Target Holiday (Nov/Dec) Comp Sales -1.3% – Lowers Q4 Guidance “While we were pleased with Black Friday sales, December digital sales growth of more than 40 percent and continued strength in our Signature Categories, these results were offset by early season sales softness and disappointing traffic and sales trends in our stores,” said Brian Cornell, chairman and CEO of Target.” Press release

 

Whole Foods closing 3 regional kitchens, trimming 500 jobs by Gary Dinges at Austin American-Statesman. “Combined, the facilities in Everett, Mass.; Landover, Md.; and metro Atlanta employ about 500 people…The regional kitchens set to close are the last three operated by the company.” Read more

 

Amazon wins patent for Treasure Truck as it makes plans to expand beyond Seattle by Alan Boyle at GeekWire. “Amazon hasn’t said anything officially yet, but it’s looking for a product manager to identify which cities are ripe for the picking and oversee the expansion plan. There’s also an opening for a senior business development manager to deal with Treasure Truck real estate issues.” Read more

 

84 Lumber Explores Other Options After Fox Reportedly Rejects ‘Political’ Super Bowl Ad by Patrick Coffee at Adweek. “…according to a report published by Campaign today, Fox Sports declined to run the first version of the ad submitted by 84 Lumber and its agency partner Brunner. Sources claimed the initial creative summary included a wall preventing would-be employees from crossing an unspecified border, thereby mirroring President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign promise to build a physical barrier between the U.S. and Mexico.” Read more

 

Thor Construction headquarters project gets Target backing by Neal St. Anthony at Star Tribune. “We couldn’t be more proud to partner with Thor on this important project,” said (Brian) Cornell. “Through this unique relationship with Thor, we’re helping to fuel opportunities in north Minneapolis.” Read more

 

J.C. Penney plans 600 Nike shops inside department stores by Matthew Kish at Portland Business Journal. Read more

 

Toys “R” Us Holiday Comp Sales -2.5% Press release

 

Tuesday Morning president resigns – announces layoffs by Maria Halkias at Dallas News. “With Phillips departure, CEO Steven Becker is assuming the title of president and the role of chief operating officer is going away.” Read more

 

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Tiffany Holiday Comp Sales -1.0% Press release

 

…Tiffany blames Trump Tower security for poor holiday sales by Mark Moore by NY Post. “November and December sales at its flagship location dropped 14 percent from a year earlier — a drop “which we attribute at least partly to post-election traffic disruptions,” the company said in a statement.” Read more

 

Amazon patented a highway network that controls self-driving cars and trucks by Johana Bhuiyan at Recode. “Amazon is rumored to be working on creating self-driving delivery vehicles out of its drone division, Prime Air. In fact, one of the listed inventors of the network, Jim Curlander, is the technical adviser at Prime Air.” Read more

 

Kroger hires government relations chief by Steve Watkins at Cincinnati Business Courier. “(Matt) Perin…previously worked as deputy director of government relations for Bayer Corp. Before that, he was staff director for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture’s Subcommittee on Nutrition & Horticulture.” Read more

 

J.C. Penney Sets Trend in Reviving Suburban Corporate Campuses by Peter Grant at Wall Street Journal. “The worst thing that happened to J.C. Penney was the best thing that happened to the city of Plano,” (Sam Ware) said.” Read more (subscription)

 

HSNi CEO Mindy Grossman elected chairman of the NRF Board of Directors Press release

 

Lowe’s names company veteran as CFO by Ken Elkins at Charlotte Business Journal. “(Bob) Hull, who has spent 17 years at Lowe’s, including 14 years as chief financial officer, will be replaced by Marshall Croom, who himself has been at (Lowe’s) for 20 years.” Read more

 

Twitter is phasing out the “Buy” button by Ingrid Lunden at TechCrunch. Read more

 

Amazon is crushing Walmart, eBay, and Target in the growing mobile shopping space by Eugene Kim at Business Insider. “At the end of 2014, Amazon had roughly the same number of mobile unique visitors as Walmart and eBay, in the US. As of December 2016, Amazon has more unique visitors than the apps of those two companies’ combined,” Oppenheimer wrote in the note.” Read more

 

Chewy.com, an online pet supplies retailer, is setting up an outpost in Boston that it expects will soon employ 200 people by Scott Kirsner at Boston Globe. Read more

 

Law firm considers class-action suit against Walmart for allegedly selling wildfire-contaminated food by David Thurton at CBC News. “Walmart Canada and four of its senior managers face 174 charges under the Alberta Public Health Act related to the sale of food contaminated during the wildfire, which engulfed the city last May. A 31-page charge sheet alleges the store sold various contaminated food items, ranging from chocolate bars to bacon and chicken.” Read more

 

Christopher & Banks CEO fired after poor holiday showing; stock plummets by Dan DeBaun at Minneapolis/St.Paul Business Journal. Read more | Press release

 

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