Wal-Mart learns Texas free-market bravado has limits at Dallas News. “It happened in the session that ended Monday, with even the deep pockets of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. failing to summon enough lobbying power to overturn a law forbidding publicly traded companies from selling liquor.” Read more

 

Amazon Debuts Free Shipping on Small Goods, No Minimum Order at Bloomberg. “Amazon.com is introducing free shipping on thousands of popular, smaller items — makeup, mobile phone accessories, earplugs — in its Web store, without requiring a minimum order. The new initiative applies to all customers, including those not enrolled in Amazon Prime.” Read more

 

Why the Internet doesn’t keep Macy’s CEO awake at night by Michael Theis at Austin Business Journal. “We have a Monday morning meeting that’s like a religion; from 10:30 to 12:30 we’re all there. We go through the current business, what changes we need to make and we update around the table and ask each other what did you see out there in the stores last week,” said Lundgren. “I think that is critical.” Read more

 

Dollar General Q1 Comp Sales +3.7% “In consumables, higher volume of tobacco products, perishables, health care items, and candy and snacks drove the growth in same-store sales. Same-store sales growth within non-consumables was strongest in apparel with seasonal and home also posting solid gains.” Read the release

 

Could Military Exchanges Close? at Cincinnati.com. “U.S. Sen. John McCain wants the Pentagon out of the grocery business…A proposal by the Navy veteran to privatize military-run commissaries and exchanges threatens hundreds of small businesses that service the commissaries, but major grocery and clothing retail competitors could gain if active-duty and retired military shop more off-base, Bloomberg Intelligence reports.” Read more

 

Pinterest to launch ‘buy’ buttons by Jessica Guynn at USA Today. “The pins, essentially buy buttons, let users make purchases inside the mobile app. The buy buttons will roll out on iPhone and iPad in the USA later this month, Pinterest said.” Read more

 

Porch hires CFO with public company, acquisition experience by Rachel Lerman at Puget Sound Business Journal. “The appointment is likely to spark rumors of what’s next for Porch, which has been growing at an explosive rate. The company grew from 170 employees last July to 400 now, and has raised more than $100 million in total funding.” Read more

 

Wal-Mart’s San Antonio expansion plans to butt heads with H-E-B by Katie Burke at San Antonio Business Journal. “Throughout the next year or so, H-E-B has 12 pending locations, which will bring its total to 62 stores…Wal-Mart’s newer Neighborhood Center concept…has six locations pending for this year alone. And that’s just the beginning.” Read more

 

Embattled Lumber Liquidators loses another top exec by Michelle Celarier at NY Post. “Ray Cotton, the chief compliance officer, has left the company, following the departures of Chief Executive Officer Robert Lynch and CFO Daniel Terrell in recent weeks.” Read more

 

Things you may not have known about Wal-Mart by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “The closed-type culture embodied by Wal-Mart Stores and its founding family is most likely tied to the co-founder and matriarch Helen Walton. A woman of means herself and a banker’s daughter, Helen Walton never wanted Sam to take the company public.” Read more

 

Lidl Prepares for East Coast Invasion by Kristin Zachary at Triad Business Journal. “As has been reported, Lidl is in the early stages of preparation to operate in the United States,” he said in an email. “We are taking steps toward that effort. However, we are not able to comment on any particular transaction at this time.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra

Home Depot’s Matt Carey Sells $5.9 Mil of Stock

Grocery Customer To Target: There’s A Black Widow Spider In My Grapes!

Designer ad banned for ‘unhealthily’ thin model

Toys R Us names ex-Domino’s chief as new CEO

Company launches mood-changing wearable that zaps brains

Will your pets be robotic in 2050?

Stock Building Supply and Building Materials Holdings to merge

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. Contact us at info@eyeonretail.net.