As the publication does each year, Fortune magazine named the “100 best companies to work for” in its April/May issue. Many of the usual suspects — Hewlett Packard, Marriott, Bank of America, FedEx, Hyatt Hotels, American Express, Genentech — made the list. More surprising was the exclusion of all but a precious few mass retailers.
Among the assignments the editorial staff at Racher Press, publisher of MMR and Chain Drug Review, carries out with alacrity and a degree of professionalism is that of bringing buyers and sellers together, of greasing the table where buyers and sellers can meet and move their businesses forward. So it was on a chilly Tuesday
On Thursday, March 3, the editors of Racher Press, publisher of Chain Drug Review and MMR, gathered together five industry-leading personalities to discuss the state of the world and the retailing industry. Without naming names, those on hand included a senior executive with one of the nation’s leading food retailers, two senior consumer packaged goods
Now that all the seers, soothsayers and pundits have weighed in with their predictions and forecasts for 2022, many claiming infallibility, it’s our turn. But rather than tell you, with total certainty, how things will turn out, we’ll raise five key industry questions — and, of course, provide the answers. • Will the National Association
The National Association of Chain Drug Stores is back in business. In mid-January, NACDS convened its once annual Regional Chain Conference in Palm Beach, Fla., site of the association’s legendary Annual Meeting, an event scheduled for this April, at The Breakers in Palm Beach. Viewed from any angle, the Regional Chain event was a smashing
As we relive American retailing history, which we occasionally do, we’re reminded that Kmart, once the largest general merchandise retailer in the United States, has dwindled a bit in size. The current store count for the former Troy, Mich., dynamo is … five. Five? That’s correct. In mid-January, Kmart’s holding company announced that it plans
Later this year, 60 years will have passed since the first Walmart opened its doors in Rogers, Ark., the town that borders the retailer’s Bentonville headquarters. Put another way, most Americans don’t remember the United States without a Walmart at which to shop or peruse or merely gossip about or await the day when the
What’s going on at CVS? Are these dramatic moves that were announced recently by the Woonsocket, R.I.-based drug chain the preface to a new beginning or an admission that all is not running as smoothly as the chain drug industry and one of its premier retailers had hoped? That’s the question most on industry minds
This newspaper has no more committed — and significant — supporter than Scott Emerson. To those few in our retail audience who, unfortunately for them, have not yet taken advantage of the many benefits Emerson has to offer, some background information is in order. Scott Emerson is the founder, chief executive and primary motivator of
Late last month, the editors of Mass Market Retailers, sister publication of Chain Drug Review, hosted a reception and dinner in Chicago. The occasion was to recognize several of the growing number of women who are starting to lead and shape mass market retailing. The event was noteworthy for several reasons. For openers, there were
One such gathering that has recently emerged as a go-to event is the annual meeting sponsored, assembled, coordinated and managed by the Emerson Group, a leading and much-emulated organization that excels at bringing buyers and sellers together to meet, exchange ideas, swap secrets and, not incidentally, buy and sell products. A recent adjunct to this
As the year 2021 winds down, one story dominates, not only marking the current year as indelible, but taking its rightful, yet rueful, place as one the most memorable periods in any year, and indeed any decade. The event that has made 2021 so painfully memorable is of course COVID-19, among the most devastating and
The feeling here, expressed by an unwavering chain drug supporter, is that our industry has lost momentum in recent times, that the emphasis on innovation that once characterized this industry and set it apart is no longer as visible or as game-changing as it once was. Many chain drug store participants and observers will certainly
One could argue, with some degree of logic and certainty, that the most intriguing and significant competition in today’s mass retail community is the duel between Walmart and Amazon. Certainly the stakes are high — with the two retailers occupying the very top rungs of the retail ladder. Then, too, each approaches the market in
