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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Retailer Wants To Be The Place Kids Go For Disney
The Children’s Place retail chain has confirmed it is in discussions to buy the 325-unit Disney Store operation from Walt Disney. What do you see as the opportunities/drawbacks of The…
Nestle/General Mills Rumor Floated, Dismissed
A story of Nestle considering a $22 billion bid for General Mills quickly went from the biggest business news story of the day to just another dismissed rumor. What was…
Honey, Kraft Won’t Shrink The Portions
A report in the Chicago Tribune says Kraft Foods has decided to be clearer with its nutritional labeling information rather than shrinking the size of package portions as it had…
Viewpoint: Restrict DXM Sales OTC
Last week, the Christian Science Monitor ran a story that brought to light a disturbing development where teens were purchasing cough and cold remedies containing DXM to get high. What…
Consumers Filling Up With Empty Calories
A study that asked 4,760 adults in the U.S. to keep track of what they ate over a 24-hour period has eliminated any mystery into the what is behind the…
QSR Wants Something For Everyone In The Car
The quick service restaurant chain, Chick-fil-A, has made its business selling fried-chicken sandwiches. That may not be about to change, but the chain does intend to follow the lead of…
Albertsons: Testing To See What Sells
Albertsons may be seeking to attract a different customer than Wal-Mart but that’s little consolation for the grocer as it continues to see business siphoned-off by Supercenters and Neighborhood Markets…
Avanza’s Retreat
Avanza did everything right. Still, on May 19th, the Nash Finch Company announced it was closing or selling its six Avanza stores in Chicago and Colorado. What are the lessons…
Gas Prices Change Shopping Behavior
A new study from NPD Group says consumers are beginning to get nervous enough about the cost of gasoline to the point where they are altering spending plans. Are we…
CVS: Convenience, Variety, Service
CVS has gotten the message from consumers in Southern California, Helene Foulkes, senior vice president of merchandise and marketing for the drugstore chain told the Los Angeles Times. What is…
Wal-Mart’s Knocking on Target’s Door
Wal-Mart opening a Supercenter in a new market is pretty much the stuff of everyday business headlines. Unless, of course, the world’s largest retailer plans to build its first Supercenter…
Grass Gets Eight Years In Rite Aid Fraud Case
Martin Grass, the former chief executive of Rite Aid, was sentenced to eight years in jail for defrauding the drugstore chain and its shareholders and then seeking to obstruct the…
The Clothes Make The Retailer
While this week’s annual shareholders’ meeting was short on specifics for how Kmart planned to stop its skidding same-store sales, one thing has become increasingly clear, the retailer believes that…
Memorial Day: Beyond The Sales
Over the past few decades, at least, Memorial Day has become more of a retailing event than anything else. While there isn’t anything wrong with that, this year is a…
Nordstrom Has Growth Spurt
It doesn’t seem that long ago that industry observers were asking what was wrong with Nordstrom? Well, having just come off the best year in its history and with same-store…
Target Looks To Be Number One Spot For Deals
Target’s 125-unit test of its dollar store-within-a-store concept called “1 Spot” has been deemed a success and will now be rolled out to all of the chain’s stores by September…
Wal-Mart Gets OK For Chicago’s West Side
Wal-Mart was looking for approval to open two stores inside Chicago city limits. It got half of what it wanted, at least for now. What are your thoughts on the…
Kmart Short On Specifics For Turnaround
At yesterday’s annual shareholder meeting, Kmart chairman, Edward Lampert, was clear on what the retailer wouldn’t be doing to try and turnaround its lagging same-store sales picture. What are your…
Industry Proposes COOL Alternative
Ten associations representing a wide variety of food industry interests have joined together to offer a voluntary alternative to the mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) program. Is the country-of-origin labeling proposal…
Wal-Mart and Urban America
No matter where you stand on the Wal-Mart “issue,” it’s hard to dispute it has a weighty public relations challenge. Has Wal-Mart’s failure to win over communities in places…
Grocer and Volunteers Deliver To Those In Need
As the sign on the church secretary’s desk used to read, “Working here doesn’t pay much but the benefits are out of this world.” People at the Albertsons Food and…
