Tesco veteran to head Walmart’s Jet.com as U.S. grocery wars flare by Nandita Bose at Reuters. “Simon Belsham will oversee all operations including grocery and general merchandise and join Walmart’s U.S. e-commerce leadership team, according to an internal email sent on Monday by Marc Lore, the head of Walmart’s e-commerce business, to Jet employees and seen by Reuters.” Read more

 

Lowe’s CEO to Retire “Robert A. Niblock plans to retire as chairman, president and CEO after a 25-year career with the company. The board of directors has initiated a search for his successor, and in the interim Niblock will remain in his current role as chairman, president and CEO.” Press release

 

Short visits rise at Whole Foods stores with Amazon lockers via CNBC. “Short “micro” visits, defined as three to five minutes in length, were up 11 percent at stores with lockers since Amazon closed its purchase of Whole Foods on Aug. 28, according to an inMarket report provided exclusively to Reuters News.” Read more

 

JD Sports in Deal to Acquire Finish Line for $558 Million by Thomas Buckley at Bloomberg. “The acquisition is subject to the approval of JD Sports and Finish Line shareholders, with completion expected no earlier than June.” Read more

 

At least 64 people, some children, killed in Russian mall fire at Reuters. Read more

 

NBC TODAY – AMAZON VS. INSTACART by Jeff Rosen. “So which was faster? Instacart’s order was delivered first. All refrigerated items were cold, but the avocados were missing. The Amazon order came five minutes later. Everything was cold but there was also an item missing from this order: the ice cream. In terms of cost, Amazon won. That tab, without tip, came to $40.75. The Instacart groceries cost $45.76, due to a service fee.” Video/Read more

 

Fiesta Mart to be acquired by El Super grocery chain by Paul Takahashi at Houston Chronicle. “Bodega Latina Corp and its Mexican parent company Chedraui…are expected to acquire the 63 Lone Star State stores, including 32 in the Houston area, by the beginning of the second quarter.” Read more

 

Aldi and Lidl dig deeper into Britain’s grocery market by James Davey at Reuters. “A top Aldi executive told Reuters it aimed to have 1,000 UK stores by 2022, up from its current 762 while Lidl said it sees potentially 1,200 to 1,500 stores in the long term, up from 710.” Read more

 

Whole Foods is slashing regional and in-store marketing and graphic-design jobs in its latest push to centralize operations by Hayley Peterson at Business Insider. Read more

 

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Target was Everywhere in Last Week’s Episode of NBC’s Superstore by Jason Lynch at Adweek. “The integration in the NBC workplace comedy, set in a superstore called Cloud 9, is part of a year-long partnership between Target and NBCUniversal.” Read more

 

Grocery wars turn small chains into battlefield casualties by Michael Corkery at NY Times.  Read more (tiered subs.)

 

Target’s New Logo Is Confusing Shoppers by Molly Horan at Teen Vogue. “When images of the new (A New Day) logo began circulating on Twitter, many users confessed the styling of the words, which kind of looks like a horizontal tryptic, proved confusing, Racked reported. Racked senior editor Alanna Okun said of the logo in a tweet, “a confusingly designed logo that it took me 4-5 target trips to realize it didn’t say ‘and away!'” Read more

 

Michaels is closing 94 of its Aaron Brothers framing stores nationwide – only 3 will remain in Texas by Kevin Smith at San Gabriel Valley Tribune. Read more

 

CHICAGO – Graffiti cleanup ‘blitz’ ahead of Amazon visit wipes out street art by Lauren Zumbach at Chicago Tribune. “A work by a French street artist on the side of Cards Against Humanity’s headquarters was blasted away as the city dramatically stepped up graffiti cleanup near some proposed sites for Amazon’s second headquarters.” Read more (tiered subs.)

 

Tapestry picks former Michael Kors exec Anna Bakst as CEO of Kate Spade at CNBC. Read more

 

Walmart imagines drone-aided farming by Robbie Neiswanger at Northwest Arkansas Business Gazette. “The applications have not been approved by the government office, but are signs of Walmart’s desire to develop solutions to farming problems, according to experts.” Read more

 

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