Your Daily Retail Brief
Friday July 10, 2026
Hey Friends,
Retail moved on a lot of fronts yesterday. Costco’s stock took a hit despite strong sales, Levi’s leaned into its women’s business and celebrity collaborations to beat earnings estimates, and department store brands on opposite sides of the Pacific opened their biggest flagships yet. Here’s what mattered.
Latest Retail Tech News
Domestic: Starbucks is building its own AI-powered tools to replace software it currently licenses from Microsoft and IBM, including an inventory-tracking system and a maintenance-management tool. The coffee giant is targeting a rollout by the end of 2026, pending testing. The news initially rattled software stocks including ServiceNow, Salesforce, and Adobe before shares of those companies rebounded later in the session. Separately, Salesforce was downgraded from Overweight to Sector Weight at KeyBanc, with analysts citing a lack of clear evidence that its Agentforce AI platform will drive meaningful upside.
New data from KPMG’s Global Tech Report also landed yesterday, and it underscores how aggressively retailers are betting on digital transformation. More than half of consumer and retail companies surveyed said they are investing $50 million or more annually in digital technology, and 45 percent report financial returns of $250 million or more from those investments. Confidence is high across the board, with 93 percent of retail leaders saying advanced systems will drive their competitive advantage going forward.
Global: Marks & Spencer announced a partnership with Lily AI to automate and improve how it builds structured product data, a move meant to boost the retailer’s visibility in Google Shopping and organic search. The retailer says the tie-up has already cut down on the manual work needed to bring new items to market. Meanwhile, Irish drone delivery company Manna announced the launch of its first full-scale metropolitan operation in the U.S., setting up shop in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The company expects to create more than 1,000 American jobs over the next three years while continuing to invest in its Ireland headquarters.
Store Openings and Closings
Global: Hyundai Department Store opened its first overseas flagship location on Tokyo’s Omotesando shopping strip, marking the first time a Korean department store has operated a large-scale flagship in a prime Japanese retail district. The 620-square-meter store, called The Hyundai Global, spans three floors and features K-pop group TWS as its ambassador, showcasing Korean fashion, beauty, and food brands looking to expand overseas. A few train stops away in Shinjuku, sneaker brand Onitsuka Tiger opened its own new global flagship, its largest store in the world at over 1,800 square meters, just weeks after officially splitting from parent company ASICS.
North of the border, Canadian retail kept humming along. Harden and Crombie confirmed Dollarama and McDonald’s as the final tenants for the Faubourg Contrecœur retail development in Quebec, while Winners and HomeSense are set to open their first Fort McMurray location at the new Parsons Creek Town Centre, anchored by a 142,000-square-foot Walmart Supercentre. KITS Eyecare reported record second-quarter revenue of $58.2 million, and D Spot Dessert Café opened its first U.S. location in Dallas.
Retail Stocks: Thursday’s Performance
Stocks broadly rallied Thursday, with the Nasdaq leading the way. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 138.99 points (0.27%) to 52,487, the S&P 500 gained 60.82 points (0.81%) to 7,543, and the Nasdaq jumped 336.24 points (1.30%) to 26,206.
Costco was the retail story of the day, and not in a good way. Shares fell roughly 4 to 5 percent even after the warehouse retailer posted June net sales growth of 10.6 percent, to $29.24 billion. The issue was deceleration: comparable sales grew 8.8 percent in June, down from 12.5 percent in May, and that was enough to spook a stock trading at a premium valuation of more than 42 times forward earnings. Digital comparable sales remained a bright spot, up 20.9 percent for the month.
Levi Strauss had a better day. The denim maker posted second-quarter adjusted earnings of $0.28 per share against estimates of $0.24, with revenue of $1.56 billion topping the $1.52 billion consensus. Levi’s raised its quarterly dividend to $0.16 from $0.14 and guided to full-year organic revenue growth of 5.5 to 6 percent. Five Below was upgraded to Outperform at Mizuho with a $220 price target, with analysts pointing to strong new-customer retention amplified by influencer marketing on Instagram and TikTok. PepsiCo posted mixed second-quarter results, with adjusted earnings per share of $2.20 falling short of estimates.
Culturally Relevant Stories
Domestic: Levi’s used its earnings call to highlight how deep its celebrity and cultural marketing push has gone this year. The company tapped Mexican pop star and actress Belinda and Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt for regional campaigns, and activated a collaboration with K-pop star and Levi’s ambassador Rosé through pop-up shops across Asia. The brand also leaned on the 2026 FIFA World Cup, striking collections with the U.S., Mexican, English, and French football federations, notable given that Levi’s logo is famously obscured at one of the tournament’s host stadiums due to sponsorship rules. CEO Michelle Gass has made growing the women’s business a centerpiece of the company’s strategy, and it’s paying off in the numbers.
Global: In Canada, 7-Eleven marked the 60th anniversary of the Slurpee with new flavors and a fresh round of packaged sodas and confectionery, part of a broader push to expand its food and beverage strategy north of the border. It’s a reminder that even the smallest, most nostalgic retail rituals still carry real marketing weight nearly six decades later.