“Rona closing 11 stores in Canada,  50 more on ‘watch list’ ” by Paul Delean at Montreal Gazette.  “The Canadian hardware and home-improvement chain announced the closing of another 11 money-losing stores in Ontario and British Columbia by the end of this year. The stores — seven of them big-box — represented about $130 million in annual sales.  Fifty other stores among the 800 in the Rona network are on a watch list, as they “need some work” to generate “adequate returns,” chief financial officer Dominique Boies said.  Read more: https://www.montrealgazette.com/life/Rona+closing+stores+Ontario/8586338/story.html#ixzz2XVbqeTXl

 

“Kroger closes in on $100B sales” by Alexander Coolidge at Cincinnati.com.  “In an overview of Kroger’s fiscal year that ended Feb. 2, Dillon noted total sales grew 7.1 percent to $96.8 billion. The company generated a $1.5 billion profit. Sales at stores open at least 15 months grew 3.5 percent for the year, excluding fuel.”  Read more:  https://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130627/BIZ/306270084/Kroger-closes-100B-sales

 

“Kroger Annual Shareholder Meeting Webcast from 6/27/13 (registration required).”  Listen at:  https://ir.kroger.com/phoenix.zhtml?p=irol-eventDetails&c=106409&eventID=4964165

 

“List of rich facts buried inside luxury retailer Neiman Marcus’ IPO filing” by Maria Halkias at Dallas News.  “Here are some choice nuggets:

– Unredeemed gift cards totaled $41.8 million last year.

– More than 70 percent of its customers research online before shopping in its stores. Customers that shop with them online and in stores spend 3.5 times as much as its single-channel customers.

– 21.9 percent of total sales came from online shoppers last year. Just three years ago that was 18.5 percent. (Luxury shoppers know their brands and are confident not touching and trying on.)

Read more:  https://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2013/06/list-of-rich-facts-buried-inside-luxury-retailer-neiman-marcus-ipo-filing.html/

 

“RetailNext Releases 2013 Spring Holiday Shopping Data and Insights For Brick-and-Mortar Retail”  ” “The two drivers for changing shopping patterns around holidays this spring were gift giving and special events that changed when consumers hit the stores. The increased activity leading up to both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day represents a genuine boost to retailers, although as with previous studies, we’ve seen those seeking gifts for women tend to shop later than those seeking gifts for men,” said Chitra Balasubramanian.  Read more:  https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/retailnext-releases-2013-spring-holiday-shopping-data-and-insights-for-brick-and-mortar-retail-213301511.html

 

“Looking At The Intersection of Amazon.com And Whole Foods Market” by Christopher Versace at Forbes.  “There’s a good chance you haven’t heard of Abe’s Market. I could be wrong, but if your not a person that is looking for organic food and natural products, gluten-free solutions or some other healthy alternatives you may not have heard of Abesmarket.com.  I recently spoke with Richard Demb, the co-founder and CEO of Abe’s Market – a company that is exploding given the explosive demand for natural foods and products as well as the surge in demand for gluten-free products.”  Read the interview: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrisversace/2013/06/26/looking-at-the-intersection-of-amazon-com-and-whole-foods-market/

 

“Hobby Lobby Just Scored a Major Victory Against Obamacare” by Becket Adams at The Blaze.  “In a health care decision giving hope to opponents of the federal birth-control coverage mandate, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday that Hobby Lobby stores won’t have to start paying millions of dollars in fines next week for not complying with the requirement.”  Read more:  https://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/27/hobby-lobby-just-scored-a-major-victory-against-obamacare/

 

“Generation Y is learning to dig gardening” by Karel Holloway at Dallas  News.  “Generation Y shoppers look for herbs and vegetables. “They are growing them in apartments and even in dorm rooms,” he says.  Most are interested in organic gardening and avoiding pesticides. Consequently, the store (Home Depot) has doubled the number of organic soils it carries and has added other organic products, Pappas says.  Read more:  https://www.dallasnews.com/lifestyles/home-and-gardening/headlines/20130626-generation-y-is-learning-to-dig-gardening.ece

 

“Microsoft’s big 3D printing push: From retail to Windows 8.1” by Ricardo Binton at Venture Beat.  “Microsoft may not make its own 3D printers, but it sure is throwing its weight behind the technology.  At the company’s Build conference today in San Francisco, Microsoft announced its plans to sell devices like the MakerBot Replicator and 3D Systems Cube in its retail stores and online.”  Read more: https://venturebeat.com/2013/06/26/microsofts-big-3d-printing-push-from-retail-to-windows-8-1/#vuvMboTOcOa9qmeG.99

 

“Marissa Mayer Bets on Brit + Co. — And the Future of Retail” by Ryan Tate at Wired.  “There was a lot of head scratching in Silicon Valley Wednesday over a $6.3 million investment in Brit + Co., a shopping and crafts site whose traffic has been estimated at around 50,000 unique visitors a month, with the company saying it does somewhere north of 500,000 monthly uniques — both very modest numbers.”  Read more:  https://www.wired.com/business/2013/06/behind-brit-morins-big-investment/

 

Thanks for reading…have a great weekend!

 

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