Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Are grocers ready for digital (L2)
• This miracle weed killer was supposed to save farms. Instead its devastating them (Washington Post)
• Organic Doritos give snack giant a way into Whole Foods (Bloomberg)
• Carrefour develops first sustainable zero-residue pear (Carrefour)
• Sears Canada executive chairman rushing to assemble takeover bid (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• How Amazon is assembling the future of grocery (Oliver Wyman)
• The real price of those cheaper avocados (Slate)
• Target is launching a line of $5 wines (Food and Wine)
• How the Amazon-Whole Foods merger shrinks food deserts (Brookings)
• Walmart brings third-party selling to Canadian website as competition grows (CBC)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• The Amazon effect: How prices dropped at Whole Foods (NYT)
• Amazon cuts prices as much as 43% on first day (Bloomberg)
• Packaged-food companies revamp effort fall short for investors (WSJ)
• The tater tot is America ingenuity at its finest (Eater)
• Drones relay RFID signals for inventory control (MIT)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Costco is playing a dangerous game with the web (Bloomberg)
• Why Amazon is such a threat to the grocery industry (The Atlantic)
• Today's fancy fridges can do almost anything. Except hold magnets (WSJ)
• Wal-Mart is buying trendy e-commerce sites. The cool kids are not having it (LA Times)
• How quirky Home Hardware is battling the big box chains. And winning (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Management is much more than a science (HBR)
• Target bets big on in-house brands (Business of Fashion)
• The battle between Amazon and Alibaba were be over warehouse space (Quartz)
• For some craft brewers, sales are tapping out (WSJ)
• Amazon to cut prices at Whole Foods after acquisition closes (Bloomberg)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Head of America's largest grocer talks Amazon and ugly tomatoes (WSJ)
• A wild vision of the future run by Amazon and Whole Foods (Fast Company)
• Farm of the future: Why we invested in square roots (Collaborative Fund)
• The Guardian view on grocery wars (The Guardian)
• Whole Foods shareholders say yes to Amazon deal (Bloomberg)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Google and Walmart partner with eye on Amazon (NYT)
• What does Amazon do (Quartz)
• Walmart expands grocery service with Uber to two more markets (Financial Post)
• Vanilla price surge hits high end ice cream (FT)
• This giant automated cricket farm is designed to make bugs a mainstream source of protein (Fast Company)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• How Gatorade invented new products by revisiting old ones (HBR)
• Scientists just revolutionized coffee creamer (Slash Gear)
• Inside Aldi's push to dominate discount retailing in the US (Food Dive)
• How this upstart ice cream company began outselling Ben & Jerry's and Haagen Dazs (Inc)
• Why do dry cleaners charge less for men's shirts than from women's (Slate)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• How Driscoll's reinvented the strawberry (The New Yorker)
• CIBC divorce from PC Financial shines light on bruised loyalty card industry (National Post)
• Electronic shelf edge labelling: Supermarkets step up tests (The Grocer)
• Tesco to sell tiny avocados in response to global supply shortage (The Guardian)
• Craft beer is transforming post-industrial neighbourhoods (CityLab)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Fast fashion slow to e-commerce (Business of Fashion)
• Stella Artois makes meal-kit entry in Canada (just-drinks)
• Amazon brings it to you (Robin Report)
• Jack Ma is ahead of Jeff Bezos in grocery store ambitions (Bloomberg)
• Target isn't winning the food fight (Gadfly)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• End of the checkout line: The looming crisis for American cashiers (The Guardian)
• Amazon's latest delivery estimate: 2 minutes (MIT Technology Review)
• How Thrive Market became the country's hottest online natural and organic market (Food Dive) 
• Sainsbury's puts Nisa takeover on hold over competition concerns (Reuters)
• The risks of a face full of yogurt (Bloomberg)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Behind the hype of 'lab-grown' meat (Gizmodo)
• Amazon looks to new food technology for home delivery (Reuters)
• How department stores changed the way we shopped (BBC)
• Jana takes stake in Blue Apron (WSJ)
• Metro battles rising competition and minimum wage increases with e-commerce push (Financial Post)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• The incredible shrinking Sears (NYT)
• Amazon owns a whole collection of secret brands (Quartz)
• What brands are actually behind Trader Joe's snacks (Eater)
• Activist fund Corvex targets Danone (Bloomberg)
• How Kool-Aid has stayed so popular for so long (Ad Week)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• At Walmart Academy, training better managers, but with a better future? (NYT)
• Aldi enters grocery delivery in partnership with Instacart (Reuters)
• Americans discover the Orwellian beauty of No Name brand (Financial Post)
• Regional grocery stores feel the squeeze (WSJ)
• DIY artificial intelligence comes to a Japanese family farm (New Yorker)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• This Keurig-for-Froyo makes individual servings of frozen yogurt with no mess (Bloomberg)
• Loblaw CEO strikes back against claim of 'sabotage' on minimum-wage hike (Globe and Mail)
• How the 'battling' Kellogg brothers revolutionized American breakfast (NPR)
• Dairies' fix for souring milk: genetics and bananas (WSJ)
• Instagram is ruining food, and I might be the only one who cares (Boston Globe)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Inside the secret world of global food spies (Bloomberg)
• The man who wrote those password rules has a new tip: N3v$r M1^d (WSJ)
• Discount retailers make a move (Robin Report)
• Sainsbury's cost-saving measures will cut 1,000 head-office jobs (The Guardian)
• Lidl appoints new head of digital at Germany business (ESM)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Beyond bankruptcy: How failed stores come back online (WSJ)
• The secret life of the city banana (NYT)
• Kraft's sales to grocery stores sputter while growth stays elusive (Bloomberg)
• Nestle Pure Life relaunches brand (Packaging World)
• How Blue Buffalo plows its way to search success (L2)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Brands fight over nutrition facts labels (WSJ)
• Thousands line up to get a job at Amazon (Washington Post)
• What digital disruptors can teach traditional retailers (K@W)
• Coffee is Amazon's most popular grocery item (Food and Wine)
• Mondelez's self-aware CEO pick (Gadfly)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Meat industry blamed for largest-ever 'dead zone' in Gulf of Mexico (The Guardian)
• Food giants say they're ready for Amazon, but Wall Street is skeptical (Bloomberg)
• What's behind JD.com's China e-commerce ascent (L2)
• Amazon's new robo-picker champion is proudly inhuman (MIT Technology Review)
• Peltz, P&G expect to spend $60 million on record proxy fight (Bloomberg)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Why the hatchet men of 3G spent $10 million on a better Oscar Mayer Weiner (Bloomberg)
• Reshaping 'retail-tainment' in the Middle-East and beyond (McKinsey)
• P&G hits back at Peltz, says investor not entitled to board seat (Reuters)
• Why the meal kit business is increasingly on our menu (Financial Post)
• Big data and first degree price discrimination (Bruegel)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• The online grocery trends is coming at a vulnerable time for gum and candy companies (Quartz)
• Private equity and retail - a match made for striking (Retail Dive)
• Joe Fresh to expand into plus sizes with fall line (CBC)
• Metro to buy majority stake in meal kit service (Globe and Mail)
• Walmart Canada cancels grocery pickup fee (CBC)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Supermarkets face a growing problem: Too much space (WSJ)
• Wisconsin company offers microchip implants to employees (CBC)
• Cheap eggs flood U.S. grocery stores (WSJ)
• Chemistry prof studying ways to keep frozen lobster fresh (CBC)
• Are the wines from Costco, Amazon or Whole Foods any good (Bloomberg)

Best of Pax Westona: July 2016

• Albertsons CEO on his life, work, stores, and Amazon (Idaho Statesman)
• Inside Hampton Creek's empty boardroom (Bloomberg)
• AI may soon replace even the most elite consultants (HBR)
• Betting on things that never change (Collaborative Fund)
• P&G chief executive wrestles with changing an 'insular' culture (FT)
• Big Food's next big problem: Supermarket brands (WSJ)
• Brittain Ladd: A beautiful way to save Woolworth's (Linkedin)
• Is the famous 'paradox of choice' a myth (PBS)
• Tren Griffin: A dozen things I've learned from Jim Sinegal (25iq)
• America's most venerable brands are struggling (WSJ)