Walmart expands vaccinations in a boost to the U.S. Covid prevention program at Reuters. “Walmart Inc is preparing to offer COVID-19 vaccinations in seven more states, as well as in Chicago and Puerto Rico, this week and next, a company spokeswoman told Reuters, expanding beyond the two states where its pharmacists are offering inoculations.” Read more

 

Studies of South African Coronavirus Strain Raise Concerns About Immune Response at Wall Street Journal. “What they found was that the new (South Africa) variant was either entirely resistant to antibodies generated from an earlier infection or the antibodies were significantly less able to neutralize the virus…(a second) study found that blood from 21 of 44 people who had previously had Covid-19 failed to neutralize the virus. Only three blood samples—from people who had suffered very severe cases of Covid-19—were able to mount a powerful attack.” WSJ subs.

 

American Eagle, which has about 880 stores, is looking to shut between 200 and 250 mostly mall-based locations in the next two to three years at CNBC. Read more

 

Kohl’s CEO on Sephora, Stimulus, and Employee Vaccinations at Bloomberg. “We have taken this opportunity to reimagine a much bigger, bolder play in the active, casual lifestyle. I expect a permanent shift, and we are making those moves as we speak. I think about it as active lifestyle, so I think about active as in workout clothes, athleisure, and outdoor. Today that makes up about 20% of business. We are setting our sight on 30% of our business, and it could be more.” Q&A

 

Saks Fifth chief says luxury retail has been ‘comfort food’ for some shoppers during the pandemic at CNBC. “People were buying things in the height of the pandemic that there was no absolute functional end use for, but they love the fashion,” Metrick said Thursday during a virtual presentation at the National Retail Federation’s Big Show event. “I think what we learned is [consumers] view luxury as the comfort food of retail. … It was their way to feel — it was something so much more and so much deeper than a pair of shoes.” Read more

 

Amazon will host a pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinic at its headquarters in Seattle at GeekWire. “The tech giant is partnering with Virginia Mason for a one-day pop-up clinic on Sunday Jan. 24 that aims to vaccinate 2,000 people at the company’s Amazon Meeting Center near downtown Seattle.” Read more

 

A federal judge has denied an attempt by conservative social network Parler to force Amazon to host it on AWS at TechCrunch. Read more

 

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Instacart cutting 1,900 jobs at Fox Business. “Instacart will begin offering its retail partners a new Partner Pick model, which will allow stores to rely on their own employees to utilize Instacart’s technology and fulfill orders for customers…According to Vice, the layoffs include 10 members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1546, a union for Instacart workers established in February 2020, who work at Mariano’s grocery store in Skokie, Illinois.” Read more

 

Southeastern Grocers Announces Launch of IPO “…initial public offering of 8,900,000 shares of its common stock to be sold by certain of its stockholders, at an anticipated initial public offering price between $14.00 and $16.00 per share…” Press release

 

MyPillow hanging on in Costco at USA Today. “We have contractual commitments to MyPillow that we intend to honor, as we seek to do with all of our suppliers,” a Costco representative told news outlet SFGate.com.” Read more

 

NJ governor blames Walgreens, federal government for sluggish Covid vaccine rollout at CNBC. “The big reason is the federal program with CVS and Walgreens,” Murphy said. “They basically amassed these doses, they schedule visits to long-term care nursing homes, extended living, and they’re punching under their weight, particularly Walgreens, and that’s where most of the yet to be used doses are.” Read more

 

…Walgreens, CVS defend COVID-19 vaccine rollout at Fox News. “(Gov. Murphy) compared the country’s progress with West Virginia, which he says was the only state that didn’t take the federal partnership with CVS and Walgreens. “And if you look at how well states are doing, they’re No.1 in the country. Because all they’re worrying about is what’s within their control,”‘ he said.” Read more

 

Amazon disputes claims it never offered Trump administration coronavirus vaccine distribution assistance at Fox Business. Read more

 

Teen accused of stealing nearly $1 million in two weeks from Kroger store he worked at at AJC. “Police said Brown used the stolen money to buy two cars, clothes, guns and new shoes. Prior to his arrest, the teen reportedly totaled a Chevrolet Camaro that he bought…” Read more

 

City of Memphis partners with Kroger to provide jobs for those seeking ‘2nd chance’ at WMC 5. “The positions offer wages as high as $19 an hour, full benefits, a 401K and $4,000 for tuition reimbursement.” Video/Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra

Costco tees up golf equipment

FreshDirect CMO talks ‘fast and furious’ online growth

Sam’s Club obtains single view of mobile marketing data

Target team member terminated after three black teenagers detained

Biden to sign order to increase pandemic-related food aid

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

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