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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Costco Defies Street’s Wisdom
Jim Sinegal, the CEO of Costco, says he pays attention to Wall Street analyst’s criticism of how he runs the warehouse club retailer. He simply doesn’t let it interfere with…
Trader Joe’s – Loyalty is as Loyalty Does
In excerpts from his book, Trader Joe’s Adventure, run in Workforce Management, Len Lewis spells out the philosophy and tactics behind how Trader Joe’s achieves high levels of employee loyalty…
Skogen Named Grocer of the Year
Dave Skogen has been named the recipient of the Wisconsin Grocers Association Grocer of the Year. In a manner typical of the grocery industry veteran, Mr. Skogen told the Holmen…
Some Carrots with Your Crabby Patties
Will SpongeBob SquarePants be more successful than Popeye in getting kids to eat their spinach? Poseidon’s favorite fry cook always says that the secret ingredient in his famous crabby patties…
The Haves Spending More in Clubs
The lure of great deals on bigger ticket items, from flat screen televisions to fine art, has many affluent consumers willing to pay the membership fee price of admission to…
McD’s Combines Work and Homework for Pay
Kathy and Jerry Olinik employ a lot of teenagers at the two McDonald’s they operate in Michigan and they care about how they turn out. That’s why the couple, who…
Pancakes Plus
IHOP rolled out its first major menu revamp in over ten years last month. The chain that made its reputation selling breakfast is hoping that customers will also see the…
Gap Finds Doing the Right Thing Can Be Hard
The Gap wants to do the right thing when it comes to protecting factory workers at overseas suppliers. The company released its second annual social responsibility report yesterday summarizing the…
Saks Bucks Store Brand Trend
Many retailers are putting greater emphasis on store and/or proprietary brands as a means to differentiate themselves from competitors. Management at Saks Inc., however, has taken the position that to…
Get Thee Behind Me, Big Box
For many in Christian products retailing, their business is not so much about profits and losses as it is about carrying on the work of Jesus and his disciples. Increasingly,…
Slackers Unite
A survey conducted by America Online and Salary.com says the average worker in the U.S. is a slacker. Results from about 10,000 respondents to the survey found the typical employee…
IKEA Gets Into Food in an Organic Way
Others are selling furniture in addition to other products and now IKEA is going to be selling its own brand of food items, including its Swedish meatballs, in its U.K…
The High Cost of Celebrity Endorsements
Kobe Bryant, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Bill Cosby…the list goes on of celebrity endorsers who have been involved in personal scandals or controversies and, in the process, drawn unflattering attention to…
Grocery Sites Say Compare and Save
Joann Gage, vice president for advertising and marketing at struggling Winn-Dixie, doesn’t expect that new comparison-shopping sites for groceries will have much of an impact on the day-to-day business of…
Court’s Eminent Domain Ruling Settles Nothing
With all due respect to the majority of justices on the Supreme Court of the United States, who recently ruled that local governments could take private property using eminent domain…
Target Creates Buzz with Vertical Marketing Program
The retail fashion business is largely about creating buzz and, when it comes to getting people talking, few, if any, do a better job than Target. According to a USA…
Wings of Loyalty
Who is Cigarman and why is Larry Kellner, the CEO of Continental Airlines, having dinner with him? It turns out that Cigarman’s real name is Dean Burri of Flyertalk.com, a…
Sunny Forecast for Retail
With many retailers posting better than expected numbers for June and others predicting a strong July, the weather is being given credit for getting customers into the stores to shop…
It’s Only Business, Nothing Personal, in Chicago Pharmacy Battle
The plot line reads like some crime family drama taken from Chicago in the 1920s. The story is not one about Murder Incorporated or a battle of Mafioso families. It…
GHQ Cover Story 07/05: Food safety’s quiet revolution
Busch’s has found that, when it comes to food safety, going beyond what is required by the government is a point of difference that consumers tell the grocer they appreciate…
Yes Men/Women Play Role in Scandals
Pretty much everyone knows the story about the emperor who walked around naked because his court and subjects were too afraid to tell him his new clothes were no clothes…
