In 2014, Emily Weiss—then known for being the “superintern” who upstaged star Lauren Conrad for knowing the word “chinoiserie” on MTV’s The Hills and popularizing the “shelfie” through her blog Into the Gloss—introduced her beauty brand Glossier.

Its millennial-pink aesthetic, DTC strategy, and no-makeup makeup products with cheeky names like Balm Dotcom and Boy Brow became a phenomenon, disrupting the beauty category and making Weiss a defining face of the girlboss era.

A new exposé out today, Glossy: Ambition, Beauty, and the Inside Story of Emily Weiss’s Glossier by author and business journalist Marisa Meltzer, traces the brand’s journey from Weiss’s teenage years to Glossier’s eventual unicorn status through last year’s announcement that Weiss would step down from the CEO role, examining how Weiss’s unwavering ambition drove the brand’s successes and missteps.

We spoke to Meltzer, who conducted in-depth interviews with Weiss, new CEO Kyle Leahy, and many Glossier employees and investors for the book, about how Weiss became the “last girlboss standing” and digging into the truth behind Glossier’s storytelling.

Dew diligence: Weiss wasn’t afraid to ask for a favor, even a bold one, Meltzer wrote. She turned a babysitting job into a Ralph Lauren internship (“[It] can’t hurt to ask,” Weiss told Meltzer) and was known to cold-email or cold-call beauty execs and magazine editors. Yet, Meltzer writes Weiss often demonstrates a tendency of “undermining herself,” wanting “the world to think she lucked out,” part of her tendency for “self-mythmaking.”

Keep reading here.—EC

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Kroger and Albertsons announced plans Friday to sell 413 stores to C&S Wholesale Grocers for $1.9 billion, a key step in receiving FTC approval to complete the two grocery chains’ merger.

The deal with C&S, a New Hampshire-based grocery company which owns chains Piggly Wiggly and Grand Union, includes the sale of the QFC, Mariano’s, and Carrs banners and exclusive licensing rights to use the Albertsons name in Arizona, California, Colorado, and Wyoming, along with eight distribution centers, two offices, and five private label brands in 17 states and the District of Columbia.

• The transaction also includes a possibility for Kroger to require C&S to buy as many as 237 more stores to secure Federal Trade Commission approval for the Albertsons merger, potentially bringing the total stores sold to 650. Kroger and Albertsons operated 4,996 total stores prior to the deal.

Keep reading here.—EC

Italian luxury retailer Tod’s shares climbed ~5% on Thursday after its first half operating profit exceeded expectations by tripling YoY, Reuters reported.

• Between January and June, Tod’s notched $64.3 million in earnings (not accounting for taxes and interest).

The luxury group credited the positive results to growing sales and a successful mix of product offerings. It attributed about 23% of its sales growth to China, which has seen more engaged shoppers since Covid restrictions lifted earlier this year.

And Tod’s isn’t the only luxury brand to benefit from the region’s resurgence.

Keep reading here.—JS

Today’s top retail reads.

Homeward bound: Banana Republic is expanding beyond clothes with BR Home, a collection of bedroom, dining room, and living room furniture and home decor. (Forbes)

Successful malls: Many US malls are struggling mightily just to keep their doors open, but malls in Asian American communities are booming. (NBC)

Hitting a wall: A new survey from Bloomberg has found that the US consumer, who has so far been surprisingly resilient, could be about to hit a wall. (Bloomberg)

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Retail marketing hits and misses from the past week.

Yogurt scribe for hire: A job posting from yogurt maker Chobani went viral after social media users saw the eye-popping salary on offer ($185,600–$278,400) to ghostwrite for the company’s CEO. Unfortunately for these prospective scribes of all things yogurt, Chobani is no longer accepting applications. (Chobani on LinkedIn)

Chip challenge gone wrong: Texas-based snack maker Paqui is pulling its extra-hot tortilla chip from stores after a teenager died while doing its “One Chip Challenge.” The company stated upfront that the challenge was explicitly not intended for kids, but that it noticed an uptick in teen use nonetheless. (Paqui on X, formerly known as Twitter)

Promotional confusion: Tesla investor Sawyer Merritt shared an image on social media of a limited-edition McFlurry spoon based on the design of the Cybertruck, which Elon Musk said was “fake news.” Merritt then informed Musk that the promotion came from Tesla’s own verified Weibo page. (Sawyer Merritt on X)