Walmart Gets Big Win Over Puerto Rico: No More ‘Walmart Tax’ by Kelly Phillips at Forbes. “Puerto Rico’s AMT, on its face, clearly discriminates against interstate commerce,” wrote U.S. District Court José Antonio Fusté finding in favor of retail giant Wal-Mart Puerto Rico, Inc. (Wal-Mart PR) in its legal battle over new tax laws in Puerto Rico.” Read more

 

Army chief: You want a new pistol? Send me to Cabela’s with $17 million by Kyle Jahner at Army Times. “We’re not figuring out the next lunar landing. This is a pistol. Two years to test? At $17 million?” Milley said to an audience at a Washington, D.C., think tank on March 10. “You give me $17 million on a credit card, and I’ll call Cabela’s tonight, and I’ll outfit every soldier, sailor, airman and Marine with a pistol for $17 million. And I’ll get a discount on a bulk buy.” Read more

 

CVS Health’s Marketing Chief on Turning the Pharmacy Brand Into a Healthcare Player by Kristina Monllos at Adweek. “Given that a portion of CVS’ business is retail and the brand cut tobacco sales, where do you draw the line with unhealthy product sales? For example, will you stop selling products with lots of sugar?  You know, that’s something we evaluate all the time….the thing that is interesting about tobacco is it’s the thing that there is no degree of moderation that is good—there’s nothing good about it.” Read the Q&A

 

THIS SUMMER – Kroger will bring its ClickList online ordering and pickup service to Dallas and Houston by Marina Halkias at Dallas Morning News. “By the end of the year, about 20 local Kroger stores will be equipped to handle ClickList orders from 40,000 items in a store, (division president Dana) Zurcher said.” Read more

 

Staples closing in on Office Depot deal by Josh Kosman at NY Post. “When a judge agrees to hear such a move — a judgment as a matter of law — he or she believes the plaintiff or prosecutor has failed to make its case, a lawyer not involved in the case told The Post on Monday.” Read more

 

GameStop CEO: We Will be ‘Dominant Player’ in Virtual Reality at Fox Business. “We have not put that into our forecast in any significant way. Part of that is because we have to wait on our publishing partners to make their announcements at E3 coming up in June. But virtual reality will be a very significant part of the future,” Raines said.” Read more

 

Fortune: 50 Best Workplaces for Flexibility (#25 Build-A-Bear, #36 Clif Bar) See the top 50

 

Report: Amazon to offer two-hour delivery in Berlin by Greg Sandoval at Bloomberg. “Die Welt, a German newspaper, broke the story. Citing anonymous sources with knowledge of the plan, Die Welt said that Amazon plans to begin offering two-hour delivery sometime in May. Until now, Amazon’s German operations has relied on Deutsche Post’s DHL parcel service for deliveries.” Read more

 

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Instacart says it is doing better than expected in Twin Cities by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. “…questions about how well it is doing here began to surface last week when BuzzFeed reported that the company was planning to dismiss its Minneapolis-based delivery drivers. Instacart executives reached out to the Star Tribune to say a change in drivers’ responsibilities was being misinterpreted as a signal that it wasn’t doing well and might leave town.” Read more

 

Why Booming Demand Is Making Vanilla Taste Worse by Paul Richardson at Bloomberg. “The price of the bean used to flavor everything from ice cream and chocolate to cola and pastries more than tripled in the past year as output slipped and quality suffered.” Read more

 

Restoration Hardware joins trend of charging customers for loyalty program by John Ewoldt at Star Tribune. “Welcome to the future,” said Marshal Cohen, senior analyst at the NPD Group. “Retailers have figured out that if they give us additional value, we’re usually willing to pay for it.” Read more

 

Sears CEO Lampert buys some of company’s debt by Jessica Dinapoli & Kristen Haunss at Reuters. “The collateral backing the loan is such that Lampert and the other investors in it would be paid in full in the event of a liquidation, the people said.” Read more

 

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