August 19, 2026

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It’s Wednesday, and it’s National Soft Serve Day. An annual observer of the holiday, ice cream seller Carvel is cranking it up a notch this year, dubbing this week National Soft Serve Week, with daily deals including $1 soft serve and BOGO sundaes. If the viral Whole Foods ice cream bouncer is looking for an extra gig, we’ve found just the place.

In today’s edition:

—Alex Vuocolo, Vidhi Choudhary, Erin Cabrey

STORES

Fast and frozen

a shopping cart in a home depot garden center

Scott Olson/Getty Images

Despite a slow housing market curbing demand for building supplies, The Home Depot is launching a rapid delivery service for professional and DIY customers. The Express Delivery fleet employs Home Depot stores as fulfillment hubs to deliver thousands of SKUs across categories within three hours for a flat fee.

“Customers expect products to be available when and where they need them, and Express Delivery helps us meet that expectation with a fast, reliable solution,” Jordan Broggi, EVP of interconnected retail, said in a press release.

The service complements Home Depot’s growing fulfillment network, which already delivers 65% of in-stock products same-day or next-day and 55% of big and bulky products within two days, according to the company.
Big and bulky orders in particular have become a priority for the big box chain, as it builds out its supply chain to address the inherent difficulties of moving large items quickly.

Home Depot previously offered rapid delivery through third parties such as Instacart and Doordash, but its new service brings the offering in-house. The move is in line with the home improvement’s broader push to control its own supply chain.

Keep reading here.—AV

Sponsored By Audiense

The shopper lying in wait. Black Friday/Cyber Monday shoppers aren’t just in it for the deals, deals, deals anymore. Audiense’s latest guide breaks down the six reasons shoppers wait until November to purchase and how to win their loyalty. Get into all the insights that drive customers when you download it here.

COMMUNITY

Coworking with Shraysi Tandon

Shraysi Tandon

On Wednesdays, we ~~wear pink~~ spotlight Retail Brew’s readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

Shraysi Tandon is founder and CEO of Kidsy, an offprice platform selling returned and overstock baby and kids products.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in retail? As the founder and CEO of Kidsy, I work with brands and retailers to recover value from excess inventory and returns, making those products available to parents at a fraction of the original price. We help families afford all the things their kids need at unbeatable prices, and we also help brands recoup significant revenue by giving their customer-returns and excess products a second life.

One thing we can’t guess about your job from your LinkedIn profile? Some people might assume I spend my days in boardrooms and Zoom meetings. I’m actually allergic to formal meetings and prefer hopping on a phone call or texting. My investigative journalism background still shows up everyday. I spend a lot of time asking a ton of questions, digging for solutions, following paper trails, and uncovering efficiencies that we can fix. The difference is that now, instead of producing a story about a problem, I’m building a company to solve one.

What’s your favorite project you’ve worked on? My favorite project spans two chapters of my career. As an investigative documentary filmmaker, directing Invisible Hands, which uncovered child labor in global supply chains, was the experience of a lifetime.

Keep reading here.—EC

Sponsored By Operators Network

Insights aplenty. DTC’s fastest-growing brands tell all on the Operators podcasts. That knowledge now lives in one place: the Operators Portal, built in partnership with Fulfil. Its centerpiece is Ask the Operators, an AI research tool that answers any question with real receipts from over 366 episodes. Try it today for free.

swapping skus

Today’s top retail reads.

Coming home: Home Depot’s Q2 earnings beat expectations, with comparable sales up 1.7% YoY. (CNBC)

Ad together: Walmart is turning to its ad business for growth as same-store sales slow. (Reuters)

According to scan: New, 2D retail barcodes could significantly aid in the response to product recalls—but adoption could take time. (CNN)

Fill the gaps: Understaffing the front line can cost you both money + opportunities to grow. Learn how Captain D’s uses AI to empower front-line managers while balancing speed with quality in this 12-part Frontline podcast series.*

^{*A message from our sponsor.}

Goodwill hunting

Retail Brew

Even as AI reshapes retail operations, brands are still betting big on brick and mortar. This data-forward look at store strategy breaks down where physical retail is headed next and why it still matters.

Check it out

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Written by Alex Vuocolo, Vidhi Choudhary, and Erin Cabrey

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