Dick’s Sporting Goods hires lobbyists on gun control by Polly Mosendz & Matthew Townsend at Bloomberg. “The company has retained Glover Park Group to lobby congress on the matter, according to a disclosure form filed in late April. The move is unusual for a firm in the retail sector…” Read more

 

Timberland lays off dozens of employees via NY Post. “Timberland said that it had laid off roughly 45 employees nationwide, including a number of employees at its headquarters in Stratham.” Read more

 

Regulators sue Albertsons for allegedly banning employees from speaking Spanish in front of non-Spanish speakers by Morgan Cook at San Diego Union-Tribune. Read more

 

The board of Flipkart has approved an agreement to sell about 75 percent of the company to Walmart for approximately $15 billion at Bloomberg. Read more

 

Blue Apron turns to Costco as growth slows by Heather Haddon at MarketWatch. “…started selling at 17 Costco stores around San Francisco and the Pacific Northwest on Saturday…Blue Apron meals are $24.99 at Costco this week, or about $6.25 a serving. Blue Apron’s subscription meals start at around $8.75 a serving.” Read more

 

Alibaba March-quarter revenue grew 61 percent to 61.9 billion yuan ($9.73 billion) from a year earlier, beating analyst estimates of a 53 percent increase at Reuters. Read more

 

Clash at Amazon HQ: Construction workers shout down council member over plan to tax big business by Monica Nickelsburg. “Amazon is a responsible builder … they don’t have a requirement to pay a prevailing wage but they do,” said Chris McClain, political director of the Iron Workers Local 86 union.” Video/Read more

 

Award-winning chefs will set up kitchens at 225 Walmart Supercenters through November to give cooking demonstrations by Robin Mero at Talk Business. Read more

 

Sprouts says it ended Amazon Prime partnership as of May at CNBC. “Sprouts said the transition to Instacart, along with lower-than-expected inflation, will hurt its forecast for same-store sales. The grocer revised its 2018 growth estimate to between 1.5 percent and 2.5 percent, from a range of 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent.” Read more

 

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Lands’ End opening a new chain of brick-and-mortar outlets by Lewis Lazare at Chicago Business Journal. “…a new 5,000-square-foot store at 20291 N. Rand Road in the northwestern suburb of Kildeer, Illinois. The store is the first of between four and six retail outlets the company plans to open in 2018.” Read more

 

Ex-Target SVP named Sally Beauty CFO (their third in less than two years) by Korri Kezar at Dallas Business Journal. “Aaron Alt has been named senior vice president, chief administrative officer and CFO of the Denton-based retailer. He is expected to take the position effective June 4.” Read more

 

Kohl’s hires new chief merchandising officer from QVC, HSN parent Qurate by Melanie Lawder at Milwaukee Business Journal. “Doug Howe has been tapped as the retailer’s new chief merchandising officer, the company announced Wednesday. Howe was previously the global chief merchandising officer at Qurate Retail Group.” Read more

 

Costco is now opening 24 California warehouses at 9 a.m. instead of its usual 10 a.m. slot during the workweek by Benjy Egel at Sacramento Bee. Read more

 

Hawaii Approves Bill Banning Sunscreen Believed To Kill Coral Reefs by Vanessa Romo at NPR. Read more

 

Instagram Starts to Take Payments—But Not for Products Just Yet by Josh Constine at TechCrunch. “It lets you register a debit or credit card as part of a profile, set up a security pin, then start buying things without ever leaving Instagram.” Read more

 

SuperValu Completes Sale of 21 Farm Fresh Stores Press release

 

Loblaw shareholders reject proposal on ‘living wage’ for employees by Aleksandra Sagan at The Canadian Press via Toronto Star. “In Metro Vancouver, workers paid a living wage would receive $20.91 per hour…In comparison, British Columbia’s minimum wage is currently $11.35 per hour.” Read more

 

Walmart, Target are prepping for a post-Toys ‘R’ Us world by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. Read more

 

Md. seafood industry loses 40 percent of workforce in visa lottery by Scott Dance at Washington Post. “This is going to cause the price of crabmeat to go out of sight,” said Harry Phillips, owner of Russell Hall Seafood on Hooper’s Island. “There’s not going to be hardly any Maryland crabmeat…” Read more (Tiered subs.)

 

How Humana Already Benefits From Walmart Retail Store Traffic by Bruce Japsen at Forbes. Read more

 

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