Hello Omni Talk Fans!I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend, unless of course you work at Ross Stores, because no matter the weekend festivities you had planned, they couldn’t have topped your earnings high from late last week.
Congrats to my friend and former colleague and now Ross Stores President of Operations, Stephen Brinkley, on the fabulous results.
In today’s Retail Daily Minute:
- Ross Stores delivered a blowout fiscal first quarter, with revenue surging 21% and comparable sales up 17%, prompting the off-price giant to dramatically raise its full-year outlook.
- Walmart is reshuffling its executive ranks under new CEO John Furner, with Sam’s Club COO Tom Ward and U.S. store operations head Cedric Clark both departing.
- Starbucks has scrapped its AI-powered automated inventory counting tool just nine months after a national rollout, after the app repeatedly miscounted and mislabeled products.
Plus, a quote from a film directed by a Ross
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Today’s Top Headlines
1. Ross Stores Tops Q1 Estimates and Lifts Its Full-Year Outlook
Ross Stores posted strong Q1 FY2026 results with sales surging 21% to $6.01B and comparable store sales jumping 17%. Diluted EPS rose 37% to $2.02, significantly topping guidance of $1.60-$1.67. The off-price retailer raised full-year EPS outlook to $7.50-$7.74, citing robust customer traffic across all demographics. (Read More)
2. Walmart Reshuffles Senior Leadership Under New CEO Furner
Walmart is undergoing a major C-suite reshuffling under incoming CEO John Furner, who succeeded retiring Doug McMillon. Key changes include David Guggina as new Walmart U.S. CEO, Kathryn McLay’s departure from the company, Chris Nicholas leading Walmart International and Latriece Watkins heading Sam’s Club U.S. (Read More)
3. Starbucks Scraps AI Inventory Counting Tool After Key Errors
Starbucks terminated its AI-powered inventory counting tool nine months after deploying it across North American stores. The app frequently miscounted and mislabeled items such as milk types. The company will return to manual counting methods while focusing on more frequent daily replenishments and supply chain improvements. (Read More)
4. Dick’s Sporting Goods Launches AI Shopping Assistant in App
Dick’s Sporting Goods is launching “Coach by Dick’s,” an agentic AI personal assistant built on Adobe’s Brand Concierge solution, in its mobile app starting June 2026. The tool delivers tailored product recommendations through natural conversation based on each customer’s sport, skill level and specific needs. (Read More)
5. Urban Outfitters Posts Record Q1 Earnings and Revenue Gains
Urban Outfitters Inc. posted record Q1 earnings of $1.30 per share and revenue of $1.48B, up 11.4%, beating Wall Street estimates. FP Group comps rose 9.8% and Urban Outfitters gained 9.3%. Nuuly subscription revenue surged 34.5% on strong subscriber growth. The company plans to open 54 new stores this fiscal year. (Read More)
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— Chris and the entire Omni Talk team
Omni Talk® is the retail blog for retailers, written by retailers. Chris Walton founded Omni Talk® in 2017 and have quickly turned it into one of the fastest growing blogs in retail.