Marvin Ellison, President & CEO for Lowe's (And Former LP Executive)
Speaking Tomorrow as Next Guest in NRF Retail Leadership Series

Wednesday, July 1 @ 11am ET - Register Here

NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay and Lowe's President and CEO Marvin Ellison will discuss leadership challenges and opportunities, rapidly changing consumer preferences in home improvement, and workforce skills needed in a time of unprecedented digital acceleration.

The NRF Retail Leadership Series is a virtual program featuring candid conversations between NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay and CEOs from retail brands and leaders across the economy. Watch previous conversations here.

The Asset Protection Executive Who Took It All the Way
Read our Special Report from October 2014 on Marvin Ellison's then appointment to CEO at J.C. Penney and his background in retail security as a former Vice President of Asset Protection.

Lowe's CEO is 'grateful' for chain's hourly workforce


'Abolish Amazon' Protest
Guillotine Placed Outside Jeff Bezos' D.C. Home by Anti-Amazon Protesters
Protesters calling for retail giant Amazon to be "abolished" set up a guillotine outside the Washington D.C. home of CEO Jeff Bezos. Footage uploaded to social media Sunday showed the mock execution apparatus had been placed behind a sign reading: "Support our poor communities, not our wealthy men," a jab at the website's founder, who is the world's richest person.

An advertisement for the protest, which appeared to have attracted a few dozen people, read: "Amazon works directly with police to surveil us, stoking racist fears in the name of profit. Doubling down on their union busting and mistreatment of workers, Amazon fired and racially slandered labor organizer Chris Smalls. Join us to tell Bezos enough is enough! End the abuse and profiteering, abolish the police, the prisons and Amazon."

Smalls was fired in March after organizing a strike at a warehouse in New York, claiming concerns about conditions and staff treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Amazon rejected his claims, saying he was fired for "violating social distancing guidelines." newsweek.com


'New Generation of Chinese Fraud 2.0'
How a Short Seller's Warning Helped Take Down Luckin Coffee
In January, days after the shares of Luckin Coffee Inc. hit a record high on the Nasdaq Stock Market, giving the company a $12 billion valuation, a cryptic email arrived in the inboxes of multiple short sellers.

"A new generation of Chinese Fraud 2.0 has emerged," it said. "Companies that start off as fundamentally and structurally flawed business model [sic] that evolves into fraud." The author offered to share customer receipts and videos from Luckin Coffee outlets, attached a long report about the company and said the short sellers could publish and take credit for it.

Several American money managers reviewed the report, which accused Luckin of inflating its sales. Carson Block of Muddy Waters LLC published it, posting the 89-page report on Twitter on Jan. 31. Luckin's auditor subsequently discovered that several employees had faked revenue and expenses and on April 2, the company disclosed that as much as $310 million of its 2019 sales were fabricated. Its shares collapsed, less than 11 months after the company went public, and will soon be delisted.

The stunning fall of Luckin, an upstart rival to Starbucks Corp. in China that touted itself as the country's largest coffee chain by stores, has sparked a lot of investor soul-searching. Should they have followed the recommendation of Mr. Block, who has bet against multiple listed Chinese companies? Should they have doubted the company when it refuted the allegations in the anonymous report? Could they have done more due diligence to determine whether Luckin's reported growth was too good to be true? wsj.com

Luckin Chairman and Board Members Try To Oust Each Other After Giving Up On Nasdaq Listing

Reported in May: Luckin Terminates CEO Jenny Qian Amid Investigation Into Fabricated Sales
 

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Coronavirus Tracker: June 30

US: Over 2.7M Cases - 129K Dead - 1.1M Recovered
Worldwide: Over 10.4M Cases - 509K Dead - 5.7M Recovered

Fallen Officers From the COVID-19 Pandemic: 51 | NYPD Deaths: 45
Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 150+
 

140,000 Businesses Listed on Yelp Are Still Closed Because of Covid-19 Pandemic

35% of Retailers and 53% of Restaurants Closed for Good?

The majority of businesses that closed during the Covid-19 pandemic remained shut this month as the crisis continued to upend commerce, according to data from review site Yelp Inc. Yelp also found a surging interest in supporting black-owned businesses amid racial-equality activism following the killing of George Floyd.

Roughly 140,000 Yelp-listed businesses that had closed since March 1 remained closed on June 15. A large minority of that set, 41%, has shut for good, according to Yelp.

The figures have improved by about 20% compared with April data, when 175,000 businesses were closed. But the large share of persistent closures, which were spread nationwide, showed the pandemic's stubborn hindrance to life as normal even as all 50 states have taken steps to reopen.

Among business categories, retail stores had the highest number of total closures: more than 27,000. Restaurants, meanwhile, had an especially high share of permanent closures, with 53% of closed restaurants saying they won't reopen, according to Yelp.

"By far, retail shopping was hit the hardest," said Justin Norman, Yelp's vice president of data science, noting that stores and restaurants face significant challenges implementing social distancing. "When you look at those two top categories, we're potentially never going to see some of these businesses again," Mr. Norman said.

Other sectors, including beauty shops and fitness centers, have performed better than expected, Mr. Norman said. He attributed the surprise to some businesses' creative ways of staying connected with customers, such as by offering virtual events.

Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco were the cities with the most closed businesses as of June 15, according to Yelp. Las Vegas had the highest share of closed businesses relative to its total number of companies. wsj.com

Insurer Humana teams up with Walmart, Quest, LabCorp for COVID-19 testing
U.S. health insurer Humana Inc will offer its members at-home COVID-19 test collection kits, as well as provide access to drive-through testings at the hundreds of neighborhood markets of Walmart Inc, it said on Tuesday. For drive-through testing, the insurer said it has tied up with the retail chain and Quest Diagnostics. The company will also offer LabCorp's at-home collection test kits for its members. Humana said new testing sites at Walmart pharmacies will be added between now and August for pharmacist-observed testing. Quest will pick up the samples collected for testing.

U.S. retailers including Walmart, CVS Health Corp, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc, and Target Corp have pledged to provide space at their parking lots in a bid to ramp up testing in the country. reuters.com

'The worst is yet to come'
WHO warns coronavirus pandemic speeding up as countries ease lockdown rules
"Although many countries have made some progress, globally, the pandemic is actually speeding up," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a virtual news conference. "The single most important intervention is ... tracing and quarantine contacts," he said. "Six months since the virus started, it could be like a broken record to say exactly the same thing, but the same thing works. Test, test, isolate, quarantine cases." cnbc.com

Dr. Anthony Fauci says new virus in China has traits of 2009 swine flu and 1918 pandemic flu

Americans will remain barred from European travel as the EU gradually reopens its borders


At least 16 states have paused or rolled back their reopening plans

Arizona to Again Shut Down Bars - but Not Restaurants - Due to Rising Coronavirus Cases

New Jersey Puts Indoor Dining On Pause Indefinitely Because Of Coronavirus

Oregonians will be required to wear masks statewide starting Wednesday

Kansas governor orders residents to wear masks in public

Austin, TX mayor mulls 35-day COVID-19 shutdown followed by mandatory mask wearing

H-E-B announces 24 San Antonio employees test positive for COVID-19 since Friday


Customer Mask Rage:

Retailers Caught In Middle As Some Customers Throw Tantrums Over Pandemic Mask Mandate

Michigan Retailers Association: Face mask order puts 'retailers in no-win position'

Op/Ed: Customers should stop abusing employees for enforcing mask rules that protect all of us

'I have a breathing problem,' yells maskless Trader Joe's shopper kicked out of store in viral video

Texas Starbucks barista attacked after asking customer to wear mask

Dallas woman throws food everywhere during tantrum over mask-wearing request at grocery store

'Exhausted' by customers' rage over wearing masks, California taco chain shuts down

Last week's most-popular D&D Daily article:
Man refusing to wear mask fights his way into Walmart in Florida

'Face mask exempt' cards circulating online are fraudulent, says DOJ
Cards which were being offered for sale online purporting to exempt the bearer from ordinances requiring face coverings to be worn in public are fraudulent, according to Department of Justice officials.

The cards, which for the moment are no longer available for purchase, say "wearing a face mask poses a mental and/or physical risk to me. Under the Americans with Disability [sic] act, I am not required to disclose my condition to you."

The card also carries a warning that violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act could be met with "steep penalties," including fines of $75,000 or $150,000. The cards feature a Department of Justice logo and a logo incorporating a bald eagle for the group that produced them, the Freedom to Breathe Agency. kpq.com

Pew Research Center: Most Americans say they regularly wore a mask in stores in the past month; fewer see others doing it

National mask mandate could save 5 percent of GDP, economists say
 

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Police Reform, Budget Cuts, Court Backlogs

NYC Cuts Police Budget as Gun Violence Grips City
Mayor De Blasio, City Council Reach Deal To Cut $1 Billion From NYPD Budget
Tuesday marks the final day of budget negotiations for New York City, and the NYPD is facing a $1 billion cut in funding. Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council agreed to the plan one day before the July 1 deadline.

The mayor ran for office as a police reformer but has been hesitant to cut $1 billion from the NYPD's funding. But after weeks of protests, including a sit-in demonstration in front of City Hall, public pressure has had an impact. Now, de Blasio says he believes cuts can be made without sacrificing safety.

The City Council and protesters want to shift how the city fights crime by focusing on prevention over punishment. They have been pushing to make the $1 billion cut from the NYPD's $6 billion budget and reinvest that money in community services.

Sources say the department will:
● Reduce the size of the police force from 36,000 to 34,000 through attrition
● Cancel the July police class of 1,100
● Move homeless outreach out of the NYPD
● Reduce the capital budget to provide funds for NYCHA and youth recreation centers
● Move school safety to the Department of Education in stages

The cuts come as shootings are up 129% this month compared to the same time last year. There were 63 shooting incidents citywide last week, compared to 26 that week the year before.

NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan blamed the rise in crime on a mix of bail reform, courts not fully operating during the shutdown and animosity against police. cbslocal.com

Protesters clash with police near City Hall ahead of NYC budget hearing
Protesters clashed with the NYPD near City Hall early Tuesday morning, tensions escalating as New York City's highly contested budget is due by midnight.

The Occupy City Hall movement has been peacefully camped out by City Hall for the past week, but things started to escalate when protesters were met by police in riot gear as they moved across Chambers Street to just outside the Dinkins Municipal Building just before sunrise.

The protesters came nearly face-to-face with the cops, taunting them as they continue their demands to "defund the NYPD." pix11.com

African Americans account for nearly half of all NYC arrests
6 years after end of stop-and-frisk, according to NYPD data
In the six years since New York City ended its controversial stop-and-frisk program -- a police practice intended to drive down crime but was deemed by a federal judge to be unconstitutional "indirect racial profiling" -- the number of arrests has fallen by nearly half. Yet, Blacks still comprise about 50% of those taken into custody annually, according to records from America's largest municipal police force.

Between Jan. 1, 2014, when stop and frisk effectively ended, and Dec. 31, 2019, Blacks have comprised 48% of the nearly 1.8 million arrests made by the NYPD, while Hispanics comprised 34% of the arrests and whites accounted for 12%, according to the data. The statistics in the five-year period show that the most arrests, 281,258, were made for dangerous drugs, while 208,849 were for misdemeanor assault and another 90,097 were for felony assault.

In 2019, Blacks, while comprising 24% of the total NYC population of more than 8.3 million, still accounted for 48% of those arrested. Meanwhile, whites, who make up 43% of the population, accounted for 11% of the arrests; Hispanics, who account for 29% of the population, made up 34% of the arrests; and Asians, who account for 14% of the population, comprised 6% of the arrests, according to the data. abcnews.com

NY's Legal Limbo: Pandemic Creates Backlog of 39,200 Criminal Cases
The coronavirus outbreak is putting extraordinary stress on New York City's judicial system, forcing lengthy delays in criminal proceedings and raising growing concerns about the rights of defendants.

Since February, the backlog of pending cases in the city's criminal courts has risen by nearly a third - to 39,200. Hundreds of jury trials in the city have been put on hold indefinitely. Arraignments, pleas and evidentiary hearings are being held by video, with little public scrutiny. Prosecutions have dropped off, too, as the authorities have tried to reduce the jail population.

The health crisis has tested the technical capacity of the courts and their ability to preserve due process in an emergency. Around the state and country, local and federal courts are dealing with similar issues, installing plastic "sneeze shields" and setting up directories of remote proceedings on YouTube.

Then in May, another shock arrived: New York City erupted into protest over the killing of George Floyd, flooding the system with hundreds of arrests. Prosecutors' offices, which had worked for weeks with skeleton staffs, sprang back into action, and court officials doubled the number of video arraignments in Manhattan. It was, as one city judge described it, "a crisis within a crisis." nytimes.com

Amid NYC Violence, Manhattan DA Asks Gov. Cuomo To Use Emergency Powers To Enable Judges To Hold Looters On Bail

Backlogs More Than Double Pre-Coronavirus Level in New Jersey Trial Courts

St. Louis lawyers who confronted protesters with guns under investigation

Michigan Gov. Whitmer proposes 4-pronged police reform plan: What it includes

16-year-old boy killed in Seattle CHOP zone shooting
 

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Will the protests be a turning point for diversity in athletics retail?
The backlash and resulting action taking place at top athletic brands is a microcosm of an issue that's being tackled with renewed force in just about every area of retail as a result of the protests. It's led companies to change the name or imagery of iconic brands like Aunt Jemima, and take a closer look at the makeup of their executive teams. But cosmetic changes brands make are easier to track than the progress they're making in diversifying leadership. Few publicly provide any statistics about racial diversity.

And while the protests have resulted in more direct action from brands on racial diversity, corporate America was not prepared for it going in.

"They treated this as though it was a similar moment to ones we've experienced time and time and time again - that you could donate your way out of," Donnie Broxson, CEO of multicultural marketing agency Acento Advertising, said. "This isn't a moment. This is a movement that is going to be much longer-lasting and so the response has to be far more meaningful." retaildive.com

'Intersectional Discrimination'
Study: Why women face a double whammy of age and sex discrimination at work
Women continue to earn roughly 77 cents on the dollar when compared to men. But a new paper in Labour shows that as women age, they face a double whammy of sex and age discrimination from which laws do not adequately protect them. The result is that many older women who want to continue working are not even in the workforce.

The issue is that aging women face both sex discrimination and age discrimination, which is called "intersectional discrimination" - and discrimination laws protect against one or the other, not the combination. The result, says economist Joanne Song McLaughlin, an assistant professor at the University of Buffalo, is that older men fare much better on the job market. "These women are falling through the cracks. All my results consistently find that age discrimination laws were far less effective for older women compared with older men. In some cases, I found that age discrimination laws did not improve the labor market outcomes for older women at all." fastcompany.com

Fireworks sales are breaking records
The next COVID-19 shortage could be fireworks. With cities across the nation canceling public displays this Independence Day, sales of fireworks are booming as more families opt to put on their own shows. usatoday.com

Paycheck Protection Program nears end with $130 billion left unused; lawmakers eye next steps

Guitar Center gets some breathing room with $56M debt exchange

The real cost of Amazon
"I feel like I'm risking my life for a dollar" - what the struggle Amazon workers face during the pandemic says about the future of work in America
Rosie's story is just one of several similar accounts that have emerged from workers inside Amazon fulfillment centers since the pandemic started in March, prompting an unprecedented series of internal scandals, employee protests, and public petitions that have united some of Amazon's corporate and warehouse employees against their employer for the first time.

In turn, this unrest has attracted scrutiny from top politicians over the company's labor practices, and threatens to harm Amazon's reputation in the eyes of the hundreds of millions of people who shop on the platform every year. It also reveals inequalities in the economy that Amazon has flourished in, an economy that the e-commerce giant is also shaping as its size and influence expand.

Amazon, the second-largest private US employer after Walmart, pays its fulfillment center workers a $15 minimum hourly wage and offers superior benefits when compared to some major competitors. But many of the company's workers still say they are struggling to stay afloat, and they have such limited work options that they keep showing up to sort, pack, and deliver shipments for Amazon even as they fear the company isn't doing enough to keep them safe during a global health crisis.

What happens next

Even if Amazon workers are still a long way from officially unionizing, their organizing and the public attention it's drawn provide an opening to politicians ready to seize an opportunity to rein in the unparalleled power the company has consolidated in the past decade.

And then there's the impact of all this on Amazon's loyal and ever-growing base of customers. If they start to perceive Amazon as a company that, on the whole, is weakening rather than strengthening the working class, will their allegiance to two-day shipping and Prime subscriptions change? If customers demand changes from Amazon, could it raise the bar for labor not just at Amazon but at other retailers that imitate the company's business practices in order to compete with it? vox.com

H&M speeds up store closings in 2020 and shifts focus to online shopping
H&M announced Friday that it is closing 170 stores in 2020, 40 more than it had originally planned after reporting a 50% drop in net sales during the second quarter of 2020. It also said it would be cutting back on store openings this year, resulting in a net decrease of 40 stores.

The company said it is now focusing more on its online business to reflect changing consumer shopping habits. businessinsider.com

Amazon to Build First Robotic Warehouse in Australia; Retail Stores Gear Up for Robots

Amazon agrees to buy self-driving technology startup Zoox