January 2019

‪CHICO’S, THE WOMEN’S APPAREL CHAIN with 1,400 stores in the US & Canada, will close 250 stores. To make it sound good, the company is

AMC is a large company with revenue to AFFORD to PAY EVERY INDIVIDUAL employee O/T H/P SICK LEAVE. AMC is a large company with revenue

WALMART CANADA IGNORED TARGET’S “TOY BOMB” FIASCO IN OCTOBER, now says it won’t reorder the toy. WMT had to pull sexually offensive hockey T shirts

THERE WAS NO MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET THIS XMAS FOR MACY’s, and the fact that it’s stock is snowballing down is upsetting to all department

‪THE BEZOS DIVORCE MAY GENERATE SOME TABLOID “DRAMA” but isn’t likely to create any real business news at Amazon. Their joint statement predicts “wonderful futures

ANOTHER WAY AMAZON HURTS LOCAL EMPLOYERS: 71% of IT employees in D.C. area surveyed said they would leave their current jobs to work for Amazon

SEARS/KMART CLOSURES MAY OPEN DOORS FOR AMAZON/WHOLE FOODS. Walmart already has a huge brick & mortar footprint of 4,200 US stores—but the closure of 328

WALMART USES CHINESE SOFTWARE FOR ITS DRIVERLESS CAR GROCERY DELIVERY SERVICE IN AMERICA. (Couldn’t find an American software developer?) https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/09/tech/baidu-walmart-udelv/index.html Read more on Facebook

AMAZON GO CASHLESS, CASHIERLESS STORES MAKING PLENTY OF CASH. Study says Amazon Go stores make around $1.5 M in sales annually. The only workers there

MORE THAN 40% OF THE DRUG OVERDOSES IN AMERICA INVOLVE SYNTHETIC OPIOIDS LIKE FENTANYL, which Trump tweets “comes pouring into the US postal system from

COSTCO LOSES FAKE TIFFANY RING CASE: A federal judge in N.Y. has denied Costco’s bid to overturn a $21 million award to Tiffany from August

NEIMAN MARCUS PAYS $1.5 M TO SETTLE CREDIT CARD HACK LAWSUIT. The 2013 data breach at the upscale retailer exposed 370,000 customer credit cards from

KROGER & MICROSOFT FOLLOW AMAZON LEAD INTO DIGITAL GROCERY STORES. Customers will see personalized visual ads based on their shopping history: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/07/microsoft-kroger-take-on-amazon-with-a-futuristic-grocery-store-pilot.html Read more on

WALMART SHAREHOLDERS HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED OF A $160 M CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT THAT WMT EXECS. FAILED TO DISCLOSE A “MULTI-MILLION BRIBERY SCHEME IN MEXICO…used to

DON’T EVER GIVE UP ON YOUR LOCAL MERCHANTS! I just bought a 4qt. Pyrex Smart Essentials glass mixing bowl for $9.78 at Wilson’s department store

THE NY TIMES YESTERDAY WROTE THAT Walmart, Home Depot & Target have resorted to a “far-fetched tax dodge” called “dark stores” that cheats local property

THE GOLDEN BLOB AWARD GOES TO…WALMART FOR SPENDING MILLIONS OF DOLLARS ON INSIPID IMAGE ADS LAST NIGHT instead of giving its workers a decent wage.

POLICE CHARGE 20 YEAR OLD WHITE MAN WITH MURDER OF 7 YEAR OLD BLACK GIRL AS CAR LEFT WALMART, the most dangerous place in America

WALMART IS ONE CONTINUAL CRIME SCENE: Children being killed in a WMT parking lot, and headlines like the one below, make Walmart the most dangerous

AMAZON & WMT ARE BOTH FIGHTING TO ROLLBACK GAINS MADE BY SMALL MERCHANTS IN INDIA TO PREVENT MONOPOLIES ONLINE: “these companies have over $20 B

DOLLAR GENERAL & DOLLAR TREE OPENED 13 X MORE STORES IN 2018 THAN WALMART. DG & DT sold more “groceries” (mostly snack food) than Whole

AMAZON SETTLES TRANS LAWSUIT IN KENTUCKY WAREHOUSE: a 2017 case brought by Allegra Schawe-Lane & Dane Lane, who claimed severe harassment & physical threats forced

TWO DAYS AGO I POSTED THE PHOTO OF THE 7 YEAR OLD WHO WAS KILLED IN A WALMART PARKING LOT. Now celebrities are offering thousands

WALMART SAYS IT SOLD “ONE MILLION SMARTPHONES IN THE FIRST HOUR” of the Big Billion Days annual sales event in India. It will need to

SOME TOWNS IN NEW ENGLAND REALLY DON’T WANT DOLLAR GENERAL STORES. Here’s why: https://www.recorder.com/ltr-norman-ChainStorewVSRetainingtheVisionofHistoricNewEngland-22231757 Read more on Facebook

THE MEDIA NOTICES DEPARTMENT STORES ARE DYING! They accounted for 14.5% of all retail purchases in 1985 in North America. That fell to 4.3% last

85% OF AMERICAN GROCERY SHOPPERS HAVE NOT TRIED “CLICK & COLLECT” ONLINE GROCERY SERVICES—but Walmart and Amazon are splitting two-thirds of recent online purchases: https://retail.emarketer.com/article/will-walmart-overtake-amazon-digital-grocery-sales/5c24fc19b979f10a20db1229?ecid=NL1014

“AMAZON MAINTAINS AN OPEN DOOR POLICY” towards disgruntled workers who are demanding a union. That’s the same language Walmart uses. One WMT worker told me,

WALMART ENDED 2018 WITH—OF COURSE—A MURDER IN THEIR PARKING LOT. The most dangerous place in America to shop: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/girl-7-fatally-shot-sitting-car-houston-area-walmart-parking-n953236 Read more on Facebook

AMAZON FLEX CREATES LOCAL DELIVERY BUSINESSES BY SKIRTING UPS UNION DRIVERS. Small entrepreneurs buy vans and hire drivers on promise of big profits: https://www.pressreader.com/usa/baltimore-sun-sunday/20181230/281642486295902 Read

AMAZON TO EXPAND # OF WHOLE FOODS STORES in Utah, Idaho and Wyoming. Trying to catch up with Walmart, which has 10 x as many