Holidays Gifts May Escape Tariffs, but Retailers Won’t by Sarah Nassauer & Josh Zumbran at Wall Street Journal. “Most large retailers already have landed most of their holiday goods by the first of October,” said Chris Sultemeier, former executive vice president of logistics for Walmart…Retailers probably will try to accelerate spring products through customs before the potential 25% tariff takes effect, he said.” Subscription

 

Family Dollar to close Matthews headquarters; 900 jobs affected by Katherine Peralta at Charlotte Observer. “The new (Dollar Tree) corporate offices include a 12-story, 510,000 square-foot office tower. When “fully operational,” Dollar Tree’s Chesapeake headquarters will have 1,900 employees, according to the Virginian-Pilot.” Tiered subs.

 

Amazon Is Now the No. 3 Digital Ad Platform in the US at eMarketer. “US advertisers will spend $4.61 billion on Amazon’s platform this year, accounting for 4.1% of all digital ad spending in the country…57.7% of US digital ad spending will go to Facebook and Google.” Read more

 

CHICAGO – Starbucks opens first Princi store outside Seattle by Jessica Wohl at Ad Age via Crain’s Chicago. “Princi’s upscale shops sell food, such as sweet and savory breakfast cornetti (Italy’s buttery, curved answer to France’s croissant), pizzas, salads and sweets, as well as coffee, cocktails, wine and beer.” Pics/Read more (tiered subs.)

 

DELOITTE – Retailers could ring up more than $1.1 trillion in holiday sales, up 5 to 5.6 percent from a year ago at CNBC. Read more

 

Instacart CEO: Instacart needs to treat its delivery workers ‘much, much better’ by Kurt Wagner at Recode. “The reality is that we have 50,000 shoppers on our platform and this number is growing really, really fast. So we need to do much, much better here, and we recognize that.” Read more

 

Ocado says partner Kroger making progress on picking U.S. sites at Reuters. “There’s a lot of work going on because even though the final deal (service agreement) isn’t agreed we are actually being paid. So nothing is holding us up,” (Ocado’s CFO) said.” Read more

 

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Neiman Marcus Q4 comp revenue +2.3% Press release

 

…Neiman Marcus Group Updates Leadership Team “Carrie Tharp…has been promoted to Executive Vice President, Chief Digital Officer… Melissa Lowenkron joins Neiman Marcus from Bergdorf Goodman as General Merchandise Manager of Accessories.” Press release

 

Postmates raises massive $300M round as CEO hints at 2019 IPO by Nat Levy at GeekWire. “Postmates is mostly known for restaurant deliveries, but it also covers groceries, making it competitive with Amazon and Whole Foods as well as Instacart. Earlier this year Postmates inked a major deal with Walmart to power the retailer’s growing grocery delivery ambitions.” Read more

 

Google may be planning a store in New York’s SoHo neighborhood by Daniel Geiger at Crain’s New York. “Google leased the location at 131 Greene St. in 2014 but never opened a store there…Earlier this year it passed on an opportunity to exercise a termination right. With that decision, Google is now on the hook for the still-vacant location until 2024.” Tiered subs.

 

Elizabeth Hurley wins battle against Amazon courier after driver ran over her pet dog at The Sun. Read more

 

Why Crate and Barrel is partnering with rising digital competitor Zola by Shirin Ghaffary at Recode. “Zola co-founder and CEO Shan-Lyn Ma, whose company recently raised $100 million in funding, said that traditional brick-and-mortar retailers are wise to get ahead of the new wave of buyers. Around 47 percent of Crate and Barrel’s sales are online.” Read more

 

Tiffany Unveils First New Engagement Line in Nearly a Decade by Phil Wahba at Fortune. Read more

 

BEER SHORTAGE IN TULSA – Upcoming changeover to strong beer has 3.2 percent products in short supply by Mike Averill at Tulsa World. “Many stores, like Walmart, sold their beer at a discount to ensure all 3.2 product was sold. They were successful, and now they won’t be selling beer until Oct. 1.” Read more

 

Amazon launches in Turkey at Fast Company. Read more

 

U.K. regulator warns on Sainsbury-Asda deal via Seeking Alpha

 

Dallas Husband and Wife’s BBQ Pop-Ups Have a Cult Following by Taylor Adams at Dallas Observer. “I don’t know how far I want to take it, even if it’s really successful,” Brandon Mohon says. “It’s extremely demanding, the lifestyle. You stay up all night, you get no sleep, you smell like a barbecue pit every day of your life.” Read more

 

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