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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Web Services: Online Dating for Business Aps
Web Services is a hot topic among computer application designers. The term refers to a set of standards that have been established to enable computer applications to interact with each…
Dollar General’s Consumers Are Hurting
Dollar General chief executive officer David Perdue told attendees at Johnson Rice & Company’s Fourth Annual Consumer Conference held in New Orleans yesterday that the retailer’s core low-income customer is…
Stores Going Up Faster, Being Built Smaller
In a preview of its Facts About Store Development 2004 research, the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) reports that grocers are building smaller stores and putting them up faster than ever…
Debtor Nation
In public remarks, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, hasn’t voiced deep concerns about the debt burden taken on by American consumers. The same may not be said…
H-E-B Tries On Plus Size
Even H.E. Butt is not immune to Wal-Mart’s incursion into the food business. While the world’s largest retailer and its Supercenter format has gobbled up dollar share from supermarkets in…
Noddle Makes the Right Moves
Welcome to Mr. Anderson’s retail neighborhood. The lesson for today, children, is don’t bet against Supervalu’s chief executive officer Jeff Noddle. As a piece in the Minneapolis Star Tribune points…
Loyalty Lets You Run with the Elephants
Saucony is a $136 million running-shoe company. While small compared to Nike and Adidas, it looms large in its ability to “create a little charisma and ask for loyalty,” according…
Hallmark Sues Dollar General
Hallmark Cards has filed a lawsuit against Dollar General alleging the dollar store chain is selling knock-offs of nine styles of gift bags the company has copyrights on. How big…
Penn Traffic Exploring Compelling Proposals
Penn Traffic postponed its hearing yesterday to approve the disclosure statement for its reorganization plan under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection because the company said it had received “multiple compelling proposals…
Is Sears’ Lacy The Next To Go?
Chief executive Alan Lacy has helped Mr. Lampert reap a solid return on his other retail investment, Kmart, by paying millions for its stores, but Sears’ continuing poor performance and…
Mickey Gets Out of Retail
The parent of the successful Children’s Place chain announced yesterday it has reached an agreement to buy Disney Stores. Children’s Place Retail Stores Inc. hopes to close the deal to…
Retailers Drawn Into Meth War
Law enforcement officials will tell you that methamphetamine is everywhere. One reason is that it is easy to make. Its ingredients are found in common products such as over-the-counter cold…
Discounting Assimilation: Are We Really Becoming A Bilingual Nation?
In a piece written last week for the Pacific News Service, Louis E.V. Nevaer, author of “The Rise of the Hispanic Market in the United States,” claims that we are…
Coutu Feeling Good About Eckerd
Michael Coutu, chief executive officer for the American division of the Jean Coutu Group, is feeling good about the progress being made to integrate Eckerd drugstores into its system. “The…
Hold the Service, Extra Discounts Please
Those heeding the biblical call to “do unto others as you would have done unto you” might just be the best gift givers this holiday season, according to a study…
Electronic Shelf Label Pilot Announced for Major U.S. Chain
Pricer recently announced that “one of the largest retail chains in the U.S.,” as yet to be named, has decided to pilot Pricer’s ESL (Electronic Shelf Labels) system for a…
The Currency of Service
Polly Flinn, senior vice president of Convenience Operations for BP Products North America, told an audience at this year’s National Association of Convenience Stores’ (NACS) convention that the gas retailer…
Former Haves Becoming Have Nots in Suburbia
A USA Today report says that the numbers of poor, primarily working poor, in the suburbs is catching up with cities as individuals find themselves squeezed out of the decent…
Kmart Hires New Prez/CEO to Build Image
Yesterday, Kmart announced it had hired Aylwin Lewis, the now former president and chief multi-branding and operating officer of Yum Brands (Pizza Hut, KFC, Taco Bell, A&W All-American Food and…
Niemann Foods’ Secret to Success
Ask members of the Neimann family, founders of the Niemann Foods supermarket chain, what the secrets are to their company’s success and they’re likely to tell you it’s a willingness…
Sell-and-Run Stores a Hit with Shoppers
Most people think of stores that open one day and close a few months later as a failure, but as companies from Apple Computer to Target can attest, temporary stores…
