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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
Stores Hope Everyday High Prices Attract
Retailers such as Bath and Body Works, Federated Department Stores, Express and Gadzooks are adding high end, higher-priced items to their product mix in the hope consumers will view the…
SEC May Sue Fleming Food Vendors
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sent Wells Notices to at least three companies, Dean Foods, Frito-Lay and Kraft, advising them it may take legal action against the food…
Analyst: A&P Worth More in Pieces
An analyst with Merrill Lynch, Mark Husson, said the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. would be worth more to its shareholders if it would sell off its various divisions,…
W-M and McD’s in Separate Online Music Deals
According to two separate reports in the New York Post, Wal-Mart is planning to launch it’s own downloadable music service on www.walmart.com, while McDonald’s is expected to make an announcement…
Employers Shouldn’t Pay Health Benefits
The current labor unrest in the grocery industry has focused the media’s attention on the issue of health coverage. Associates represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union are…
Chain Says No to GMOs
Foodstuffs, the largest grocery store chain in New Zealand, operating stores under the New World, Pak’N Save, Four Square and Write Price banners, is asking all its private label product…
Racial Discrimination Claimed in Suit
A former employee at a Nabisco Bakery in Philadelphia is suing Kraft Foods charging that she and other African-Americans were discriminated against in the workplace because of their race. Have…
Penney Goes It Alone With Prototype
J.C. Penney has opened its new free-standing prototype department store in Cedar Hill, Texas, reports the Dallas Morning News. Are malls going the way of the dinosaur? What will it…
Counterfeits, Terrorists and Retailers, Oh My!
According to an Insight Magazine article by Timothy Maier, sales of counterfeit goods in the U.S. are up to roughly $500 billion a year. How are counterfeit goods making their…
Gentiles Go Kosher
Sales of kosher foods are hot and non-Jewish consumers are the ones driving much of the increase. A report on the CBS MarketWatch Web site says dollar sales of kosher…
Dominick’s Not For Sale, Not Now Anyway
No one can say that Safeway’s chief executive, Steve Burd, isn’t a man who sticks to his guns. He has maintained all along that, while the company was looking to…
Home Shopping Network Upgrades Site
The Home Shopping Network (HSN) has revamped its Web site (www.hsn.com) to bring in new shoppers and to increase its functionality with the retailer’s televised shopping programs. Will greater synergy…
Sears Seals Card Deal
It’s a done deal. Sears has sold its credit card business to Citigroup for $3.2 billion, according to TheStreet.com Web site. What is or should be next for Sears now…
PT Marketing Exec Tries to Revive Field’s
The former top marketing honcho who was instrumental in making Target’s bulls-eye logo into a retailing icon is back two days a week in the company’s headquarters in an attempt…
Weather Forecast Too Bright for Black Friday
Planalytics, the technology and consulting company that helps retailers and manufacturers plan for the impact weather conditions have on business, says Black Friday 2003 may be better for browsing, at…
Medical Benefits Answer in Associate Scheduling
Surprisingly, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) and the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) may have something they can agree on. Supermarkets would spend less on medical benefits and reduce…
Do RFID Tags Work Well Enough?
Consumer privacy groups can take a deep breath, say retail industry analysts, because radio frequency identification (RFID) technology doesn’t work well enough for a broad rollout, even if costs for…
Wired Kids
It’s not enough to learn your ABC’s in kindergarten anymore. You also need to learn your WWW’s. What impact are today’s computer savvy kids having on retail marketing activity? What…
National Labor Gets Involved, Locals Promise Dramatic Development
The unions are not going down without a fight. Yesterday, John Sweeney, president, AFL-CIO announced the creation of a multi-union strike fund to pay picketing grocery workers represented by the…
P. Diddy Rapped for Child Labor
The rapper formerly known as Sean, then Puffy and now P. Diddy Combs has had a Kathie Lee Gifford kind of week with labor activists charging the Honduran factory that…
Bally Low-Fat Snacks
Bally Total Fitness is rolling out a new line of low-fat, low-calorie candy bars targeted at kids and the growing concern over childhood obesity in America, reports Jim Kirk in…
