailer embarked on fixing its stores by Maria Halkias at Dallas Morning News. “Greg Foran was the first one to tell me that the stores weren’t good enough and they had to get better,” said Suarez, who in during the past five years oversaw the building of 1,100 new stores and the addition of curbside grocery pickup to 3,200 Walmart stores. “We were a $400 billion company, but he pushed us to be great,” he said. “Good retailers were going away fast, and great ones would stay around.” Read more

 

Jewel-Osco president Paul Gossett quietly steps down just over a year into the job; former exec steps in by Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz at Chicago Tribune. Tiered subs.

 

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Target, Dick’s, Walmart, Amazon and others recognized for ads by Tanya Gazdik at MediaPost. Read more

 

Barneys staffers going without pay after cyberattack by Carlos Greer at NY Post. “No one got paid last week,” an insider told us. “We were told a group of cyber hackers took over one of our subsequent systems, the system we use to get paid…The source claimed the payments are “being held at ransom and the current owners don’t want to pay the ransom, so we’re not getting paid. No one knows when we’ll get paid.” Read more

 

Loblaw’s Provigo to shut Laval warehouse in 2021, axing 545 jobs by Frederic Tomesco at Financial Post. Read more

 

U.K. Gas-Station Billionaires Weigh Biggest-Ever Deal in Caltex at Bloomberg. “EG Group, the U.K. company led by Mohsin and Zuber Issa, is working with a financial adviser as it evaluates making a bid for Caltex Australia Ltd., people with knowledge of the matter said. Any offer for the $6 billion company could start a takeover battle with Canadian convenience-store giant Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., whose initial bid for Caltex was rejected.” Tiered subs.

 

Facebook, eBay crack down on fake reviews at UK request at AP. Read more

 

Sprouts Farmers Market names new CFO at MarketWatch. “Sprouts Farmers Market named Denise Paulonis its new chief financial officer, effective Feb. 21. Paulonis most recently served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of The Michaels Cos.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra

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MN company fires worker who criticized holiday gift via Twitter

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