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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Malls Become Alls
The mall many of us grew up with needs to reinvent itself and, according to Michael McCarty, president of the development firm, Simon Property Group, that means transforming facilities from…
Wal-Mart’s CEO Speaks To Competition
Wal-Mart has its share of critics but some of them may be given pause after a speech yesterday by the company’s chief executive officer, Lee Scott, to kickoff the National…
Analyst Expects End to SoCal Strike
A report written by Merrill Lynch retail analyst, Mark Husson, says both parties in the Southern California grocery lockout/strike are nearing a point where they will have no option but…
Fed Prosecutor is W-M Compliance Lawyer
Tom Gean, a federal prosecutor for the Western District of Arkansas, is getting a new job in the private sector. Mr. Gean has been named Wal-Mart Stores’ legal compliance officer…
Red Lobster’s Customers Escaping
Once is enough. That’s the lesson that many consumers have learned about eating at Red Lobster and it’s also the reason that sales and customer traffic have fallen off at…
AAA Repairs Consumer Confidence
Local American Automobile Association (AAA) chapters have opened their own car repair service shops in response to the growing number of complaints the group has received from consumers about shoddy…
Daschle Wants COOL Implemented Now
The recent discovery of mad cow disease has prompted a call by the Senate Democratic leader, Tom Daschle, to call for an immediate implementation of country-of-origin (COOL) labeling requirements instead…
Safeway To Change Board Rules
Last May, Safeway shareholders voted for a non-binding referendum seeking to revise the company’s policy toward the selection of its Board of Directors. Yesterday, the board voted unanimously to declassify…
Industries Favor President’s Immigration Plan
President Bush’s proposal to grant temporary visas to allow illegal aliens to temporarily work in the U.S. is drawing fire from many quarters, but it is also being supported by…
McD’s To Give Nutritional Details
If you live in Connecticut, New Jersey or New York, you no longer have to wonder just how good or bad a particular McDonald’s menu item is for you. The…
The Shopping Cart Differentiator
Competition between retailers for consumer dollars is intense, especially when high-spending families with children are involved. Every retailer is looking for any advantage they can get, even including shopping carts…
Tropicana Rolls Out Light ‘n Healthy OJ
Tropicana has rolled out a new low-calorie orange juice that it hopes will help it recapture weight and carb watchers. Will Light ‘n Healthy be a winner for Tropicana and…
Honey, They’ve Shrunk the iPod
Attendees of Steve Jobs’ keynote address at the Macworld convention in San Francisco could not be blamed for wondering where the Mac went in the speech by Apple Computer’s chief…
Study: Kids Put on Six Pounds in Fast Food Annually
A study of 6,212 children between the ages of 4 and 19 across the country has determined the average child puts on six extra pounds a year eating fast food…
Consumer Holiday Spending Up 5.5 Percent
According to Chicago-based ShopperTrak, consumer spending for the 2003 holiday season was up 5.5 percent over the same period the year prior. Although, as a piece in the Boston Globe…
Save-A-Lot To Take On HEB and W-M
San Antonio has only seemed big enough for two grocery store competitors in recent years. There’s H.E. Butt and Wal-Mart Supercenters and, if you’re store isn’t flying under one of…
Kmart Turns A Profit!
Perhaps the nicest news coming out of this past holiday season was this: Kmart made a profit of $200 million from merchandise sales in its stores during November and December,…
Chain Chickens Out on Beef Campaign
Chick-fil-A has decided to temporarily postpone the newest ad campaign in a nine-year market program that features a cow telling consumers to “Eat Mor Chikin”. Was it a smart idea…
Low-Carbs Brewing Big Beer Sales
Brewers were hoping to attract new consumers to the beer category when they jumped on the low-carb bandwagon. It’s still, perhaps, too early to tell if much headway is being…
2004 Calls For New Tactics
An article in The McKinsey Quarterly, 2004 Number 1, suggests an improving economy will pose new challenges to companies that have been in cutback mode over the past several years…
New Year’s Wish List for the Retailing Industry
Building on George Anderson’s fine summary of 2003’s big stories in retailing followed by Michael Banks’ tongue-in-cheek review of the year past, RetailWire’s Al McClain thought he’d take a whack…
