Department stores duke it out over these shoppers by Krystina Gusfafson at CNBC. “…after losing market share to a swath of competition over the past 10 years, the department store set is clawing back for a bigger slice of the beauty business.” Read more

 

Kroger installing in-store beer taps by Alexander Coolidge at Cincinnati.com. “This fall, customers will be able to buy or bring in their own growlers to fill with craft beers fresh from in-store taps at the new Kroger Marketplace in Oakley as well as the Harper’s Point Kroger store in Montgomery.” Read more

 

Myanmar sets $2.80 daily minimum wage for garment workers at Reuters. “Myanmar’s minimum monthly pay would be around $67 a month, based on a six-day work week, giving it a competitive advantage over thriving garment makers such as Vietnam and Cambodia where the monthly minimum wage ranges from $90 to $128.” Read more

 

Bankrupt grocery-store chain sells stores to save jobs by Gregory Besiger at NY Post. “With roughly 20,000 jobs on the line at A&P, Pathmark, Food Emporium and Waldbaums across the metropolitan area, the now-bankrupt company is slated to close 25 of its 301 stores and affiliates in the New York and New Jersey region around Thanksgiving.” Read more

 

Food delivery service Ele.me is now China’s third-most funded startup at Venture Beat. “China’s popular food delivery service Ele.me (which translates to “Hungry?”) raised a whopping $630 million in Series F funding at a $3 billion valuation right before the weekend. The round propels it into the number three spot of China’s top-funded startups, with about $1.1 billion in capital raised to date.” Read more

 

Jet.com CEO: We May Have the Lowest Prices, but Many Shoppers Can’t Figure That Out by Jason Del Rey at Recode. ““Believe me, we have this discussion every single day,” Lore said in an interview…“We keep tweaking the [user experience] to make it more clear and are bringing in research groups. But you’re right, it’s still frustrating to [some].” Read more

 

Why J.Crew Decided to Ditch High Fashion by Kim Bhasin at Bloomberg. “Mickey Drexler, J.Crew Group’s chief executive, keeps bringing up one word: “Heritage.”  In fact, he said it eight times on a conference call with analysts on Thursday, promising to guide J.Crew back to its more traditional roots after veering too far into the world of high fashion.” Read more

 

Aldi named Retail Achievement Award winner by Jon Springer at Supermarket News. “The sales momentum is concurrently fueling a $3 billion expansion spree that will see the Batavia. Ill.-based retailer add more than 650 new stores by 2018, including its first stores in California, set to open early next year.” Read more

 

Economists cut Canada’s growth projection by Bill Curry at Globe & Mail. “Economists are shaving their growth forecasts for 2015 ahead of a Statistics Canada report this week that is widely expected to confirm that Canada slipped into recession earlier this year.” Read more

 

9-Year-Old Girl Asks for a Unique Birthday Gift – Spend Time at Petsmart by Margaret Ann-Carter at WJBF ABC 6. “One little girl’s birthday wish was to give a gift, instead of get a gift. Paisley Shepherd turned 9-years-old Saturday, and for her special day, she wanted to spend time at Petsmart helping animals get adopted.” See the video / Read more

 

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Eye-on-Retail Tipsheet is created early every weekday morning and read by retail merchants and executives worldwide. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s really happening in the world of retail. See our website at www.eyeonretail.net