Former Home Depot executive joins J.C. Penney board by Carla Caldwell at Atlanta Business Chronicle. “J. Paul Raines, who for eight years served in various management roles at Atlanta-based The Home Depot Inc. has been appointed to the 13-member J.C. Penney Co. Inc. board. Raines, who is the CEO of GameStop Corp. and a graduate of Georgia Tech, was appointed Tuesday to the board.” Read more

 

Ex-Walmart Exec Named CEO at Mills Fleet Farm “Former Chief Merchandising and Marketing Officer at Wal-Mart, Duncan Mac Naughton, will assume the role of CEO of Mills Fleet Farm. Also effective as part of the transaction close, Hugh Leasum, currently a member of Mills Fleet Farm’s executive management team, will assume the role of Chief Operating Officer.” Read the release

 

Sam’s Club hires regional buyers, sees ‘local’ food as key in upscale shift at Reuters. “Sam’s Club has hired a handful of buyers in Dallas and is considering putting teams in up to five other markets, John Furner, chief merchandising officer at Sam’s Club, told Reuters. Until now, all of its buyers have worked out of company headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas.” Read more

 

Target hires Amazon executive to help improve supply chain by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. “Arthur Valdez will relocate to Minneapolis in the coming weeks to become Target’s executive vice president of supply chain and logistics…He will replace Keri Jones, who has been with Target for more than two decades.” Read more | Read the release

 

Sports Authority Said to Discuss Selling Stores to Rival Dick’s by Lauren Coleman-Lochner at Bloomberg. “The Dick’s transaction is one of several options being considered, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. The talks are in the early stages, the person said. It’s also not clear how many stores might be involved in a potential deal, which would take effect after a Chapter 11 filing.” Read more

 

You won’t ever play like Russell Wilson, but now thanks to Nordstrom, you can dress like him by Coral Garnick at Puget Sound Business Journal. “I’m not going to be the guy who is going to be all over the pictures,” he said during a public question and answer session with Nordstrom co-president Pete Nordstrom. “I have a day job, playing football, obviously, but I do love fashion.” Read more

 

**Show Spotlight–ASD Market Week is Open for Business! This week we open the doors of the Las Vegas Convention Center to 45,000+ attendees looking to shop the world’s widest variety of wholesale lifestyle accessories and general merchandise at the lowest price points available. Discover hot new products and stylish finds from over 2,600 vendors in categories including: fashion & accessories, beauty & fragrance, gift & home, toys & novelties and many more. See product categories | See the show floor video | Register now

 

Fayetteville, Fort Smith home to first group of new Walmart U.S. training academies by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “Tom Ward, vice president of U.S. store operations for the Central District, said each training academy will employ 14 people who were chosen for the training task….He said the academies will locate inside some stores that have extra space, or in adjacent buildings owned by the retailer. The training centers will be around 2,000 square-feet.” Read more

 

How Canadian Tire is pioneering tomorrow’s retail experience now by John Lorinc at Canadian Business. “Two frantic months later, Canadian Tire’s marketing team had cranked out 50 seven-second spots—with no sound—and also 50 more traditional social media ads for contrast. When they ran a side-by-side comparison, Fulton notes, the company realized the average sell-through rate with the Facebook micro-ads was 50% higher. “You need what’s called ‘thumb-stopping creative,’” muses (Duncan) Fulton.” Read more

 

Forbes: The World’s Billionaires (Jeff Bezos #5) See the list

 

Fortune: Walmart’s Stock Might Be Massively Undervalued by Phil Wahba. “…But behind some of that gloom are some promising signs that have led Barron’s newspaper…to say Wal-Mart shares could jump 30% in the next two years…betting that the retailer’s multi-billion dollar investments in human resources and e-commerce will pay off. Read more

 

Rite Aid Announces Results of First-Ever Rite Aid Innovation Challenge “The Tri-Tip Walking Cane features three legs that function independently for added stability and also uses a spring-loaded, shock absorbing system, alleviating hand, wrist, shoulder and back pain commonly associated with use of a traditional walking cane.” Read the release

 

Macy’s execs cash in on millions in stock amid rising expectations by Andy Brownfield at Cincinnati Business Courier. “Highest among those was Macy’s CFO Karen Hoguet, who is selling $1.5 million worth of Macy’s stock. Next was CEO Terry Lundgren, who is exercising options on up to nearly $1.1 million in stock. Chief Growth Officer Peter Sachse plans to cash in on $430,087 worth of stock…” Read more

 

Report: Luxury online retail market to reach $41.8B by 2019 by Sarah Jones at Luxury Daily. “At the top of the list is Nordstrom…The retail group has an 11.67 percent market share.” Read more

 

PetSmart and Arizona Diamondbacks Team up to Create First-Ever Season-Long Dog-Friendly Ballpark in the U.S. “…dog-loving fans can bring their dogs to all 13 Sunday D-backs home games in the 2016 season.” Read the release

 

Company Snatches Trademarks from Macy’s by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. “These brands had been locked up so tightly, but we were able to show that Macy’s had no intention of using them,” said Ellia Kassoff, chief executive of Strategic Marks, which had acquired the names and was later sued by Macy’s.” Read more

 

Amazon’s ‘Fire Phone’ Boss Is Now Running Its Restaurant Delivery and Ticketing Businesses by Jason Del Rey at Recode. “The fact that Amazon has placed a top exec atop this business should send a strong message about Amazon’s intentions to big competitors such as GrubHub, as well as startups such as DoorDash, Postmates and Caviar…” Read more

 

Dallas: The Nebraska Furniture Mart in The Colony is doing more than $9 million a week in sales by Marina Strauss at Dallas Morning News.  Read more

 

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