Walmart will no longer sell products with the Confederate flag by Sarah Begley at Fortune. “We never want to offend anyone with the products that we offer,” the spokesman, Brian Nick, said. “We have taken steps to remove all items promoting the confederate flag from our assortment—whether in our stores or on our web site.” Read more

 

Marvin Ellison’s story is classic J.C. Penney by Maria Halkias at Dallas News. “Ellison quoted his father: “‘When the economy was bad, I was grinding. When the economy was good, I was grinding. I had seven kids and couldn’t take a chance.’ “Then he asked me,” Ellison said. “Are you willing to roll up your sleeves and grind every day?” After relaying that story, Ellison told Penney managers that he’s not a fancy person. “I won’t try to be theatrical or provocative with you…” Read more

 

Tenet’s Most Powerful Brands (Wgreen #33, Lowe’s #43, Wmart #52, Costco #85)  See the Top 100 list

 

Don’t worry, Amazon: Not many plan to sign up for Walmart’s new shipping program by Tricia Duryee at GeekWire. “The study, which was conducted by Prosper Insights, found that just 12.4 percent of respondents said they were “likely” or “very likely” to sign up for Walmart’s Shipping Pass.” Read more

 

…But on the bright side nearly half (45.7%) of those “likely” or “very likely” to subscribe to Shipping Pass were identified as Millennials via Pam Goodfellow at Forbes. Read more

 

Home Depot #1 Radio Advertiser for 12th Consecutive Week at Radio Ink. “Home Depot is the top radio advertiser with a whopping 63,682 commercials aired for the week of June 15-21, according to Media Monitors. Geico remains in second place with 35,358 ads played.” Read more

 

Meijer: Wisconsin grand opening today by Alison Bauter at Milwaukee Business Journal. “Meijer makes its Milwaukee-area debut Tuesday, starting with a Grafton grand opening in the morning followed by Kenosha in the afternoon.” Read more

 

***A message from Dolce Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Looking for a true extra virgin olive oil? If you’re looking for high quality and high-impact packaging you’ve found it. Dolce features a maximum acidity rate of 0.2% and adheres to strict quality standards. Our advanced systems ensure less than 12 hours between harvest and oil extraction to packaging. See the new website. Retailers-request a bottle and judge for yourself: info@eyeonretail.net

 

Wal-Mart disputes report saying it uses tax havens to avoid paying taxes by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “This calculation incorrectly includes inter-company assets, primarily investment in our wholly-owned subsidiaries and inter-company loans which are both eliminated on consolidation,” (Randy) Hargrove told The City Wire in a phone interview.” Read more

 

Why stores matter to Home Depot’s e-commerce push by Mark Brohan at Internet Retailer “Home Depot Inc. added $1 billion in new web sales in 2014, posting total web sales of $3.5 billion, in large measure because of effective use of stores. That’s the key point Home Depot senior vice president and president of online Kevin Hofmann told analysts last week at the sixth annual Goldman Sachs dotCommerce conference in New York.” Read more

 

Wal-Mart is amending supplier contracts to control costs at The City Wire. “This week Wal-Mart Stores confirmed it began sending out amended agreements with approximately 10,000 of its suppliers in hopes of better controlling costs…Wal-Mart said the goal of the new agreement is to bring more simplicity and consistency to its supplier relationships.” Read more

 

WinCo to Open Another in Surprise, AZ  Read the release

 

Back-to-school: Will retailers’ bets pay off? by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. “Research from the National Retail Federation, to be released Tuesday, found that 29 percent of households with children between the ages of 6 and 17 plan to spend more on back-to-school shopping this year. That’s up from 24 percent last year.” Read more

 

Big Lots Launches Big Lots Latino “Big Lots announced the launch of Big Lots Latino, a new Spanish language information hub for Hispanic customers.” Read the release

 

People are drinking less coffee thanks to the rise of single-servings by Luc Cohen at Reuters via Financial Post. “Coffee consumption in the United States is expected to fall to 23.7 million 60-kg bags in the upcoming 2015/16 season, down from 24 million bags in the year that ends in September and the first drop since 2009/2010, the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast in its biannual coffee report on Friday.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra

These 3 kinds of shoplifters cost Wal-Mart a ton of money

Ryan Gosling writes open letter urging Costco to sell cage-free eggs

Woman stops to use CVS restroom, ends up winning $5 million in lottery

Amazon Echo Now Available to All Customers

12 crazy facts hardly anyone knows about Wal-Mart

‘Gambling malls’ may be coming to a strip mall near you

Entrepreneur set out to build a backyard deck that doesn’t rot

GLIDDEN Paint by PPG Launches GRAB-N-GO Pre-Mixed Paint at WALMART Stores

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

***

Eye-on-Retail Tipsheet is created early every weekday morning and read by retail merchants and executives worldwide. We love data, earnings reports, executive presentations and stories off the beaten path that get at what’s really happening in the world of retail. See our website at www.eyeonretail.net