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Retail

Retail operations, delivery fees, and store-level compliance

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12 min read

The End-of-Day Close: Z-Reports, Cash Drawer Counts, and Three-Way Daily Sales Reconciliation

A step-by-step end-of-day close for retail and restaurants — X-read, tip adjustments and card batch settlement, Z-report, a blind drawer count, and the three-way match of POS expected against counted cash against bank settlement. Covers over/short thresholds, why overs signal shortchanged customers, posting variances to a cash-over-short account instead of adjusting sales, and the wage-deduction rules that make docking pay for a short drawer risky.

Mike Thrift

point-of-salereconciliationretail
10 min read

Slotting Fees, Explained: What Grocery Shelf Space Really Costs a CPG Brand

Slotting fees run roughly $250–$1,000 per item per store in conventional grocery and $20,000–$100,000 per frozen SKU at large chains, and free fills, pay-to-stay charges and trade spend often double the real entry cost — here is how to model breakeven, negotiate the fee down, and book it correctly as a deduction against revenue rather than COGS.

Mike Thrift

retailsmall-businessvendor-management
13 min read

Best Buy FY2027 Q2 Earnings: Comps +4.1%, GAAP EPS +70%, and a $34M Tariff Assist

Best Buy FY2027 Q2: revenue $9.78B (+3.6%), enterprise comps +4.1%, GAAP diluted EPS $1.48 (+70%) versus adjusted $1.47 (+15%). Roughly $0.41 of the GAAP jump is last year's restructuring base effect, and ~$34M of IEEPA tariff refunds (~$0.12 per share) supplies about two-thirds of the adjusted EPS growth. FY27 comps guidance rises to 1.9–3.0% and adjusted EPS to $6.70–$6.90, while inventories climb 8.3% to $6.3B — all tracked in a public Beancount ledger spanning FY2022–FY2027Q2.

Mike Thrift

best-buyfinancial-reportingfinancial-analysis
14 min read

Dick's Sporting Goods FY2026 Q2 Earnings: The First Full Foot Locker Quarter After a $2.5B Deal

DICK'S Sporting Goods FY2026 Q2: net sales $5,587M (+53% on the first full Foot Locker quarter), net income $315M (−17%), diluted EPS $3.50 (−26%) on ~9.6M deal shares. DICK'S Business comps grew +4.9% with World Cup lift while Foot Locker pro forma comps fell −3.6%; goodwill of $837M, intangibles of $763M, and up to $750M of contemplated unproductive-asset charges track the $2.5B integration — all in a public Beancount ledger spanning FY2021–FY2026Q2.

Mike Thrift

dicks-sporting-goodsmergers-and-acquisitionsfinancial-reporting
10 min read

Dollar General FY2026 Q2 Earnings: $550M Profit on a 127 bp Margin Bridge

Dollar General FY2026 Q2: net sales $11.29B (+5.2%), same-store sales +3.5% on traffic +2.0%, and net income $550M (+33.8%). Roughly 81 of the 127 basis points of gross-margin expansion to 32.6% came from tariff refunds after reinvestments, diluted EPS of $2.48 includes an estimated $0.25 refund benefit, and full-year net-sales growth guidance was raised to 4.0%–4.3% — all tracked in a public Beancount ledger spanning FY2021–FY2026Q2.

Mike Thrift

dollar-generalfinancial-reportingfinancial-analysis
12 min read

Layaway Is Quietly Back for Holiday 2026: A Retailer's Guide to Deposits, Fees, State Rules, and the BNPL Math

Offering layaway for holiday 2026 lets retailers keep the full ticket price instead of paying 4-6% BNPL merchant fees — but deposits must be booked as liabilities until pickup, every fee disclosed in writing before the first payment, and sales tax timed to delivery. This guide covers the accounting entries, state disclosure rules, and the layaway-versus-BNPL math.

Mike Thrift

retailbookkeepingsmall-business
10 min read

Lululemon FY2026 Q2 Earnings: The First Shrinking Quarter of a Growth Brand

Lululemon FY2026 Q2: net revenue $2.416B (−4%), comparable sales −9% with Americas at −12%, and net income $329M (−11%). The 60.5% gross margin includes 560 basis points from $134.5M of IEEPA tariff refunds, inventories sit at $1,711M near the cycle high, and full-year guidance was cut to $10.35–10.5B — all tracked in a public Beancount ledger spanning FY2021–FY2026Q2.

Mike Thrift

lululemonfinancial-reportingfinancial-analysis
14 min read

TJX FY2027 Q2 Earnings: $15.2B Sales, 13.3% Pretax — and a 1.4-Point Tariff Asterisk

TJX FY2027 Q2: net sales $15.18B (+5%), consolidated comps +4% above plan, and net income $1.52B. Reported pretax margin of 13.3% includes a 1.4-point net IEEPA tariff-refund benefit ($331M refunds less $112M compensation accruals); adjusted pretax margin is 11.9%, up 0.5 points, and adjusted diluted EPS is $1.22 versus $1.36 reported. Cash ended at $6.0B, inventories at $7.86B with per-store +2% — all tracked in a public Beancount ledger spanning FY2022–FY2027Q2.

Mike Thrift

tjxfinancial-reportingfinancial-analysis
13 min read

Your Product Warranty Is a Federal Case: Full vs. Limited, Implied Warranties, and As-Is Sales Under Magnuson-Moss

The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act applies to every written warranty on a consumer product costing more than $10, requiring a full or limited title, forbidding blanket disclaimers of implied warranties and brand-name parts requirements, and mandating pre-sale access to the terms above $15. A small-seller guide with a 10-point compliance checklist.

Mike Thrift

consumer-protectioncompliancelegal
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