Woman who killed 3 people at Rite Aid DC was a disgruntled worker at CNN. Read more

 

Pier 1 prelim Q2 comp sales -11.4% “Alasdair James, President and CEO. “We are in the very early stages of the multi-year ‘New Day’ strategic plan we announced in April, and while we remain confident that our plan is the right course for Pier 1, it is now clear that our initiatives are taking longer than expected to gain traction.” Press release

 

Target has a first-of-its-kind special — 10% off nearly everything in the store — running this week. But you have to look hard to know it. by John Ewoldt at Star Tribune. “It’s not on any banners or placards at the front of the store…This week’s promotion is designed to sign up new Redcard credit or debit cardholders. Target’s Redcard penetration is showing signs of weakness.” Tiered subs.

 

Walmart Considers Offering Perks to Attract New Hires by Matthew Boyle at Bloomberg. “(Walmart) asked hourly workers to rate potential incentives, including a sign-on bonus, child-care services, tutoring and gym memberships, according to a copy of the survey obtained by Bloomberg News.” Tiered subs.

 

CVS CEO Merlo gets personal with new data-driven health-care model in Aetna merger at CNBC. “He was speaking to business and community leaders at Town Hall, a civic forum in Los Angeles. “Online and mail-order pharmacy has existed for many years, and CVS Health dispenses millions of prescriptions this way for patients each week,” he said in prepared remarks obtained by CNBC. “But our delivery model goes well beyond that foundation.” Read more | Bloomberg video

 

Walmart is putting 17,000 VR headsets in its US stores for training by Adi Robertson at The Verge. Read more

 

Amazon’s blockbuster Alexa event made zero mention of privacy concerns — and that may say more about us than about them by Jason Del Rey at Recode. Read more

 

…The long list of new Alexa devices Amazon announced at its hardware event at TechCrunch. Read more

 

NRF: Halloween Spending to Reach $9 Billion “…the second highest in the survey’s 14-year history. The figure is relatively the same as last year’s previous record of $9.1 billion…“One of the biggest trends this year is the growth of spending on pet costumes”. Press release

 

United Natural Foods Q4 net sales +10.7% Press release

 

Walmart tweaking terms of Savings Catcher app by Kim Souza at Talk Business. “Consumers canvassed by Talk Business & Politics in stores and online have said they use Savings Catcher app less than in the beginning because of the restrictions…Other consumers said they choose to use the shopping app Ibotta because it does provide cash back which can be spent anywhere.” Read more

 

The Hollywood Reporter 100: The Most Powerful People in Entertainment 2018 Top 100 list

 

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Amazon plants fake packages in delivery trucks as part of an undercover ploy to ‘trap’ drivers who are stealing by Hayley Peterson at Business Insider. “If you bring the package back, you are innocent. If you don’t, you’re a thug,” said Sid Shah, a former manager for DeliverOL, a courier company that delivers packages for Amazon.” Read more

 

Walmart has issued a warning to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer that the company may have to raise prices after Trump tariffs by Aris Folley at The Hill. Read more

 

Walgreens and Alibaba announce the launch of a Boots flagship store on Tmall Global “…gives Chinese consumers access to some of the most popular Boots beauty brands in the UK and the U.S.” Press release

 

Lowe’s Sponsorship of NASCAR’s Hendrick Motorsports May Not Be Over Just Yet by Amanda Vincent at The Drive. “The possible new deal between Lowe’s and Hendrick Motorsports would be for a partial schedule on the No. 48 car…Credit for the conversation between team and sponsor reigniting is being given to executive changes at Lowe’s.” Read more

 

UBS analyst skeptical the toy trend will endure at CNBC. Read more

 

Gap is launching Hill City athleisure wear for men at CNBC.”Hill City products will initially sell online next month, although some items will also be displayed in about 50 Athleta stores.” Read more

 

Google Workers Discussed Tweaking Search Function to Counter Travel Ban by John D. McKinnon & Douglas MacMillan at Wall Street Journal. “…employees proposed ways to “leverage” search functions and take steps to counter what they considered to be “islamophobic, algorithmically biased results from search terms ‘Islam’, ‘Muslim’, ‘Iran’, etc.” and “prejudiced, algorithmically biased search results from search terms ‘Mexico’, ‘Hispanic’, ‘Latino’, etc.” WSJ subs.

 

Amazon aims to patent fulfillment centers that can ride the rails and dispatch drones by Alan Boyle at GeekWire. Drawings/Read more

 

This 94-year-old buys chocolate bars at Dollar General and hands them out to strangers. And people love it. at CBS WTVR 6. “The World War II vet, retired teacher and high school football coach, 94, has been melting hearts this way around Long Grove, Iowa, for more than 10 years — during which time he’s given out nearly 6,000 chocolate bars.” Read more

 

Amazon Go is an “existential threat” to millions of jobs, supermarket union warns at Fast Company. Read more

 

‘Too much, too fast’: Disney to scale back production of Star Wars movies by Andrew Pulver at The Guardian. Read more

 

McDonald’s gives students $25K after their fake wall poster went unnoticed in epic prank at USA Today. “(Ellen) surprised the pair with $25,000, courtesy of the fast-food chain, for their appearance in an upcoming marketing campaign as part of McDonald’s commitment to diversity. DeGeneres also gave them a painting of herself to “sneak” into McDonald’s in the future.” Read more

 

FREEZER BURN – Woman lost $35K stored in freezer exchanged by Costco by Ryan Luby at ABC Denver 7. “I thought my daughter had grabbed it, she thought I had grabbed it, then when I went to look for it to put it back, it wasn’t there,” Reese said. She filed a report with Thornton police after tearing apart her house in search of the money. She also opened a claim with Costco.” Read more

 

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