Costco Q3 Comp Sales +3.0% (ex. gas & f/x) “Net sales for the quarter increased two percent, to $26.15 billion from $25.52 billion last year. Net sales for the first thirty-six weeks increased two percent, to $80.34 billion from $78.67 billion last year.” Read the release

 

MarketWatch: Costco sales stall in third quarter “Over all for the quarter, Costco reported a profit of $545 million, or $1.24 a share, up from $516 million, or $1.17 a share, a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected $1.22.” Read more

 

Dollar General Q1 Comp +2.2% “Net sales increased 7.0 percent to $5.27 billion in the 2016 first quarter compared to $4.92 billion in the 2015 first quarter…” Read the release

 

Dollar Tree Q1 Comp +2.3% “Gross profit increased 107.6%, to $1.55 billion in the first quarter compared to $748.9 million in the prior year’s first quarter.” Read the release

 

Sears Q1 Domestic Comp -7.1% Read the release

 

WALMART’S FOOD STAMP MOAT – Walmart’s Fleeting Advantage Over Amazon by Shelly Banjo at Bloomberg. “Nearly all of those funds are spent offline, as the government puts limits on people’s ability to redeem food stamps without being physically present…But Walmart’s food-stamp advantage over Amazon could be fleeting. There is a growing movement of people pushing for food stamps to be redeemable online.” Read more

 

Burlington Q1 Comp +4.3% Read the release

 

Hy-Vee’s scouting Twin Cities sites for convenience stores ‘on steroids’ by Nick Halter at Minneapolis/St.Paul Business Journal. “It’s unclear how many of the small stores the company may open. Hy-Vee’s broker, Tom Palmquist of Colliers International Minneapolis-St. Paul, put out a flier seeking 25 sites that are two or three acres for a “mini grocery with gas.” Read more

 

Williams-Sonoma tops Street 1Q forecasts via CNBC. “…posted revenue of $1.1 billion in the period, which also beat Street forecasts. Thirteen analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.08 billion.” Read more | Release

 

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Walmart is axing a popular ad-matching tool at 500 stores by Hayley Peterson at Business Insider. “The Savings Catcher app will continue to work at stores where the in-store ad-matching program has been axed.” Read more

 

Large power outage in downtown Seattle causes ‘Internet snow day’ by Taylor Soper at GeekWire. “Seattle City Light said that an equipment failure was to blame for the outage, which hit just after 11:30 a.m. in neighborhoods ranging from Belltown to Pioneer Square. SCL said an estimated time of restoration was 12:40 p.m. but others noted longer delays.” Read more

 

Craving Growth, Walgreens Dismissed Its Doubts About Theranos by Christopher Weaver & John Carreyrou at WSJ. “A Hopkins scientist told her that his researchers needed to put the device in their Baltimore laboratory to verify the technology on Walgreens’ behalf, and Ms. Holmes agreed to provide one, say people familiar with the meeting. It never happened. Walgreens wound up making a deal that included plans to put Theranos blood-testing centers in thousands of its drugstores across the U.S. despite never fully validating the startup’s technology or thoroughly evaluating its capabilities, according to people familiar with the matter.” Read more (subscription)

 

SpartanNash Q1 Sales: Retail comp -3.4% / Distribution Sales Up / Military Sales Down Read the release

 

CHICAGO – CVS, pharmacists to resume bargaining by Alexia-Elejalde-Ruiz at Chicago Tribune. “Teamster Local 727, which represents 150 Chicago-area pharmacists, said it has received an outpouring of support from pharmacists and CVS customers nationwide since it made public what it calls mistreatment of workers without enough support to complete the tasks required of them. It “is about ensuring the ongoing safety and sanctity of the pharmacy profession,” John Coli Jr., president of Local 727, said in a Wednesday news release.” Read more

 

Smart Tampon? The Internet of Every Single Thing Must Be Stopped by Joanna Stern at WSJ. “Blame the falling price of parts, the popularity of crowdfunding sites or the flood of cash into the tech industry. But if an object has room for a chip and a battery, some entrepreneur is trying to shove them in—and replace common sense with an app alert. The high water mark was reached last week, when startup MyFlow announced the smart tampon.” Read more (subscription)

 

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Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

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