Neiman Marcus Brings Its Insane Holiday Fantasy Gifts to a Mall For First Time by Phil Wahba at Fortune. “The retailer has just staged an exhibit at the upscale Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, Long Island as part of its efforts to drum up interest among the wealthy shoppers in the New York City suburbs ahead of a new store opening on February 19.” Read more

 

Target’s ‘future of food’ collaboration lands Kendall Square office by Sara Castellanos at Boston Business Journal. “Target’s recently announced collaboration with the MIT Media Lab and global design and consulting firm Ideo has officially found a brick-and-mortar location where they plan to study and explore the future of food. The Food and Future CoLab signed a two-year lease earlier this week for a 7,200-square-foot office at 80 Broadway in Cambridge. The space could employ about 15 people beginning early next year.” See the space pics / Read more

 

Big Lots Q3 Comp Sales +2.6% “For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015…estimated comparable store sales increase in the 1% to 2% range compared to a 2.9% comparable store sales increase in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014.” Read the release

 

Amazon opens ‘Community Banana Stand’ at Seattle HQ to give away free fruit by Jacob Demmitt at GeekWire. “Amazon has opened a “Community Banana Stand,” which is exactly what you would imagine. The stand is open every day between 8 a.m. and about 3:30 p.m., with free bananas available to anyone who walks by — employee or not.” Read more / See the stand

 

What rough quarter at Lands’ End teaches us about the clothing business these days by Sarah Halzack at Washington Post. “This quarter, the company tried to put the brakes on its promotion train…And yet by the second half of the quarter, the company decided to change course and ramp up the promotions again.” Read more

 

Why Pantone Released Two 2016 Colors of the Year by Christina Binkley at WSJ. “It’s twins! Color authority Pantone has for the first time anointed two colors of the year for 2016. Dubbed Rose Quartz and Serenity, they are shades of pale pink and baby blue.” Read more (Subscription)

 

**A message from Orchard Road Canning – Decorative Series lids bring innovation to the home canning category. Orchard Road’s Decorative Series delivers three distinct designs: Wild Daisy, Fruit and Gingham. See the designs here Contact info@eyeonretail.net for program information.

 

Amazon sees growth in Prime subscriptions and two key categories by Tonya Garcia at MarketWatch. “Cowen wrote in a report. “Since the inception of our survey, Amazon Prime households have more than doubled, growing from 18% in December 2012 to about 39% in November 2015.” Read more

 

These shoppers skew wealthier by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. “Amazon shoppers, on average, earn roughly 12 percent more than those who shop at Wal-Mart. However, they earn 6 percent less than those who shop at Target, 19 percent less than Costco’s shoppers and 21 percent less than Macy’s.” Read more

 

Target Updates Smart Home Store at Twice. “But the most interesting part of the reset is the system Target is putting in place to continue to bring the latest and most innovative products to their store..the retailer has started working with Indiegogo…find the hottest companies that are being funded there. From that comes a new part of the store reset, where Indiegogo and its startups now command a corner of the location.” Read more / See the pics

 

Talk about upwardly mobile jobs: Digital retail by Mary Thompson at CNBC. “We right now have over 500 open roles,” said Niraj Shah, CEO of (Wayfair) “And we are very aggressively adding to the team in all our locations.” Read more

 

Michaels claims largest in-store selection of adult coloring books by Maria Halkias at The Dallas Morning News. “The retailer said Thursday it believes it has the largest in-store selection of adult coloring books with 175 titles…Sales increased 3.4 percent to $1.17 billion and same store sales increased 1.5 percent. “ Read more

 

Kroger execs talk gelato, Super Bowl and dogs on a health kick by Steve Watkins at Cincinnati Business Journal. “Schlotman also pointed out Kroger’s store brands now make up nearly 28 percent of units sold and 26 percent of sales dollars. Its Simple Truth natural and organic brand is a key to its growth in store brands.” Read more earnings call highlights

 

Amazon brings budget Fire tablet to China, partners with search giant Baidu by Jacob Demmitt at GeekWire. “Online shopping in China is dominated by Alibaba, which reaches about 80 percent of the Chinese population, according to comScore. Amazon.cn, meanwhile, reaches just 10 percent.” Read more

 

GunTV, a QVC for Firearms, is coming to cable soon by John Paul Titlow at Fast Company. “To work within gun laws, GunTV won’t actually sell firearms directly to its viewers. Instead, when a viewer calls GunTV, the network will place an order on behalf of that viewer with Sports South, a Louisiana firearms distributor.” Read more

 

Aldi pays $400k to shopper who slipped on disabled sign painted on the ground via Ten Play. “He needs further surgery and his wife left him (taking their two children) because she refused to move out of their third-story apartment to somewhere more accessible for Mr Sajad.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

Hawaii: Stores can’t keep mosquito repellant on shelf due to Dengue fever

12 Mind Tricks That Make People Like You And Help You Get Ahead

Mayor’s visit to Wayfair covers more than furnishings

Avon in Talks to Sell North American Business to Cerberus

How an Industrial Oops Led to Silly Putty Becoming a Stretchy Smash-Hit Toy

Woman leaves daughter behind after being caught shoplifting at Target

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

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Contact Jason Long, jlong@eyeonretail.net