Duane Reade, a 50-year-old pharmacy chain with 256 outlets in metropolitan New York, is expanding it offerings, adding private-label healthy foods and redesigning its stores to "spruce up its image." It's also playing up its New York roots -- the first store was at the corner of Duane and Reade streets in lower Manhattan -- with a new outdoor campaign: "Your City. Your Drugstore." "New York is an amazing place to launch new ideas" such as its DR Delish line, acting CMO Joe Jackman tells Elaine Wong in this Q&A, saying that customers primarily yearn for "healthier, tastier products, …

GNC, which has built its core business by focusing on selling nutritional supplements and weight-loss aids to avid fitness and sports enthusiasts, has unveiled a prototype 3,000-square-foot store at suburban Pittsburgh's Ross Park Mall that transforms the retail brand into more of a health and wellness resource for the entire family and will make it more competitive against pharmacies, Michael Johnsen reports. The new store offers nearly triple the number of products than existing outlets, expanding into the categories of natural health and healing, probiotics, cleansing, proteins and health and beauty. "This retail concept will grow the GNC brand …

Giorgio Armani, the self-described "dictatorial" designer who owns 100% of Giorgio Armani SpA and is inextricably linked to the brand's image, has named John Hooks as deputy chairman, expanded the board of directors and parceled out more responsibility to non-family members, Christina Passariello reports. Hooks, who assumes the new position in January, will take charge of brand development and commercial strategy. He has pushed Armani into China, India and other growth markets in recent years, and he will retain responsibility for foreign development. Armani, 75, recently recovered from a bout of hepatitis. Speculation about whether his company could …

Coca-Cola says that it will place calories-per-serving and servings-per-container information on the front of nearly all of its bottles sold in the USA and Mexico within months and will do so for all of its beverages worldwide by 2011, Bruce Horovitz reports. It says it is the first company in the category to make a commitment of this scope, but it certainly won't be the last. "All the big consumer product companies need to work very hard to connect to consumers and to build consumer trust and confidence," says John Sicher, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest. "It can …

General Motors was blindsided by businessman Roger Penske's decision to scuttle his acquisition of the Saturn brand, Tim Higgins reports, and the news sent shockwaves throughout the organization. "I would say it's fair to characterize this as a stunning and surprising turn of events," said one person within GM who worked on the deal. GM had expected to announce the details of final deal today but Penske first needed to agree on a deal with the Renault-Nissan alliance to build vehicles for the Saturn dealers after GM stopped manufacturing the autos. According to Penske, a deal was agreed upon but …