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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Wal-Mart Going Upscale with Marketside Concept
It appears that Wal-Mart may be deviating from its usual script with its new small format Marketside concept. The new stores are being built around a “premium” positioning rather than…
Experiential Concepts Ready for Rollouts
While retail expansion has slowed significantly this year, many of the newer concepts are offering fresh takes on the experiential retailing trend, according to Retail Traffic magazine. At experiential retailers,…
Age-Appropriate Labels for Children’s Books
A row has broken out in the UK between the Publishers’ Association (PA) and numerous literary professionals about how best to encourage children to read. The PA did some research…
America’s Beer in Foreign Situation
The $46 billion unsolicited bid by Belgium’s InBev for Anheuser-Busch has stirred up grave concerns over lost jobs and the loss of a national icon for corporate America. But from…
Exxon Mobil Getting Out of Gas Retailing Biz
Exxon Mobil has decided to sell off the remaining 820 company-owned outlets it operates and get out of the retailing business altogether. What do you think of the company’s decision?…
Sharper Image Shifts from Stores to Licensing
Sharper Image, which filed for bankruptcy in February, is moving to close its remaining 86 stores to pursue a global licensing strategy focused on wholesale, catalog and online sales. …
R&FF Retailer: Safeway – Our Retailer Of The Year
Safeway, with a seven percent share of the country’s retail food market, owns better than half of all supermarket refrigerated soup sales. It’s also got the largest made-to-order sandwich business…
Should Amazon Buy Borders?
Billionaire hedge fund manager William Ackerman thinks Amazon.com should consider making a bid on Borders Group. His reasoning is that Amazon will soon lose any tax advantage it has as…
Outsourcing Is In
Why do it yourself if someone else can do it cheaper, better, etc.? That appears to be the rationale behind recent announcements from Supervalu and Procter & Gamble to go…
Retail TouchPoints: Mobile Phones Emerging As Fourth Sales Channel
Mobile devices are quickly emerging as a fourth sales channel for retailers, according to a new study from Cisco Systems. The study found that the rise of social networking and…
Vinyl Makes Musical Comeback
An ordering error led Fred Meyer to buy LP versions of of R.E.M.’s latest album instead of the special CD-DVD edition for its stores. Realizing the mistake, a number of…
RFID Alive and Kicking at Wal-Mart and Elsewhere
Stories about the demise of radio frequency identification (RFID) initiatives appear to have been greatly exaggerated, according to a report on the RIS News website. Do you believe RFID is…
Brain Trust Query: Will Ontario’s new Tobacco Display Law Prevent Young People from Lighting Up?
As of May 31st, 2008, it is illegal in Ontario to display or merchandise tobacco products in plain sight to the customer. It is also illegal for sales staff to…
Publix in Deal with Albertsons
Publix Super Markets announced yesterday that it had reached an agreement to purchase 49 Albertsons in Florida from Albertson’s LLC. The two companies are looking to close in September. Terms…
Amazon’s Technical Difficulties: Part 2
When Amazon.com’s website went down on Friday, there were reports about the potential millions the online retailer lost as a result. But what are consumers to think now that Amazon…
Green Shoppers Like Warehouse Clubs
According to a study from The Nielsen Company and the Natural Marketing Institute (NMI), green consumers spend more in warehouse clubs, whereas non-green consumers prefer supercenters and dollar stores. Why…
Packaging Levels Need to Fall Further
Supermarkets and smaller groceries across Britain are trying to reduce and/or reuse packaging but with mixed results according to the latest assessment by the Local Government Association (LGA) which found…
Mall Kiosks Offer Teeth Cleaning and More
Since their inception in the eighties, mall kiosks have sold everything from candles to cell phones to real estate. But now they’re increasingly moving into personal care services. What do…
GHQ: Smoky Mountain Majesty
Residents in the Tri-Cities area straddling Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky have a taste for blackberries…good old-fashioned blackberries – sweet, juicy, jet-black and the size of your thumb. Danny Shelton grows…
In Pursuit of the Next Megabrand
Steve Hughes knows something about creating a megabrand. Fortune credits him with spearheading the launch of ConAgra’s Healthy Choice line. Within four years of its initial rollout, the brand’s sales…
Dick’s CEO Sees Opportunity in Tough Times
Being a “when the going gets tough, the tough get going” sort of person, chief executive Edward Stack of Dick’s Sporting Goods can see that sales at the chain’s stores…
