Retail Watchers

Save Mart is starting to hire for its new Lucky California in Dublin, slated to open this Spring. I can't remember the last time they built a store from ground up. And if memory serves me right, this is the 2nd Lucky California after Daly City. http://www.independentnews.com/calendar/other/job-fair-...

New Seasons announces a "flattening of the executive leadership structure", aka terminating the CEO and not backfilling the position. The press release also states Sunnyvale will close after less than a year open, but Aptos will continue as planned and open this Fall. https://www.newseason...

I'm guessing there isn't a robust pool of buyers for grocery chains based in Sinaloa. My recollection is Safeway's deal with Casa Ley had something to do with Magowan and tomatoes. http://www.casaley.com.mx/index.php/corporativo/empresa/historia https://www.thepacker.com/article/martin-ley-del-campo...

Speaking of Ceres, wasn’t Walmart going to build a Supercenter here? Wonder if they’ll just stick with what they got considering their shift towards online.
http://www.cerescourier.com/m/section/11/article/9679/

Shrink 2.0

Kroger rumored to be exploring an alliance with Alibaba — the Chinese e-commerce giant. Alibaba operates grocery stores with automatic checkout like Amazon Go.

https://nypost.com/2018/01/24/krogers-a ... o-alibaba/

Amazon Go finally leaves beta and opens to the public.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/21/tech ... uture.html

I think the Corporate layoffs are simply cutting back on brick & mortar jobs and moving more towards online. I don't recall seeing new hire numbers, but I'm guessing they balance the layoffs. I've viewed the Walmart migration towards online to be calculated and diligent. They acknowledged the Am...

I think some analysts would love an Amazon/Target merger, so they plant a seed in the press. I doubt Cornell is ready to throw in the towel. I think there will always be three players in this category - the Big 3 - and currently they're Amazon, Walmart and Target. All the others will merge and acqui...

The thing that I wonder is how you integrate a high end retailer who wasn't afraid to spend money to get money into a company that is all about speed, efficiency and reduction of cost to bring the theoretical best price to the consumer. You don't. The Whole Foods of yesteryear is gone. Whether Amaz...