Rite Aid warned of risk of delisting from NYSE as shares fall below $1 at CNBC. “Shares of the drugstore chain have fallen 64 percent over the past year, down to 75 cents a share as of Thursday’s close from $2.11 on Jan. 3, 2018.” Read more

 

Hudson’s Bay Co. closer to going private by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. “Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is cashing out its position, selling its 18 million shares to the company’s executive chairman, Richard Baker.” Read more

 

Apple’s slowdown in China could mean bad news for Best Buy at CNBC. “UBS has estimated that roughly 15 to 20 percent of Best Buy’s total sales are of Apple products, which tend to sell at higher price points than other merchandise in Best Buy stores.” Read more

 

US employers added a stellar 312,000 jobs in December at AP. “Health care and education services added 82,000 jobs in December, the biggest jump since February 2012. Restaurants and drinking placed posted a net gain of 40,700 jobs. Builders added 38,000 construction jobs, while manufacturers increased their payrolls by 32,000 workers.” Read more

 

Whole Foods launches digital catalog organized by dietary preference by Tonya Garcia at MarketWatch. Read more

 

Startups Can Lead Kids to Water But It’s Harder to Make Them Drink by Matthew Boyle at Bloomberg. “It’s the Bermuda Triangle of beverages,” says Gerry Khermouch, founder of Beverage Business Insights, an industry publication. “They’ve tried every permutation of recipe — unsweetened, juice-sweetened, naturally sweetened — and almost all inevitably fail.” Tiered subs.

 

Health insurer Molina Healthcare has extended its agreement with CVS Health’s PBM through 2021 by Bruce Japsen at Forbes. Read more

 

**A message from PaintPincher – Save up to a cup of paint per gallon! Ingenious paint can spatula recovers paint, stain, adhesives and more from gallon and quart cans, leaving them 99.9% clean. Video/Website | Request sample: info@eyeonretail.net

 

Clothing Retailer FullBeauty To Restructure In Ch. 11 Press release

 

GameStop Struggles to Boost Sales by Patrick Thomas at Wall Street Journal. “GameStop has become irrelevant in the video game market,” said Mike Hickey, an analyst at BenchMark, in a research note. Not everyone considers a sale to be the best outcome. GameStop could become more active in esports—competitive videogame contests—and hold tournaments at its most popular locations, said Colin Sebastian, an analyst at Baird.” WSJ subs.

 

Hemp entrepreneurs say big retailers unfairly dominate online ads by Alexis Keenan at Yahoo Finance. “Sherman…wants to know why big box retailers are allowed to run paid ads for hemp products while his ads are shot down…“They’re allowing them to advertise a few hemp products here and there,” Sherman said. “Versus us, we couldn’t promote those exact same items.” Read more

 

26% of First-Time Home Buyers Are Turning to the Bank of Mom and Dad – Up From 22% in 2011 by Ben Eisen at Wall Street Journal. WSJ subs.

 

Apple’s App store pulled in $1.22B over the holidays plus a record $322M on New Year’s by Sarah Perez at TechCrunch. Read more

 

Amazon settles bias claims with transgender employee, husband at Reuters. Read more

 

Ex-Toys ‘R’ Us staffers start receiving checks from hardship fund by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. “MJ Williams, a former Toys ‘R’ Us employee in Texas, received a $4,000 check this week for her two decades of service to the retailer.” Read more

 

The distance at which flu may spread from one person to another is 3 to 6 feet by Jo Craven McGinty at Wall Street Journal. WSJ subs.

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

How Walmart recruited truck drivers amid a labor shortage crisis

Lines for salads out of control in NYC after ‘eat healthy’ resolutions

Worker injured after wall collapses in Bloomingdale’s

Fatal Shooting of 7-Year-Old Black Girl Outside Walmart Sparks Hate Crime Fears

Luxury loot box sponsorships are tearing YouTube apart

John Bobbitt’s severed member was wrapped in a 7-Eleven ‘hot dog bag’

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

**

Eye on Retail Tipsheet is must-read material for 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: eyeonretail.net