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Commentary and Discussion From the Retail Community
President Talks Tough, Carries a Small Stick
Enron’s collapse, WorldCom’s accounting disclosure and other instances of corporate wrongdoing are spurring debate over new laws and government rules. President Bush is calling for harsher penalties for white-collar criminals…
DVD Players Blast Aside VCRs with Sales Explosion
DVD player unit sales jumped 39 percent from January through May from the same period a year ago, according to a study by researcher NPDTechworld. Is videotape going the way…
New Yorkers Have No Reservations on Tax-free Smokes
Manhattanites travel as far as 70 miles east of Times Square to four smoke shops on the five-square-block Poospatuck Reservation, population 220, to buy tax-free cigarettes. Many retailers count…
Study Shows Multi-channel as the Way to Go
Retailers have embraced multi-channel retailing, according to a new survey released yesterday by Gartner Consulting, Stamford, Conn. Nearly 75 percent of respondents either have a multi-channel retailing strategy (MRS) in…
7-Eleven Combines Slurp with Gulp
7-Eleven, Inc., will offer its latest beverage container on the eve of its 75th anniversary at up to 5,800 participating stores in the United States and Canada. Will 7-Eleven’s Slurp…
Target Selects Fleming for National Supply Agreement
Fleming has announced that it has been selected by Target to supply candy, cookies, and convenience frozen and refrigerated foods to all Target stores nationally. Fleming will also supply food…
Limited Casts Favorable Aura
In its test phase, Limited Brands’ new chain of skin-care and cosmetics stores, aura science, has outperformed expectations. How have specialty retail (category killer) stores affected the ways in which…
Tofu, Soya May Reduce Breast Cancer Risk
Tofu and soya milk may reduce the risk of breast cancer, according to the latest research. Will news such as this affect consumption and thereby alter space allotment within…
Study Says Vitamins Are Useless
According to a five-year study on 20,000 people by Oxford University scientists, over-the-counter vitamin supplements C and E, and beta-carotene (which the body converts into vitamin A) do not protect…
Hispanic-Oriented Products the Stand-Out at IDDBA Show
Having returned from last month’s International Dairy, Deli, Bakery trade show it is quite apparent that companies are finally recognizing the opportunity in catering to the Hispanic community. On…
Albertson’s Contemplates Hispanic Store
Albertson’s is considering a store designed to serve the growing Hispanic population, exclusively. Do Spanish-speaking consumers want Hispanic format retail stores?
A&P Restates Earnings
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. has submitted its belated annual 10-K report filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The delay was due to an internal review of…
Stonyfield Successfully Brands Ethics
Experienced as educators running non-profit organizations, Gary Hirshberg and Samuel Kaymen set out with a great recipe for yogurt in 1983, well before the era of organic awareness, to launch…
Accelerade Sponsors Hoop Group
Accelerade, the sports drink brand produced by PacificHealth Laboratories, has become the official sponsor of The Hoop Group, an organization that runs basketball-training camps for nearly 15,000 would-be student athletes…
A Question of Sears’ Brand Handling
Now that Sears has access to Lands’ End branded product, will it be savvy enough to evaluate the brand as one with more value than solely that of a branded…
Adamson Reports Kmart Demise Surprise
Even though he’d been on Kmart Corp.’s board of directors for more than five years, Jim Adamson told the Free Press on Monday that he “was totally surprised” by the…
Americans’ Confidence in Big Business, Organized Religion Falls
Gallup News Service reports that Americans’ confidence in organized religion and big business has fallen significantly during the last year, while confidence in the military and the presidency has increased…
DreamWorks Licenses Shrek 2 to General Mills
DreamWorks SKG awarded a license to General Mills Inc. that allows it to put characters from Shrek 2 and other animated movies on food packages. Should grocery retailers increase…
Slots Lead to Sue You, Sue Me Blues
A decision by the Federal Trade Commission not to issue guidelines on slotting fees may result in increased suits by manufacturing companies denied access to grocery store shelves. Should the…
EDS Discontinues P&G ITS Outsourcing Talks
EDS Corp. ended talks with Procter & Gamble Co. related to a potential contract worth upward of $10 billion. Will other large CPG and retail businesses follow P&G’s outsourcing lead?…
N.Y. Recycling Rollback ‘Unprecedented’
New York City suspended plastics recycling for at least one year and glass recycling for two while the city examines whether the labor-intensive recycling program can be made more cost-effective…
