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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Wal-Mart Plans to Open Its First California Supercenters
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to open its first 40 Supercenters in California within the next four to six years. How will Wal-Mart’s Supercenter push into California impact the grocery business…
Car Seat Safety Concerns
Infants and toddlers placed in specific types of car seats may not be protected from being thrown out of vehicles during rollover crashes, experts report. In what ways can retailers…
BP Connects with Food and Fuel
BP’s self-stamped “gas station of the future,” BP Connect, emphasizes things other than its popular Amoco gasoline. BP’s effort comes at a time when gasoline stores are facing increasing competition…
Sony and Microsoft Get Serious with Price Cuts
Microsoft Corp. answered Sony Corp’s markdown of its PlayStation 2 video-game machine to $199 by slashing the price of its Xbox by 33 percent in the U.S. Will the…
Dell Sells Dudewear
Dell Computer Corp. is selling T-shirts, caps, backpacks and other products centered on its “Dude, You’re Gettin’ a Dell” television commercials. Could Dell’s emphasis on its “Dude” campaign and…
Cancer Rate to Double
A new report claims that the number of cancer cases in this country may double by the middle of the century. How will increased cancer rates affect the role…
Kellogg’s Moves Ahead of General Mills in Cereal
Kellogg Co.has reasserted its category lead during a recent three-month period with a strategy that puts ad spending and innovation behind a handful of brands with the most growth potential…
Wegmans’ Sells Irradiated Beef
Wegmans Food Markets’ 62 stores in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey started selling fresh ground beef that has been irradiated to destroy disease-causing bacteria. Are large numbers of consumers…
Publix Cuts Pay for Associates
A 50-cent-per-hour cut in hourly pay scales is affecting roughly 10 percent of Publix stores, or about 79, including 18 in South Florida. What do you think is behind Publix’…
Upromise Savings for College
Upromise has teamed up with 15,000 grocery stores across the country to help consumers deposit a small percentage of their purchases into a college savings account in return for buying…
Dr Pepper Jumps on Innovation Band Wagon
In response to the latest cola innovations, Cadbury Schweppes PLC will introduce Red Fusion, a new version of Dr Pepper, in the U.S. by mid-July. Will Red Fusion be a…
Growing Spanish Market Wakes up U.S. Publishers
U.S. publishers are slowly waking up to the fact that Hispanic people like to read. With the 2000 census showing the Hispanic population in the United States ballooning 58 percent…
Home Depot Makes Room for More Appliances
Home Depot Inc. plans to roll out a larger appliance showroom in as many as 350 stores this year. This initiative is part of a new store design concept for…
Blockbuster Delves into Video Game Retail
At a time when video game hardware and software retailers are posting record revenues and impressive growth rates, Blockbuster Inc. announces that it will revamp more than 4,300 of its…
Sears Places $1.9 Billion Lands’ End Order
Sears, Roebuck has agreed to buy Lands’ End for $1.9 billion, or $62 per share in cash. What will this deal mean for Sears and Lands’ End?
Ethnic Population Explosions Blast Open HBC Opportunities
Retail sales of ethnic health and beauty care products are projected to approach $1.9 billion in 2006, according to The U.S. Market for Ethnic HBC: Hair Care, Skin Care, Color…
Movie Fans Beat Box Office Crowds Online
Movie queues are migrating online from the box office, especially for advance tickets purchased a day or more ahead of show time. Do the online purchasing habits of moviegoers have…
Transatlantic Trade Squabbles Escalate with e-tax
The European Union has agreed to impose new rules on Internet retailers outside of the EU to levy value-added-tax (VAT) on sales to customers within the 15-nation bloc starting July…
Reality-Based Trade Showing: The FMI Show
RetailWire Editor-in-Chief George Anderson summarizes industry executives’ perspectives of the Food Marketing Institute Show in Chicago. What were your impressions of this year’s FMI Show?
Un-Defining Aging Baby Boomers
Phil Lempert, “Supermarket Guru” and CEO of Consumer Insight, built a convincing case for the importance of un-defining the boomer generation, now entering their 50s, at FMI’s annual conference. Does…
Study Associates IQ with Breastfeeding Duration
Significantly higher scores on verbal, performance, and full scale WAIS IQs were observed relative to increased duration of breastfeeding in two independent samples of young adults, assessed with two different…
