Lands’ End Q1 Comp Sales -18.9% “Same store sales in Lands’ End Shops at Sears locations declined 20.4% for the quarter while same store sales in our Company operated stores declined 9.9%.” Press release

 

RH Q1 Comp Brand Revenue +1.0% “Adjusted for last year’s inventory reduction efforts, comparable brand revenues increased 5% versus a 9% increase last year.” Press release

 

Casey’s Q4 Comp Sales: Fuel +2.0%; Grocery/Other Merch -0.4%; Prepared Food/Fountain -1.3% Press release

 

Seattle poised to repeal new tax opposed by Amazon at AP via Yahoo. Read more

 

Home Depot Sets $1.2 Billion Supply-Chain Overhaul by Jennifer Smith at Wall Street Journal. “(Home Depot) will add 170 distribution facilities across the U.S. so that it can reach 90% of the U.S. population in one day or less, said Mark Holifield, the company’s executive vice president of supply chain and product development.” Read more (Subscription)

 

Sears expands Auto Center partnership with Amazon to more stores at CNBC. Read more

 

Landlords Are Practically Giving Malls Away by Sarah Mulholland at Bloomberg. “It’s easy to understand their reluctance to sell now. Prices for malls fell 14 percent in the past 12 months…“If you’re thinking about selling an asset down the road,” (St. Juste)  said, “it would be wise to think about pulling it forward and selling now.” Read more

 

Amazon expects Prime member savings to reach nearly half its Whole Foods stores by the end of this week by Sarah Perez at TechCrunch. Read more

 

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Facebook Will Ban Sellers of Shoddy Products by Khadeeja Safdar at Wall Street Journal. “(Facebook) is rolling out a new feature that lets people leave feedback about their shopping experience after viewing a Facebook ad…If feedback doesn’t improve over time, Facebook will reduce the number of ads that businesses can deliver and could eventually ban them from the platform.” Read more (Subscription)

 

Amazon Slammed for Destroying As-New and Returned Goods by David Meyer at Fortune. “Amazon is destroying “massive amounts” of as-new and returned items in Germany, according to a report from business weekly WirtschaftsWoche and news show Frontal 21.” Read more

 

Marsh Supermarkets Gets Del. Ch. 11 Liquidation Approval by Jeff Montgomery at Law 360. Read more (Subscription)

 

Jet.com President Simon Belsham says food is at the core of Jet’s plans because of its importance in building relationships with people by Kim Souza at Talk Business. “Anywhere in the world when people gather food is often at the center of these experiences regardless of the culture. If you are going to have a relationship with customers you really need to be offering food,” Belsham said “No one is really doing online food that well in the U.S.” Read more

 

Rent-A-Center gets increased offer to acquire it after ending its strategic review via CNBC. “In a letter to the company, the party said it “does not constitute an offer capable of being accepted or a binding agreement of any kind,” Rent-A-Center said.” Read more

 

Vons #1 with Vegetarians (Publix #2) at Business Insider. Read more

 

Online Shoppers Say They Rarely Return Purchases. Why? at NPR. “91% of American online shoppers said they “only rarely” or “never” return things they buy online. And even more — 94% — said they “only rarely” or “never” make an order expecting to return at least part of it.” Read more

 

GeekWire’s summer intern takes an Amazon HQ tour by Kaitlyn Wang at GeekWire. “Despite efforts to integrate the company with the outside Seattle community (as with the dog park, or the community banana stand), everything about the area still felt implanted and a little foreign. If arriving felt like crossing from Seattle into Amazon, I have to admit I felt more comfortable when I left Amazon city limits.” Read more

 

Retailers will probably keep selling kids insecure smart toys until they’re forced to stop by Ashley Carman at The Verge. Read more

 

A&F Co. CEO: Do Good And Find Balance by Regan Walsh at Forbes. “At age 40, with a thriving career at Bloomingdale’s in New York City, Fran Horowitz paused, asked herself what she wanted—and made a change. Horowitz picked up her family—including a husband and two kids—and moved to Columbus, Ohio.” Q&A

 

Grocery Chains Are Being Squeezed From All Sides by Stephen Wilmot & Aaron Back at Wall Street Journal. “Kroger Chief Financial Officer Michael Schlotman: “We started competing against Walmart in 1992,” he said. “There’s always been people out there competing mainly on price, offsetting selection and experience.” Read more (Subscription)

 

Hurricane forecasters watching another wave of storms stirring in the Caribbean at Miami Herald. Read more

 

Domino’s Pizza to help “smooth the ride home” for deliveries by making pothole repairs in towns at Yahoo. Read more

 

Americans Are Unprepared for a Nuclear Attack by Gordon F. Sander at Politico. Read more

 

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