Costco is 58 percent cheaper than Whole Foods, JPMorgan finds at CNBC. “Wal-Mart’s private-label products turned out to be the cheapest of the group when compared with national brands. But Costco’s Kirkland Signature nameplate is a stronger player than its peers when it comes to quality, Horvers added.” Read more

 

NY Times Takes a Look at “Test Market, USA” – Columbus, Ohio by David Gelles. Read article (tiered subs.)

 

Hobby Lobby CEO’s Museum of the Bible Set to Open in November by Candida Moss & Joel S. Baden at Politico. “In November, the Museum of the Bible, a 430,000-square-foot building, will open at 300 D Street in Washington, D.C. The museum will house thousands of pieces of biblical lore, including fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls, pieces of papyrus displaying early copies of the New Testament, and Elvis Presley’s personal Bible, as well as a garden and Bible-themed restaurant at which biblical foods like date honey will be on the menu.” Read more

 

Jeff Bezos does brunch at Oprah’s house with A-listers by Meg Swertlow at E-News. “Julia Roberts and her husband Danny Moder made a rare appearance at the house that O built when they attended the media mogul’s star-studded Wisdom of Sundays Gospel Brunch event at her home in Montecito, CA.” Pics/Read more

 

Attention, travelers: Famous Buc-ee’s bathrooms are going high-tech by Melissa Repko at Dallas Morning News. “The light turns green if the stall is unlocked and red if it is locked. It turns blue or red for handicapped-accessible stalls…Its software can monitor stall traffic in real-time. It can send alerts to clean the bathroom after a certain number of uses. It can also flag a stall that hasn’t been used in awhile and may need some attention.” Read more

 

7-Eleven’s $3.3B purchase of 1,100+ Sunoco stores hits a funding snag by Sridhar Natarajan at Bloomberg. “A group of creditors has told the company it intends to oppose Sunoco’s attempt to change the terms of the credit pact governing about $1.6 billion of bonds.” Read more

 

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Macy’s readies to open its doors early again on Thanksgiving at CNBC. Read more

 

Neiman Marcus stores can see what customers are buying online by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. “In the past, our associates knew what customers bought in the store, but now they can see what they’ve been browsing. We are not aware of anyone else doing this level of digital marketing,” (Chief Marketing Officer) Tharp said.” Read more

 

The reason for Burt’s Bees’ rise to the top? Wind by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. “Burt’s Bees’ owner Clorox discovered that sales of the beeswax balm tick up when the wind blows over seven miles per hour from the north in any given market, in addition to when temperatures drop…About 18 months ago, Clorox’s data science team turned to the WetBulb Global Temperature index…after discovering that the index influences 80 percent of lip-balm purchases.” Read more

 

Amazon Turns on the Charm Amid Criticism From Left and Right by Cecilia Kang at NY Times. Read more (tiered subs.)

 

Kmart customers are now more satisfied than the customers of Costco and Target (!) at Roy Morgan Research. “Over the last 12 months, Kmart improved its customer satisfaction rating by 1.0% points, while its major competitors all showed declines…These changes in satisfaction have now moved Kmart to the top satisfaction rating with 87.6% of its customers satisfied, followed by Costco (87.1%), Target (86.5%).” Read study

 

Rent the Runway expands its fashion subscription service, aiming to put your closet out of business at CNBC. “The new, less-expensive membership tier, called “RTR Update,” allows shoppers to choose four pieces from Rent the Runway’s selection of more than 200 brands every month, with free shipping, returns, dry cleaning and insurance included in the package. The monthly fee is $89.” Read more

 

Your Next Home Could Run on Batteries by Christopher Mims at Wall Street Journal. “This is especially true if you live in New York, California, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Vermont, Arizona or a growing roster of other states and municipalities experimenting with revamping their electrical grids for the 21st century.” Read more (subs.)

 

Staples & Ulta CEOs Give Business Tips at Fortune. “(Shira) Goodman, who is a 25-year Staples veteran, says that as someone with a long tenure, one of the hardest things was figuring out how to let go. “You have to destroy what you built”…(CEO Mary) Dillon pushed to create a collaborative environment rather than one rife with internal competition. “I won’t put up with any of that,” she says. “As a woman with that style, it can come off as not decisive enough.” Read more

 

Amazon Is Getting Into Sportswear by Lindsey Rupp & Daniela Wei at Bloomberg. “Makalot Industrial Co., a Taiwanese vendor that produces clothing for Gap Inc., Uniqlo and Kohl’s Corp., is making apparel for the Amazon line, a person with knowledge of the arrangement said. Eclat Textile Co., another Taiwanese supplier, is contributing to the effort as well — a relationship first noted by SinoPac Securities Corp. analyst Silvia Chiu.” Read more

 

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