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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Sears Sells Credit Card Business
Sears has agreed to sell its credit card business to Citigroup in a deal estimated to be $3 billion. With the sale of its credit card business, Sears plans to…
Leaping Salmon Rescued by Threshers
Leaping Salmon (a UK company) was devised to sell meal solutions to people who enjoy cooking but don’t have a lot of time to shop and prepare. All the preparation…
Employers Getting Ripped Off By Their Own
Employee thefts were up 17 percent, according to the Food Marketing Institute’s (FMI) 2003 Security and Loss Prevention Issues Survey in the Supermarket Industry. Employee theft was most pronounced at…
Wonder Bread Sales Less Than Wonderful
Interstate Bakeries, owner of the Wonder Bread and Hostess brands, reported a loss of $4.6 million for its fourth quarter. The company blamed higher ingredient and energy costs along with…
OfficeMax Worth $1.2B on Boise Cascade Paper
Boise Cascade, manufacturer of wood and paper products, has agreed to purchase OfficeMax for $1.2 billion in cash and stock. The deal for OfficeMax will more than double Boise Cascade’s…
Filene’s Kicks Sisters Out of Basement
Two sisters, self-described loyal and longtime shoppers, have been asked by the chain to find somewhere else to buy their clothes. The women received a letter from David Sherer, vice…
Supervalu to Give Dominick’s More Freedom
The current owner of Dominick’s Finer Foods has been criticized for moving control of the chain’s fortunes from the local market to its corporate offices in California. If the rumors…
Save-A-Lot Comes to San Antonio
St. Louis-based food retailer Save-A-Lot is coming to Texas after Ahrens Foods signed a licensing agreement to operate stores under its banner. The new Save-A-Lot stores come into a market…
Sears Looks to Brand Builders for Growth
Sears chairman and chief executive officer, Alan Lacy, has broken tradition by going outside the company’s merchandising ranks to recruit executives with strong CPG marketing backgrounds. Their goal according to…
Label Policy Draws Praise and Criticism
The FDA has issued an announcement detailing the agency’s plan to ease the criteria for companies wishing to make health claims for products, according to the Washington Post. The Grocery…
Supervalu and Nash Finch Confident
The chief executives of Supervalu and Nash Finch in separate conference calls with analysts expressed confidence that their grocery wholesale operations would fare well in head-to-head competition with C&S Wholesalers…
Asbury Puts Brake on Car Sales with Wal-Mart
The Asbury Automotive Group announced yesterday it was ending its used car sales test at four Wal-Mart stores, according to a Reuters report. Asbury cited lower than expected customer traffic…
Consumers and Retailers Wait on Tax Refunds
By the end of this month, refund checks will be sent to taxpayers as part of the Bush administration’s $350 billion tax-cut package. What they will do with the windfall…
Monsanto Sues Dairy for False Advertising
Monsanto has sued Oakhurst Dairy of Portland, Maine over milk labels that the biotechnology giant claims deceives consumers. Oakhurst’s milk labels include the statement claiming its milk doesn’t contain any…
McD’s Says Buy It Your Own Way
McDonald’s is testing kiosks in several markets that allow customers to place their own orders, according to a report by Reuters. It will review the results of the test and…
Wal-Mart Pulls Tags Off RFID Test
Wal-Mart’s and Gillette’s test of a smart-shelf system using radio frequency identification (RFID) tags was cancelled unexpectedly by the retailer according to reports on the Web site, Silicon.com and The…
Consumers Looking Beyond Big Box Prices
According to the Star Tribune, consumers may be beginning to demonstrate a willingness to pay more for goods if retailers offer them “knowledgeable service, an interesting selection and a pleasant…
Mexican Grocers Become Allies to Fight Wal-Mart
Reuters has reported Grupo Gigante, Organizacion Soriana and Comercial Mexicana announced they have formed an alliance to give them greater bargaining power with suppliers and make them more competitive with…
Clicks Go Better With Bricks
Consumers shopping on the web are increasingly making the trip to the local store to pickup their order, according to a Chicago Tribune report. David Fry, president, Fry Inc., a…
Spam It, Enough is Enough!
Telemarketers may have stopped calling but obtrusive marketing remains alive and well in the form of spam on the Internet, according to The Associated Press. “Consumers are getting inundated with…
Gigante Wants to Be Big in USA
Gigante, the Mexican retailer, has announced it plans to speed up its store expansion in the US to meet the needs of the growing Hispanic market. The chain plans to…
