Walmart Expands Entertainment Strategy With Eko Interactive Content Joint Venture by Cynthia Littleton at Variety. “Walmart has made an investment of about $250 million in Eko, a company based in New York and Tel Aviv…The plan calls for W*E to develop a range of content for Walmart’s website and its Vudu video service. Some of that might be branded entertainment and advertising-oriented and some may be purely entertainment based.” Read more

 

Walgreens Q4: front-end comp sales -1.9% / US retail pharmacy comp +0.3% at CNBC. Read more

 

…Walgreens and LabCorp to open 600+ patient centers Press release

 

PayPal will let customers deposit and withdraw cash at Walmart stores at CNBC. “Paypal will start offering deposit and withdrawal services at Walmartstores, the two companies said Thursday. This is the first time PayPal customers will be able to take cash out of their PayPal accounts in a brick-and-mortar store.” Read more | Press release

 

The Department of Justice approves $69 billion proposed merger between health insurer Aetna and CVS – contingent on Aetna selling its Medicare Part D prescription drug business at The Hill. Read more

 

…CVS-Aetna merger still faces New York state hurdle by Josh Kosman at NY Post. “It’s not clear if New York is positioning itself to get more concessions than the DOJ from CVS, or if it wants to derail the deal altogether, a source said.” Read more

 

Toxic metal cadmium found in chain stores’ jewelry for adults at AP via CBS News. “Jewelry with the toxic metal cadmium is showing up on the shelves of national retailers including Ross, Nordstrom Rack and Papaya, according to newly released test results.” Read more

 

The World’s Most Reputable Companies For Corporate Responsibility 2018 by Vicky Valet at Forbes. Top 100 list

 

Target’s newest incubator is looking for ‘save the world’ kind of stuff by Sarah Perez at TechCrunch. “(Target is) adding a fourth business accelerator to the mix with the launch of Target Incubator. The new program is aimed at Gen Z entrepreneurs and its only real require is that the businesses involved are doing some sort of good.” Read more

 

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Amazon sends letter to Bernie Sanders assuring him that the company’s new $15 minimum wage and pay structure will result in increased compensation for all warehouse workers by Monica Nickelsburg at GeekWire. Read more

 

Walmart files a patent for a shopping cart that reads pulse, temperature by Kim Souza at Talk Business. “The goal of this biometric shopping cart handle is help warn consumers who may be experiencing signs of a serious condition such as stroke or heart-attack.” Read more

 

U.S. Postal Service requests a 5 cent increase to the forever stamp, up to 55 cents at USA Today. Read more

 

…Post Office worker allegedly stole more than $630,000 in stamps to fund gambling at USA Today. Read more

 

Meet The Billionaire Building The Malls Of The Future by Samantha Sharf at Forbes. “The Grove and his nine other lightly mortgaged shopping centers in the area have made (Rick) Caruso worth $4 billion. Caruso hopes his four children, ages 18 to 28, will take over the empire one day. He has hidden likenesses of his kids across his properties—family Easter eggs that the average shopper would never recognize but for which he has great pride.” Read more

 

Warby Parker taps NY celebs for limited edition frame collection Read more

 

DSW acquires Camuto Group at Internet Retailer. “Camuto Group is best known for its Vince Camuto footwear brand, as well as footwear brands Jessica Simpson and Lucky Brand.” Read more

 

Alexa Accelerator Demo Night Highlights by Taylor Soper at GeekWire. “Here’s a rundown of the nine companies that pitched on Tuesday, leading with Jargon, which won our first-ever GeekWire-Ubiquity award, and following with startups listed in pitch order.” Read more

 

Sears skips payments to vendors amid bankruptcy concerns at Reuters. “We went into business with them with our eyes open and knew this day would come one day,” said Arnold Kamler, CEO of Parsippany, New Jersey bike maker Kent International Inc. Kamler said he has withheld a shipment to Sears after it missed a regular payment last week for the first time.” Read more

 

Shopify opens its first brick-and-mortar space in Los Angeles by Jonathan Shieber at TechCrunch. Read more

 

Express launches a clothing rental subscription service “Shoppers can rent three items at a time for $69.95 per month with unlimited exchanges.” at Internet Retailer. Read more

 

Petco Names Michelle Bonfilio as Chief Human Resources Officer Press release

 

Young British people are drinking less alcohol than a decade ago at CNN. “Abstinence (is) becoming “mainstream” among teenagers and young adults, a new study reveals. Researchers found that 29% of 16- to 24-year olds were non-drinkers in 2015, up from 18% in 2005.” Read more

 

Waze launches carpool service at 50 Amazon warehouses as part of nationwide rollout by Nat Levy at GeekWire. Read more

 

REI is hosting used gear swaps in 11 stores across the country on Oct. 27 Press release

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

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3 Lidl grocery stores to open in N.J. in coming weeks. Here’s where.

Reuters Top 100: The World’s Most Innovative Universities – 2018

Woman who spent $21M on luxury goods must explain to court where money came from

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

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