Retail Stores
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Unilever, Hormel Foods Skippy Deal
Unilever has made a definitive deal with Hormel Foods Corp. to sell its Skippy brand for approximately $700 million. The agreement includes manufacturing facilities for Skippy in Weifang, China and Little Rock, Arkansas. The Skippy peanut butter brand was first introduced in 1932 and was the first in fast growing natural peanut butter brands. In…
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Wegmans Freezes Prices Once Again
With the freezing winter prevailing, there’s one freeze that people will enjoy much more; Wegmans’ price freeze. Wegmans Food Markets has introduced price freezes once again for over 50 of their products. The freeze affects those products that customers will be buying most during this winter season. Colleen Wegman, Wegmans’ president, has said that the…
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Fitch Confirms SuperValu Risky Rating
Fitch Ratings has confirmed the default ratings given for SuperValu as ‘CCC’ even with some divestitures announced last week that seemed to reduce the retailer’s exposure to many competitive pressures. These were counteracted, however, by deteriorating environment and high debt leverage in its businesses. The ‘CCC’ default rating given implies very high risk. Cerberus Capital…
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Groups’ Petition to Wal-Mart on Assault Weapons
A lengthy history of random shootings and recent school shootings has raised public fury and ensured that the gun debate is not about to go away very soon in the U.S. Gun groups are predicting that attempts through Congress to ban sale of assault weapons will fail. The debate and petitions continue. Wal-Mart is set…
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H-E-B Showcases Unique Finds
H-E-B has a launched Primo Picks, a shelf-tag program showcasing unique beverages and foods. According to H-E-B in a statement on the retailer’s website, they have searched the world for a selection of one-of-a-kind items to be Primo Picks, products that are cool, tasty and unique that people may not have tried before or even…
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Ahold Posts Positive Q4 Sales
Ahold has realized 7.8 billion euros in consolidated net sales, which is approximately $10.4 billion for its fourth quarter last year. This is a 7.5% increase compared to the same period in 2011 and a 5.1% increase when steady exchange rates are considered. The international conglomerate had posted consolidated sales (net) of 32.8 billion euros…
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Protest against Walmart’s Sale of Assault Weapons Gains Momentum
For more than a week, thousands have been demanding action and pressuring Walmart to cease its sale of assault weapons. One of the rallies held last week saw four petitions delivered and a rally of survivors of gun violence and activists outside a Danbury, Connecticut, Walmart store. The petitions contained over 300,000 signatures. Change.org, one…
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Retailers, Suppliers Highlight Consumer Experience
“There are many ways for trading partners to help improve the consumer experience in stores.” This was a consensus arrived at by a panel of leaders at the Food Marketing Institute Midwinter conference of 2013. Safeway Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President Diane Dietz said that consumers saw stores as an experience. The retailer…