Walmart Vows Canada-Wide Visa Card Ban ‘In Coming Months,’ But.. by Daniel Tencer at Huffington Post. “…(Walmart) has been very quiet about its plans to further roll out the Visa ban, prompting some observers to suggest the company may be having second thoughts about the fight.” Read more

 

…Visa plasters Thunder Bay, Ont. with billboards reminding customers that “over 5200” other local stores accept its card by Amy Hadley at CBC News. “Drive down a main street and you might encounter two or three of the ads in the span of just a few blocks.” See the billboard outside of a Walmart store

 

Target hires another former Amazon employee to work on supply chain by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. “(Preston) Mosier will report to Arthur Valdez, a 16-year Amazon veteran who joined Target this spring to be its chief supply chain and logistics officer. Amazon initially sued Valdez when he took the job with Target, worried that he would spill trade secrets and alleging that he violated the online giant’s noncompete clause. A Target spokeswoman confirmed that the two parties have settled the issue.” Read more

 

Analyst Lowers Target Estimates on Soft July Sales by Kevin Orland at Bloomberg. “Our updated work indicates traffic slowed in July despite more aggressive promotions as the company appears to be losing share in grocery and seeing weakness in discretionary/signature categories” the firm said.” Read more

 

ExecRank Names Top 25 CFO’s (Tome #9, Olsavesky #10, Hoguet #16) via Savannah CEO See the top 25 list

 

“SAVE 4X THE SALES TAX!” – Massachusetts stores offer their own ‘tax holiday’ by Megan Woolhouse at Boston Globe. “Lawmakers at the last minute decided to eliminate the August ritual, amid slower than expected state revenue growth. But retailers, who have advertised the event for weeks, have forged ahead on their own, offering discounts equivalent to double, triple, even quadruple the state’s 6.25 percent sales tax.” Read more

 

Coach doesn’t want department stores cheapening its image by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. “It didn’t name names but said that one in four department store locations would become a Coach-free zone…Chief Executive Victor Luis said the pullback will hit 250 stores.” Read more

 

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The Container Store Q1 Comp Sales -1.4% Press release

 

Seattle officials propose sweeping law to protect workers from erratic schedules by Janet I. Tu at Seattle Times. “…large retailers and many food-service companies with more than 500 employees would be required to give their workers in Seattle 14 days’ advance notice of their schedules and to offer additional hours to existing employees before hiring new workers.” Read more

 

Porch launches Porch Perks – which gives service providers on the Porch platform discounts and deals at a handful of retailers, including Lowe’s and Wayfair by Taylor Soper at GeekWire. Read more

 

Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke on how to maintain a startup culture at scale at Canadian Business. Read more

 

Lidl opening 800K-square-foot regional HQ/DC in Cecil County, MD by Ryan Sharrow at Baltimore Business Journal. “The newly constructed warehouse in the Principio Business Park near Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 40 is expected to create 100 full-time jobs and open no later than 2018.” Read more

 

Costco kicks off Christmas in Vancouver at CTV News. “Shoppers in the Vancouver area say they’re surprised that Christmas trees and other holiday-themed items are showing up at their local Costco stores in August.” See the video

 

What’s Hurting Sales at Michael Kors? via Fox Business. “The company’s first-quarter sales fell 7.4 percent at stores open more than a year. Analysts on average had expected a 4.7 percent decline.” Read more

 

Maple Syrup Cartel Battles a Black Market Rebellion by Jen Skerritt at Bloomberg. “The cartel that produces 72 percent of the world’s maple syrup is starting to crack. After eight years of tightly limiting output to keep prices high, the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers next year will boost its quota by 12 percent for 13,500 sap farmers who operate in the Canadian province.” Read more

 

Active underground meth lab discovered near Walmart store by Harold McNeil & Maki Becker at The Buffalo News. “We always take precautions because of the chemicals … The chemicals are highly volatile,” said Detective Lt. JoAnn DiNoto of the Amherst Police narcotics unit.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

Best Buy to close central-Minnesota store

150 Lowe’s employees help renovate West Charlotte High School football stadium

H-E-B’s Chief Merchant highlights collaborative solutions at NACDS Expo

HHGregg to close all Wisconsin stores this fall

Study: Only 19% of CIOs at Top U.S. Firms are Women (WSJ subs.)

Red Sox cancel giveaway of ‘racially insensitive’ David Ortiz bobbleheads

Sprouts says Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas & the Carolinas are “mid-term expansion markets”

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

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