• Duane Reade Becomes Experience
    Duane Reade's flagship stores have sushi and fro-yo stations, juice bars and in-store nail and hair salons. There are hologram floor greeters and digital makeup counters, which offer computerized snapshots of your face so you can see how a product looks like without using a tester. The chain's 40 Wall St., New York, location, which opened in 2011, won a prestigious design award and raves from The New Yorker and Women's Wear Daily. That they even wrote about a drug store opening says more. Back story at the link.
  • Ford Delivers Record Profit, No Thanks To Europe
    Ford Motor Co. topped Wall Street's already optimistic earnings estimate with a 16% jump in first-quarter net income of $1.6 billion, or 40 cents per share. That compared to last year's 35-cent earnings and a 37-cent consensus estimate for the latest quarter among analysts polled by FactSet. The maker would have done still better were it not for problems in Europe which resulted in a $147 million decline in pre-tax earnings of $2.1 billion.
  • Another Top Exec Leaves JCP
    Another Ron Johnson-appointee and former Apple executive has left J.C. Penney. Ben Fay, EVP real estate, store design and development, has left the company. The company's former SVP of property development, Tom Clerkin, who took early retirement last year, has reportedly returned as an advisor. Fay, who served as senior director of retail real estate, design and development at Apple, joined Penney in spring 2012.
  • Why Chinese Consumers Love Buick
    Buick is huge in China, which is the biggest auto market and where American cars are huge, status wise. Buick is the country's hottest luxury brand, with the Buick Excelle (the Verano here) the leading passenger car in China in 2011, when 254,000 units were sold. The next year, Buick's sales in the country jumped 8%. J.D. Power & Associates predicts total Buick sales in China could hit 1 million by 2016.
  • Burger King Expands Home Delivery
    After testing home delivery in Washington, D.C., then adding Houston, Miami and New York, the company is adding Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. About 20 restaurants will participate in both the Chicago and L.A. markets and 15 in the San Francisco area. The orders can only be placed between 11 a.m. and 10 p.m., either online or by phone, and must be a minimum of $10.
  • Bill Moreton To Step Down At Panera
    Panera Bread Co. said Tuesday Ron Shaich will again become sole chief executive of the bakery-caf chain when Bill Moreton, currently co-CEO and president, transitions to the role of executive vice chairman on Aug. 1. Shaich and Moreton, who have been co-CEOs since March last year, said the transition was being made so Moreton, who will remain involved in management, would have more time to attend to "a family matter."
  • Top Green Car Markets
    A new study from Cars.com lists Lima, Ohio, of all places, as eighth among the top 10 U.S. cities with the most environmentally conscious car shoppers. San Francisco is number one, and eight of the 10 communities are out West: San Fran and surrounding regions, Monterey-Salinas, Calif.; San Diego, Calif.; Portland, Ore.; Eureka, Calif.; Washington D.C.; Honolulu, Hawaii; Lima, Ohio; Medford-Klamath Falls, Ore.; and Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, Calif.
  • Income And C-Store Shopping
    Not surprisingly, low-income consumers frequent c-stores more often than high-income shoppers and when they do, they spend more, according to Convenience Store News' 2013 Realities of the Aisle consumer study. People who make $35,000 a year or less shop more often at convenience stores than higher-income households, with 14.5% shopping there every day.
  • New Balance Gives $1 Million To Boston Fund
    New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc. announced Monday a $1 million donation to One Fund Boston, the fund established by Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to support those directly impacted by the Boston Marathon bombings as well as to first responders and to its home town of Boston. The Boston-based company said its own foundation will match contributions made to One Fund Boston by company employees.
  • Supremes Uphold Tobacco Labeling
    The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld 2009 federal law that requires warning labels on cigarettes and expanded marketing restrictions on tobacco products. The law mandated that tobacco manufacturers reserve half of the space on the front and back of cigarette packages for graphic health warnings.
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