Report: Amazon created more jobs last year than 46 states by Kurt Schlosser at GeekWire. “In terms of job creation, if Amazon was a state, those figures would put the company behind only Texas, California, Florida, and New York over that period of time, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.” Read more

 

Rite Aid Q2 comp sales -3.4% “…consisting of a 4.6 percent decrease in pharmacy sales and a 0.9 percent decrease in front-end sales.” Press release

 

Wal-Mart Will Offer Free Same-Day Delivery in NYC by Matthew Boyle & Mark Bergan at Bloomberg. “In the New York surrounding area, Jet.com right now is offering free, same-day delivery,” Lore said at the conference. “And we’ll be doing the same with Wal-Mart very soon.” That might be news to the rest of the company, as a Jet customer-service representative said there was no such service available.” Read more

 

Best Global Brands 2017 Rankings (Amazon #6, H&M #23, Ikea #25, Ebay#34) at Interbrand. Top 100 list

 

Pier 1 Q2 comp sales +1.8% “Net sales for the second quarter of fiscal 2018 increased 0.4% to $407.6 million, compared to $405.8 million in the same period last year.” Press release

 

Kohl’s won’t reveal one number that retailers talk about every holiday season at CNBC. “The company is taking a similar approach to Wal-Mart, which has promised to rely more on its current employees for the busy shopping season, giving them additional hours. Kohl’s will be hiring some seasonal staff, but for the first time ever it won’t talk about that number.” Read more

 

US 2Q GDP growth revised up to 3.1 percent at Fox Business. Read more

 

TODAY – Publix Begins Curbside Grocery Pickup Test “Beginning today, Publix will begin testing curbside grocery pickup at two locations: store #0006, Wesley Chapel, Florida, and store #0878, Valrico, Florida. In addition, Metro-Atlanta stores will begin testing curbside pickup by the end of this year.” Press release

 

**A message from Pirola – Made in Italy designer ironing boards bring style to any home. Exclusively made in Italy for 45 years, these high-quality boards bring design & excitement to the category. Custom colors & designs available. Website | Retailers: request samples at: info@eyeonretail.net. Italy to U.S. product connection

 

Wawa comes out swinging against man’s maggot video claim by Kevin Shea at NJ.com. “Wawa says their internal investigation of a customer’s video of what appears to be maggots crawling out of a cheesesteak he bought at the new Ewing store shows no evidence to support the video’s claims.” Read more

 

CANADA – Metro and Jean Coutu Group are “engaged in exclusive discussions” about a roughly $4.5-billion merger at Toronto Star. “Jean Coutu operates more than 400 stores in Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick. Metro has more than 600 food stores in Quebec and Ontario, as well as more than 250 drug stores and pharmacies.” Read more

 

Amazon announced a bunch of new hardware products — here’s a rundown at CNBC. Read more

 

Lululemon CEO: Retail isn’t dead because people ‘crave human connections’ at Mad Money CNBC. “If you think about the evolution of how people lead their life and the evolution of athletic, mindful lifestyle[s], we know for a fact that people continue to crave human connections,” Potdevin told “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer.” Video/Read more

 

Walmart Strengthens Sustainable Chemistry Commitment “Walmart aims to reduce its consumables chemical footprint for Walmart and Sam’s Clubs U.S. stores by 10 percent by 2022, becoming the first U.S. retailer to set a time bound reduction goal.” Press release

 

PEAK HOPS? – Market for hops could go from bloom to bust as growth in craft beer slows by Mai Hoang at Yakima World-Republic via Seattle Times. “A lot of (breweries) purchased hops based on 15 to 18 percent growth, which is what we experienced over the five years prior to last year,” said Steve Carpenter, chief operating officer of YCH Hops, a hop supplier that is owned by local hop growers. “Last year, we had 5 to 6 percent growth.” Read more

 

NRF Launches New Quarterly Report on Consumer Behavior “According to the report, only 21 percent of consumers surveyed are primarily online shoppers, defined as those who purchase more than half of their items online. By contrast, 79 percent said they purchase half or less of their items online. Among Millennials and Generation Z, 34 percent are primarily online shoppers.” Press release

 

Can the Yeti Unite America? by Steven Kurutz at NY Times. Read article

 

‘Walmart’s bleeding this town’ official says by Ian Cummings at Kansas City Star. “In a city of about 10 square miles officers made more than 500 arrests last year at the Walmart store at 10300 E. U.S. 350. The store is the scene of about 30 percent of Raytown’s reported serious crimes.” Read more

 

NYC mayor has never ordered anything from Amazon at Yoav Gonen at NY Post. “That’s no disrespect to Amazon,” he added. “I understand the efficiency of it . . . but I personally just like the experience of going into a store, choosing something myself, having the physical opportunity to see what the thing looks like.” Read more

 

Missing Product Information Doesn’t Bother Consumers as Much as It Should by Sunita Sah & Daniel Read at Harvard Business Review. “But despite the elegant and logical predictions of game theory, we can’t count on people to notice or make the correct inferences about missing information. Even if they do notice nondisclosure, it might not occur to them that the salesperson or marketer may have something sinister to hide unless the nondisclosure is strongly flagged.” Read more

 

Legal Weed May Be a Windfall for McDonald’s and Taco Bell by Jennifer Kaplan at Bloomberg. “Cannabis has been shown to increase users’ appetite…Forty-three percent of legal-marijuana users ate at a McDonald’s restaurant in the past four weeks, the survey found. Eighteen percent ate at Taco Bell… Those results were significantly higher than among respondents who hadn’t visited a dispensary.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

A witch-themed store opens in Kansas

Domino teams up with Home Depot for bicoastal holiday pop-ups

15 Creative Ideas That Changed the World Over the Past Year

Shore town bids ‘somber’ farewell to a beloved Wawa

Despite Brand Safety Concerns, 78% of Marketers Buy Ads on at Least 50 Sites

Ikea Parodies Apple’s Ridiculous Catchphrases

Jimmy John’s delivery driver crashes into pond, dies

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

***

Eye on Retail Tipsheet is must-read material for 20,000+ retail execs every weekday morning. Tipsheet stories are carefully curated bright and early every morning to ensure fresh and unique content.

 

Subscribe to Eye on Retail Tipsheet here

 

Contact us: Send story tips, press releases and advertising inquiries to info@eyeonretail.net

 

Website: www.eyeonretail.net