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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Gay Ads with Gay Content on the Rise
Companies are spending more on the gay and lesbian market and ads are more gay-specific in content than ever before, according to the results of the twelfth annual Gay Press…
Retail Workers Trade in Old Jobs for New Ones
Most retail store employees do not make a lot of money. That’s exactly what Asbury Automotive Group is hoping to use as an employment sales pitch as it attempts to…
Avoiding the Next Big Thing
Publishers print them as fast as writers can write them. “Them” is the latest and greatest technique for answering every question or dilemma faced by modern managers. While many of…
Stereotyping in Ads Causes Disconnect with Young Women
An article on the BusinessWeek web site, says that marketers have gotten it wrong. Creating ads that portray young women with all the negative qualities associated with the weaker species…
New Magazine to Help Consumers ShopSmart
Consumer Reports plans to launch the publication, ShopSmart, this summer. It will be written and designed to provide readers (primarily younger women) with a quick assessment of popular products -…
Publix Goes Slow and Steady with Pix Concept
With the announcement that Publix plans to open its seventh Pix convenience store in Seminole, Fla., the regional powerhouse would appear to have hit on a concept that bears further…
Consumers Will Not Forget Elephant Pharmacy Experience
Elephant Pharmacy isn’t your typical drugstore. The two-store business, which first opened in 2001, offers the same services and many of the same products as other drugstores, but it also…
A new FMI Annual Convention Slated for 2008
The Food Marketing Institute announced earlier this week that it is moving to a new format in which the trade expo will be held every other year with the group…
Dutch Bookseller Goes Its Own RFID Way
Boekhandels Groep Nederland (BGN), the Dutch bookseller, is testing radio frequency identification (RFID) at the item level. Aside from a few experiments, it is unusual for a retailer to implement…
Whole Foods Not Whole Paycheck
Whole Foods is tired of being referred to as “Whole Paycheck” because of the perception the chain’s prices are higher than other grocery stores. That’s why the chain is running…
Grocery Store Brands: Growth, Opportunities, and Issues
There was a lot of buzz at the Food Marketing Institute convention this week around private label, which some prefer to refer to as store brands. Just about everyone seems…
Wal-Mart Calls for New Kind of Online Auction
Retailers have used the online auction process to drive down costs of all types of products they purchase for internal use as well as sale to consumers, so perhaps it…
Home Depot: The One Stop Home Improvement Shop
If federal regulators approve Home Depot’s acquisition of EnerBank USA, a state chartered bank in Utah that provides home improvement loans to consumers referred by building contractors, then there will…
276 CEOs – Creating Great-Performing Store Directors
In the 19th study produced by the Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council, researchers at Franklin Covey sought to “unlock the secrets” of great performing supermarket store management teams. In its report,…
Larry’s Asks for Bankruptcy Protection
Last year, Larry’s Markets was planning to add up to 15 new stores. Yesterday, the Kirkland, Wash.-based grocery store operator filed for federal bankruptcy protection so that it can continue…
Casey’s Not Concerned About Grocers’ Gas
The box its stores operate in is substantially smaller but Casey’s General Stores has taken a path similar to Wal-Mart in its rise in the convenience store ranks. But…
Hispanic Shoppers Not Satisfied
Retailers have a long way to go if they are going to take advantage of the Hispanic market opportunity that so many say they are targeting. According to research from…
Grocers Promote Family Meals
Research from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse shows that teenagers who do not eat meals with their families are more likely to develop alcohol and drug problems…
Planning/Saving for a Higher Gas Price Day
A gas retailer in Minnesota has borrowed a program from home heating oil companies in the Northeast that allows consumers to buy large quantities of gasoline in advance at locked…
Rite Aid Answers Questions to Build Loyalty
Rite aid launched a program in April to help its customers understand and avoid uncomfortable allergy symptoms. The program, which Rite Aid worked on with the American Academy of Allergy,…
Play It Again, Jack
We’ve heard that tune before. At least, Michigan consumers have. Beginning tomorrow, Farmer Jack will bring back an advertising message that it mothballed five years ago, “It’s Always Savings…
