H&M’s Pile of Unsold Garments Grows as Earnings Plunge by Anna Molin at Bloomberg. “Operating profit fell 62 percent to the lowest level in 16 years as inventory rose to 17.6 percent of sales in the first quarter. The stock slumped to the lowest in almost a decade.” Read more

 

Home Depot Has #1 “Least Fancy Hot Dog” in NYC by Lisa Elbert at Food & Wine. “This was not the Hot Dog Depot I was accustomed to, but a little slice of heaven called Rocco’s Italian Sausages, and the moment we walked in and spotted the sizzling sausage spirals on the grill beside piles of peppers and onions, we knew we were in for a treat.” Read more

 

Walmart And Target Are Set To Be The Big Winners From Toys ‘R’ Us Closures by Deborah Weinswig at Forbes. “Among Toys “R” Us shoppers, Walmart was neck and neck with Amazon for browsing and was the No. 1 retailer (other than Toys “R” Us) for buying toys.” Read more

 

Top 10 in Spot Radio Last Week (JCP #3, Home Depot #4, Lowe’s #6, Macy’s #7) Top 10 list

 

Maker of Sharpies Drew the Line on Trade Promotions—and Paid in Lost Sales by Sharon Terlap at Wall Street Journal. “The battle began when Newell Brands sporadically stopped shipping the markers and other writing utensils to Office Depot because it believed the retailer wasn’t spending what the two had agreed on for showcasing and marketing…” Read more (subs.)

 

Impax settles retailers’ antitrust cases over generic drug’s delay at Reuters. Read more

 

LOWE’S SUCCESSION – One of the directors D.E. Shaw got on the (Lowe’s) board was David Batchelder, a key player in Home Depot’s comeback a few years ago. According to Bloomberg News, he will lead the search for a new CEO along with a group of directors that includes the former Dollar General and VF Corp CEOs. Fortune. Read more

 

Southeastern Grocers files for bankruptcy protection via CNBC. “The restructuring will reduce its debt by $500 million as it will continue to operate over 580 stores.” Read more

 

…Mitchell Grocery Corp. purchases three Winn-Dixie locations in Alabama from Southeastern Grocers by David Mitchell at Birmingham Business Journal. Read more

 

Raley’s has agreement to purchase six stores in Nevada by Mark Glover at The Sacramento Bee. Read more

 

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In China payment war, Walmart places bet on Tencent at Reuters. “Walmart…said it had dropped Alibaba-linked Alipay in all its stores in the western region of the country, after agreeing a tie-up with Tencent to use its popular WeChat payment system. The move underscores how China’s retail market is dividing into two camps around Alibaba and Tencent.” Read more

 

Why is Amazon asking its customers what they think about TV news? Here’s the survey. by Peter Kafka at Recode. Survey/Read more

 

Scientists Create Melt-Resistant Ice Cream by Ben Renner at Study Finds. “The study found that when mixed with the banana fibers, ice cream melted far slower than the dessert normally does. Even better, the shelf life of the product was longer and the ice cream’s creaminess and texture wasn’t worsened.” Read more

 

Target, Keurig, More CEOs Agree, Commit to Sustainability Practices by Kali Hays at WWD. Read more (subs.)

 

Babies ‘R’ Us Demise Sets Off a Scramble for Baby Registries by Justina Vasquez at Bloomberg. “Sarah Maiellano, a soon-to-be mother living in Chicago, said she spent two hours on the phone with Babies “R” Us customer service before learning she may not see her Endless Earnings benefits. She had accumulated $340 in cash-back rewards from the program.” Read more

 

Nestle launches a new chocolate bar using sugar-reduction technology – reduces sugar by up to 40% at CNBC. “It’s made by spraying a mixture of sugar, milk powder and water into warm air. “The milk stabilizes the spray-dried sugar and stops it becoming too sticky”. Read more

 

KICKBOT – What In-Store Robots Have Taught Walmart by Jonathan Vanian at Fortune. “…local residents…now completely ignore them…Teenagers, however, pose a challenge for Bossa Nova’s Walmart robots because of their “mischievous” nature, Hitch said. “We’ve been hit with shopping bags,” Hitch said about the robots. “We’ve been deliberately kicked.” Read more

 

Amazon announces deal with French retailer Monoprix to deliver groceries – will begin serving Prime Now members in Paris this year by Catherine Shu at TechCrunch. Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

Meet the “Women of Wegmans” Who Camp Out to Try New Stores

Schnucks removes two security guards after kicking out local drag queen

Beyonce took her daughter shopping at Target and fans couldn’t handle it

Machete-wielding man tried to kidnap children at Walmart

Monro hires ex-Target, Home Depot exec to be COO

Yeti Coolers puts public offering plans on ice

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

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