Walgreens completes drugstore chain deal for $438M. Walgreen Co. purchased a regional drugstore chain that operates under the names USA Drug, Super D Drug, and Med-X in several states. The deal involved 144 stores focused in the mid-South. The company announced the deal in July and closed the deal Monday afternoon. (Source yahoo.com)

Japanese store and manufacturing operations remain disrupted across China. Numbers of Japanese stores, brands and manufacturers ceased normal business operations across China today amid concerns that violent protests could erupt again as tensions mount over an issue that occurred in 1931. Flights to China from Japan have seen numerous cancellations, Honda and Toyota were forced to closed dealerships, and Mazda and Nissan have been forced to halt production. (Source thefiscaltimes.com)

MasterCard releases PayPass developer toolkit for Android and Blackberry platforms. This toolkit will allow mobile operators and third-party developers the ability to integrate support for its "tap-and-go" contactless mobile payments solution.  (Source techcrunch.com)


Panera Bread franchisee settles discrimination suit. Sam Covelli owns and operates Panera Bread locations in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Kentucky and West Virginia, and now he has settled a discrimination lawsuit over the treatment of black employees. According to court documents, Sam Covelli denied promotions and demanded that black associates work only in the kitchen area of his stores. Approximately 200 to 300 black workers may be entitled to money from the court settlement. (Source wtae.com)

Target Corp. CEO Gregg Steinhafel makes $6.2M profit on stock sale. The man at the center of the bull’s-eye, Gregg Steinhafel, chairman, president and chief executive officer at Target Corp., exercised an option to buy 200,000 shares of the retailer at $33.80 Friday and turned around to sell off the stock at $64.57, a $6.2 million profit. Steinhafel continues to own 269,924 shares of the company directly and another 368,708 shares indirectly, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. (Source wwd.com)

Kohl’s to hire 52,700 Holiday Associates. Kohl’s will also be hiring an additional 5,700 distribution center employees and 30 credit operations, this is a 4% increase over Holiday hiring for 2011. The stores will see an average of 41 new associates per location. (Source dailyfinance.com)

Activist Fund takes 13.3% stake in Office Depot, believes the stock is deeply undervalued. Activist investment advisor Starboard Value announced yesterday that it has taken a 13.3% ownership stake in Office Depot (NYSE: ODP), making it the company's largest common shareholder. In a letter to the company, Starboard outlined "a number of opportunities to meaningfully improve operating performance and dramatically increase EBITDA," according to a Starboard press release. Suggestions in the letter include downsizing to smaller store formats and lowering advertising expenses. (Source forbes.com)

Hobby Lobby sues over 'morning-after pill' mandate. Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. filed a lawsuit last week challenging part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that requires employers to provide coverage for the morning-after pill. The Christian-oriented chain, which is based on Oklahoma City, claims the mandate is unconstitutional and forces the company’s owners to "violate their deeply held religious beliefs under threat of heavy fines, penalties and lawsuits." The company said failure to offer the drugs through its health insurance plan could cause fines up to $1.3 million a day. (Source fox19.com)

French Apple Store employees plan to strike as iPhone 5 is released. Apple operates 15 stores in France, two of those are in Paris. The associates are demanding pay raises, as well as a water fountain and lunch vouchers. They are said to be unhappy over Apple’s salary grid, and the disparity in pay for the same jobs. Furthermore, one of the stores is said to be in an expensive part of the city, hence the request for lunch vouchers. Friday’s launch of the iPhone 5 could be the largest sales day in Apple’s history. (Source cultofmac.com)

UK’s JD Sports' profits plunge following recent buy-out. JD Sports warned today that further store closures may be coming for Blacks Leisure stores. JD Sport bought out Blacks in January and since then profits have fallen 85%. JD Sports stated that Blacks’ sales were affected for the first three months due to a shortage of inventory. Blacks is now fully restocked and new programs are in place. (Source eadt.co.uk)

Starbucks to hire 100 Apprentices in the UK over the next 2 years. The year long apprentice program could land you an opportunity to run one of the 300 new stores opening in the UK in the next 5 years. Starbucks plans on creating 5000 new jobs in the UK. (Source theretailbulletin.com)

More con artists are trying phone scams. Anyone with a phone number is a target and these new tricks are not flim-flam. Spam text messages are also a threat, with 70% of them being financially motivated. In July, 30 million spam texts were sent a day, and it is expected that for the month of September, that number will increase to 45 million a day.  (Source usatoday.com)


Wisconsin Convenience Store Manager accused of embezzling $1.3 million. Bonnie Hartle, 42, of Central Wisconsin is believed to have taken $1000 per week for the last 10 years from the Weller Convenience Store. The investigation started back in December and the Weller’s were good friends with Hartle. (Source myfoxwausau.com)





UK Men jailed for $1.2 million circular saw cash machine raids. Four men have been sentenced to 24 years in jail for a year long campaign of raids on supermarket cash machines using a circular saw. The men all pleaded guilty to hitting 30 grocery store cash machines and one garage. (Source telegraph.co.uk)


Wrongful death lawsuit filed against Walmart by family of Joplin tornado victim. The wife and daughter of a man killed in the Joplin Walmart have now filed a wrongful death law suit. The suit alleges that Stanley Kirk was not allowed to leave the store and was directed to an unsafe location. Kirk lived three miles from the store. (Source kait8.com)

Shoplifter dies in jail after being shocked with a Taser. A 60-year-old man has died after being stunned with a Taser at the Snohomish County Jail. Everett police spokesman Aaron Snell says the man, who was from Concrete, resisted jail officers after being arrested for investigation of shoplifting at a gas station Friday night. They used a Taser on him and placed him in isolation. During a check on the man, jail staff noticed he was distressed and performed CPR, but the man died. It isn't clear if the Taser use contributed to the man's death. The medical examiner's office will determine cause of death. The Snohomish County Multiple Agency Response Team is investigating. (Source myeverettnews.com)



Two arrested after intentionally releasing pepper spray into a Riverton, Utah Walmart. Parents of the teens tipped off Police to an odd event: the teens were spraying their friend with pepper spray in the toy department. The cloud of pepper spray caused an evacuation of the store, and damaged and destroyed the entire produce section of the store. (Source fox13now.com) (Source deseretnews.com)


Four suspects sought in violent Target shoplifting case in Odessa. Three men and one woman concealed items, as the female suspect was being apprehended she grabbed the associate by the hair and punched her several times to the body. A second associate attempted to step in and was punched and pushed out of the way. The four suspects got away. The Target associates were not seriously injured. (Source oaoa.com)


Police arrest man in string of drugstore robberies. Police arrested a man for robbing several drugstores in Virginia Beach. Police say James-Lief Christopher McNamara held up six Rite Aid and Walgreens locations over a five-day period in early September. In each case, McNamara allegedly approached cashier counters to purchase an item and took money from the register before walking out of the store. (Source wavy.com)



Charlotte police nab cell phone store burglars, may be responsible for more than a dozen break-ins. One suspect gave a stolen phone to his sister for her birthday. When she went to the store to be activated the 'Power Range' gang was caught. (Source wsoctv.com)




New Jersey Man Fined After Stealing $3,000 Worth of Goods on a Royal Caribbean Cruise to Bermuda. William James Mullen, a 46-year-old New Jersey resident, pleaded guilty in Magistrates’ Court to stealing nearly $3,000 of spa goods and a Royal Caribbean Sea Pass Card, which he used to buy two bottles of cologne. According to the charges, the incidents occurred in Bermuda waters. Following his massage, Mullen was left unsupervised for a period, during which time he stole $2,799 worth of spa products. The next day, Mullen stole another passenger’s Sea Pass Card, which is used to make purchases on the vessel. He then used the card at an on-board store to purchase $136 of cologne, signing the card-owner’s name. Mullen’s got kicked off of the ship and must pay $2,000 for each count of stealing, paid immediately. (Source travelerstoday.com)



Toronto Police are searching for Max Tutiven, 39, being sought in connection with the killing of Jayesh Prajapati, 44, who was struck as he intervened when a driver in a sport-utility vehicle fled a gas station without paying the $112.85 he owed for a fill-up. Tutiven is wanted for second-degree murder. (Source ctvnews.ca)