Kroger’s California subsidiary to bar Visa credit cards amid fee dispute at CNBC. “”Visa’s rates and fees are among the highest of any credit card brand,” Foods Co. said…The ban on Visa credit cards will take effect starting Aug. 14 and affect 21 Foods Co. stores and fuel centers in central and north California.” Read more

 

Lumber Liquidators Q2 Comp Sales +4.7% Press release

 

How a warehouse fire sparked company-wide innovation at Gap by Elizabeth Segran at Fast Company. Read more

 

Phoenix will be the first city for Kroger’s driverless grocery delivery by Steve Watkins at Cincinnati Business Courier. Read more

 

Big Pharma’s trick for making generic drugs more expensive at MarketWatch via NY Post. ““What was striking for us was how visible those price spikes were in the months right before the generic comes out,” Thomas Goetz, chief of research at GoodRx, told MarketWatch. “In essence, the system is not getting the benefit of a discounted price, as seen a few months before.” Read more

 

Fired Wawa worker claims illegal lunch break policy led to ‘seven-month nightmare’ at Philly Inquirer. Tiered subs.

 

Man faces 40 years in prison after being found guilty of making bombs and trying to pay $10,000 to have them placed on Target store shelves at Daily Mail. “Barnett’s goal was said to be to detonate the bombs in the Target stores, forcing stock prices to fall, at which point he would buy the stocks at the lower price and then sell it on for a profit.” Read more

 

Rent-A-Center Q2 Comp Sales +3.7% Press release

 

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Standard Cognition is first Amazon Go rival to unveil deal with stores by Sean Captain at Fast Company. “The deal is with Paltac Corporation, the biggest supplier to drugstore-style shops in Japan. It begins modestly, with a single pilot store in the city of Sendai, about four hours north of Tokyo, set to open in early 2019. Then it ramps up fast: The plan is to outfit over 3,000 stores in time for the Tokyo Olympics in July 2020.” Read more/Video

 

Jeff Bezos’ kids made their own DJ Roomba with an Echo by Dami Lee at The Verge. “…Amazon is reportedly working on its first home robot, something akin to a “mobile Alexa”, Bloomberg reported in April.” Pic/Read more

 

Links in 7-Eleven’s Chain Threaten to Snap as Store Owners Balk at Contract by Rachel Abrams at NY Times. Tiered subs.

 

Jamie Dimon once talked to Jeff Bezos about taking a job at Amazon at CNBC. “”He was looking for a president and I flew to Amazon after I left Citi — was fired from Citi — and we had a great lunch,” Dimon told CNBC’s Wilfred Frost Monday. “I had this vision I’d never wear a suit again, I’d live in a house boat like Tom Hanks.” (In the movie “Sleepless in Seattle.”).” Read more

 

Why shoppers may pay more for tissues, toilet paper at Reuters. “P&G, the purveyor of Charmin toilet paper, Bounty towels and Puffs tissues, said on Tuesday that it had recently begun notifying retailers of a 5-percent average price increase on all three brands. The company said it had also started rolling out an average 4-percent price increase on Pampers diapers in North America.” Read more

 

Amazon SVP: It’s not our job to worry about fears we’re killing retailers and destroying jobs at Business Insider. Read more

 

Dippin’ Dots deliveryman left dry ice in the back seat of his car. It may have asphyxiated his mother. by Antonia Farzan at Washington Post. “For people in the ice cream business, dealing with dry ice can be an occupational hazard. Justin Woolverton, the founder of Halo Top Creamery, told Inc. magazine that he nearly died of asphyxiation a few months after starting the company. Driving through Los Angeles with 40 pints of ice cream on the back seat, he started having trouble breathing, then began to hyperventilate.” Tiered subs.

 

eBay pulls Trump rubble auction at TMZ. “The poor sap who tried selling a piece of Donald Trump’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star on eBay just had his get-rich-quick dreams shattered…A rep for eBay tells TMZ the user’s post violated the company’s “Other Illegal Activity” provision.” Pics/Read more

 

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Massachusetts Becomes Sixth State to Raise Legal Smoking Age to 21

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