News Briefs

Amazon is acknowledging it has made reductions in corporate staff.

In an email to Chain Store Age, an Amazon spokesperson confirmed media reports that the company has laid off some corporate employees.

“We’re always looking at our team structures to ensure we’re best set up to move fast as we innovate for customers,” the spokesperson said in the email. “We’ve adjusted parts of our Stores business because we believe this structure will better enable us to deliver on our priorities. As part of these changes, we’ve made the difficult decision to eliminate a small number of roles, and we’re committed to supporting affected employees through their transition.”

According to reporting from Business Insider, on Tuesday, Oct. 6, some Amazon employees posted messages in an internal Slack communications channel that they had received emails notifying them about the elimination of their positions. The jobs are in the retailer’s Stores division, which handles retail and e-commerce operations, and reportedly include customer service, marketplace support and engineering positions in the U.S., U.K. and India.

While Amazon has not publicly released an exact figure of how many employees have been affected, Business Insider reports the total number is less than 1,000.

These latest layoffs follow Amazon’s elimination of roughly 16,000 positions across the company in January.  In October 2025, Amazon laid off roughly 14,000 corporate employees as part of what Reuters reported was a larger initiative to reduce expenses and rectify excessive increases in staffing levels it made during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

[READ MORE: Amazon cutting 14,000 corporate roles]

Combined, the October 2025 and January layoffs represented close to 5% of Amazon’s then-roughly 350,000-person corporate workforce and were the largest workforce reduction in company history according to CNBC.

The Best Buy Ads retail media network continues expanding its reach via partnerships with content platforms.

Best Buy is now allowing advertisers participating in its Best Buy Ads retail media network to activate campaigns across the LG Electronics TV ecosystem, including the Home Screen operating system and connected TV (CTV) devices. 

This collaboration between Best Buy Ads and the LG Ad Solutions CTV and cross-screen advertising unit marks the first time LG’s Home Screen inventory has been made available through a retail media network. Inventory is transacted programmatically through the Magnite modular ad platform, with Best Buy’s closed-loop measurement connecting campaign exposure to sales outcomes.

Best Buy has been partnering with numerous content platforms in the past few years to provide advertisers more channels to reach its customers. These efforts include a recent agreement to offer brands access to Amazon Fire TV advertising inventory on all new and existing Insignia TVs. 

In addition, as part of a broader collaboration with TikTok, advertisers will soon be able to use TikTok creator content in their Best Buy Ads campaigns to feature products, give shoppers a direct path to purchase through shoppable content and affiliate links, and extend the reach of the content through paid advertising. Campaigns connect back to Best Buy’s first-party data and measurement capabilities.

[READ MORE: Best Buy to launch TikTok storefront with creator and advertiser links]

“Advertisers increasingly want the ability to connect retail media investments with premium media experiences and measurable sales results,” said Lisa Valentino, chief ads and media officer of Best Buy. “This partnership expands the ways brands can reach Best Buy shoppers, combining our first-party audience insights and closed-loop measurement capabilities with LG’s premium CTV inventory to create a more accountable and effective advertising solution.”

Employees in Target's grocery and beverage sections will soon be easy to spot. 

Under a new dress code, the employees will be required to wear branded aprons and hats (or visors) during every shift in an effort to make them easier for customers to identify, according to a report by Bloomberg. The change is effective Nov. 1.

The new accessories will bear the logo of Target’s private-label food, Good & Gather, according to the report. A Target spokesperson told Bloomberg that the move is part of the company’s strategy to “elevate the guest experience,” and described the new accessories as “functional and distinctive.” 

In September, Target updated its dress code for store employees. Under the chain’s new “Team Colors” guidelines, employees must wear a solid red shirt (or vest) with sleeves paired with khaki or blue denim pants bottoms. Shirts with large logos (unless Target-branded), ripped jeans, leggings, sweatpants or clothing with offensive graphics are prohibited.

To ease the transition, Target is offering workers a 20% discount on adult apparel and accessories from its owned brands, a free red shirt and a one-time coupon for 50% off owned-brand denim. The retailer recently introduced an optional employee apparel line in collaboration with Isaac Mizrahi that features red vests and other items.

CVS Health has brought its new scaled-down store format to the Boston area.

Located in Roxbury, Mass., the company’s newest “pharmacy-focused” store is designed to bridge gaps in pharmacy care, and make it easier for members of the community to access medications, immunizations and other health care services provided by pharmacists. 

The new format features a full-service pharmacy with a customized selection of over-the-counter products available for purchase. Customers who would like to purchase items that are not offered at the pharmacy-focused locations can order additional items with free delivery to their home. Nearly 20 locations will open in select communities across the country in 2026,

The Roxbury pharmacy also offers a safe medication disposal bin for patients wanting to safely dispose of unneeded, unwanted, or expired medications, It also is a safe needle collection site, giving community members a convenient place to safely dispose of used sharps.

The company has opened pharmacy-focused locations in Birmingham, Ala.; Chicago; Detroit; Houston; and Washington, D.C. The format averages 3,000 square feet.

“We are reimagining how pharmacy care is delivered by creating locations designed around the needs of the communities we serve," said Sid Tenneti, senior VP and interim president, pharmacy and consumer wellness, CVS Health. 

CVS plans to open more than 40 new CVS Pharmacy locations this year, including traditional stores and pharmacies in Target. as of June 30, 2026, CVS had approximately 9,000 retail pharmacy locations and more than 1,000 walk-in and primary care medical clinics.

[READ MORE: Walmart to compete with Amazon’s fall holiday sales event]

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