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  • Two California grocers to merge; more stores planned

    Two Hispanic supermarket chains are merging with an eye to extending their footprint beyond their home base.    Private equity firm KKR announced it is combining Cardenas Markets and Mi Pueblo, which KKR (and Victory Park Capital) acquired at the end of last year. The combined business will operate as Cardenas Markets LLC and will become one of the largest Hispanic supermarket chains in the country.   
  • Amazon adds Prime Now deals to Prime Day mix

    Amazon wants to get Prime Day deals into shoppers hands even faster.    The online giant has added exclusive deals related to its Prime Now service to its Prime Day shopping extravaganza — a move that will get qualifying purchases to members within two hours. These deals will begin on Saturday, July 8 (two days prior to Prime Day’s launch), and run through July 11.  
  • Jet.com tries its hand at online sampling

    Walmart’s e-commerce arm is shaking up its customer engagement efforts.   Jet.com is adopting product sampling to forge stronger relationships with its online shoppers. Though a partnership with BrandShare, the online retailer will deliver 300,000 premium product samples and exclusive offers each month inside e-commerce packages. BrandShare is a long-time partner of Jet’s parent company, Walmart.   
  • Sears lowers the ax again

    Sears Holdings continues to shrink its traditional store portfolio even as it plans to open more smaller, specialty stores.   The embattled retailer on Friday announced that it will close 43 more locations -- eight Sears stores and 35 Kmart locations -- by early October. This is on top of the 265 store closings that it has already announced for this year.   
  • Report: Amazon beat out six other suitors for Whole Foods Market

    As it turns out, there was lots of interest in Whole Foods Market.   The retailer was fielding other potential deals, including approaches by four private equity firms and two unnamed companies identified only as "Company X" and "Company Y," when Amazon made its move, CNBC reported.   
  • Kroger is defending its turf

    The nation's largest supermarket operator is suing the German discount grocer Lidl over trademark infringement.    In a complaint filed last week in U.S. District Court in Virginia, Kroger claims that Lidl’s house brand, “Preferred Selection,” too closely resembles Kroger's own brand, “Private Selection.”  
  • QVC to acquire its biggest rival in $2 billion-plus deal

    In a deal that will bring together two longtime home shopping rivals, QVC is acquiring the Home Shopping Network.    Liberty Interactive Corp., owner of QVC, currently owns 38.2% of HSN parent HSNi. Under the agreement announced Thursday, Liberty will acquire the remaining 61.8% stake, making HSNi a wholly-owned subsidiary. The all-stock transaction has an enterprise value of $2.6 billion.   
  • Department store retailer takes a swing at Amazon’s shopping event

    In the wake of Amazon’s Prime Day hype, J.C. Penney is eager to drive momentum among its own online shoppers.    The department store retailer is getting ready to host its own online-only shopping event, “Penney Palooza.” The second annual two-day sale, which is set to run July 11-12, will feature “48 hours of non-stop savings,” according to the retailer.   
  • Another retailer is entering the hotel arena

    Muji, the Tokyo-based global retailer, will open its largest store to date — underneath its very own hotel.      The company will open a hotel in in Tokyo's Ginza district in spring 2019. The hotel will be located in a new, 10-story building that will also house a 35,000-sq.-ft. Muji flagship. The store will occupy one basement floor up to part of the sixth floor above ground, with the rest of the space above devoted to the hotel, according to the Nikkei Asian Review.  
  • No June gloom for Costco

    The nation's largest wholesale club operator reported strong sales for the month of June, both domestically and globally.   Costco Wholesale Corp. posted net sales of $12.17 billion for the five weeks ended July 2, 2017, up 5% from $11.33 billion during the year-ago period. Total same-store sales were up 6%.   In the U.S., same-store sales rose 6.5% in June. International same-store sales increased 6.2%. Canadian same-store sales rose 3.2%.   
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