Best of Pax Westona: November 2019

• Inside Walmart's corporate culture clash over e-commerce (Bloomberg)
• The everything town in the middle of nowhere (The Verge)
• The grocery store where produce meets politics (The New Yorker)
• The direct-to-consumer reckoning (BoF)
• Packaging: A $1.2 trillion sector going through a re-think (Rita McGrath)
• Warby Parker wants to be the Warby Parker of contacts (Bloomberg)
• How our home delivery habit reshaped the world (The Guardian)
• The real problem with Paula Deen (Eater)
• Ruthless quotas at Amazon are maiming employees (The Atlantic)
• Big Calculator: How Texas Instruments dominated math class (Gen)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• The great, American eye-exam scam (The Atlantic)
• Shoppers are buying more generic brands (Bloomberg)
• Bernard Arnault bought Tiffany. Who is he (NYT)
• How 'calming' drinks made with adaptogens and CBD took over (Eater)
• From the archives (2004): Grocer Metro no longer le premier choix (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Big Calculator: How Texas Instruments dominated math class (Gen)
• Impossible Foods eyes doubling valuation with new funding (Reuters)
• Chasing Amazon, retailers are in a never-ending arms race (NYT)
• Couche-Tard makes $5.8 billion bid for Australia's Caltex (Globe and Mail)
• Meet the $50 strawberries that top NYC chefs are fawning over (Eater)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Why robots should learn to build crappy IKEA furniture (Wired)
• Grocery-carrying robots are coming. Do we need them (NYT)
• Ruthless quotas at Amazon are maiming employees (The Atlantic)
• If that was the retail apocalypse then where are the refugees (WP)
• Toronto's Knix Wear raises venture capital to take on lingerie giant Victoria's Secret (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Fake meat companies are racing to 3D-print steaks (Bloomberg)
• Welcome to the button wars (WSJ)
• The real problem with Paula Deen (Eater)
• The life and death of the local hardware store (NYT)
• Judge dismisses Subway's $210M lawsuit against CBC over chicken sandwich expose (CBC)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Amazon throws spaghetti on the grocery wall (Bloomberg)
• Amazon has become America's CEO factory (WSJ)
• Rona's tragedy in three acts (Financial Post)
• Metro to increase use of self-checkout as it copes with labour crunch (Globe and Mail)
• Unilever, Henkel, and buyout funds eye bids for Coty's $7 billion beauty brands (Reuters)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• How our home delivery habit reshaped the world (The Guardian)
• Talent may be shifting away from superstar cities (CityLab)
• Kroger dials back overhaul as sales sputter (WSJ)
• The state of fashion 2020: Navigating uncertainty (McKinsey)
• From the archives (2006): Metro looking west for more acquisitions (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Warby Parker wants to be the Warby Parker of contacts (Bloomberg)
• Why Walmart is turning its new headquarters into a walkable town square (Curbed)
• The delicate balance of making an ecosystem strategy work (HBR)
• Better-paid, better-educated jobs face the most exposure to AI (Brookings)
• Why the 'Amazon of the East' isn't worried about big brands selling direct to customer (Fortune)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• The direct-to-consumer reckoning (BoF)
• Bricks and mortar is dead. Let's open a store (NYT)
• Walmart plays catchup in Amazon e-commerce battle (FT)
• AmEx is paying up to get businesses to accept its cards (WSJ)
• Packaging: A $1.2 trillion sector going through a re-think (Rita McGrath)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• The grocery store where produce meets politics (The New Yorker)
• Why so many CEOs don't realize they have a bad jobs problem (HBR)
• Kylie Jenner sells $600 million stake in her beauty company (WSJ)
• Chobani expands beyond the yogurt aisle with a big bet on oat milk (Fortune)
• How leading retailers and consumer brand can strategize for consumer-data privacy and personalization at scale (McKinsey)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• The everything town in the middle of nowhere (The Verge)
• To make this tofu, start by burning plastic (NYT)
• A look at artificial intelligence in the consumer packaged goods industry (Bain)
• Why certain shoppers steal at self-checkout (CBC)
• Those Amazon returns? They're killing the environment (Bloomberg)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Inside the startling, chaotic rise of Alibaba's Singles Day (Wired)
• Here's how KKR could take Walgreens private in biggest LBO (Bloomberg)
• Why pop-up shops are suddenly everywhere (The Atlantic)
• Inside Walmart's corporate culture clash over e-commerce (Bloomberg)
• From the archives (2016): In praise of the Yukon Gold potato (Macleans)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Hard seltzer craze makes White Claw maker a billionaire (Bloomberg)
• The human cost of chicken farming (The Atlantic)
• You need to prioritize sleep (Wired)
• Tesco seeks to gain edge over rivals with Clubcard subscription service (FT)
• Biggest U.S. milk company Dean Foods files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (WSJ)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Second Cup to change name to Aegis Brands (Globe and Mail)
• French baguettes from a vending machine. 'What a tragedy' (NYT)
• Amazon confirms plans to launch grocery store under new brand (Bloomberg)
• Alibaba seals $38 billion Singles Day record (Bloomberg)
• How targeted ads and dynamic pricing can perpetuate bias (HBR)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Truly Canadian? American-owned RONA removes sign after complaint (CBC)
• The impossible alchemy of Barney's at Saks (NYT)
• Indigo plans new merchandise to save itself - but will it be enough (The Star)
• Is Lowe's repeating Target's mistakes in Canada (Globe and Mail)
• Inside Maple Lea Foods' bold call to become carbon neutral (The Chronicle Herald)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Should your cat be vegan (WSJ)
• The movement to streamline skincare (The Guardian)
• The USDA is turning spinach red to boost consumption (Quartz)
• Yandex is testing autonomous robot delivery in Moscow (Engadget)
• Delivery drivers for Instacart, Postmates and others say algorithms are destabilizing their pay (WP)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Is Toronto too downmarket for Eataly (Globe and Mail)
• Mattel, PwC obscured accounting issues, former executive says (WSJ)
• How bubble tea became a complicated symbol of American-Asian identity (Eater)
• Top chefs pick their favourite pie in America (Bloomberg)
• From the archives (1968): What it's like to live in Toyland (Macleans)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Inside Amazon’s plan for Alexa to run your entire life (MIT TR)
• Get ready to try the Impossible Burger of ice cream (Grub Street)
• Plant-based meat get their beefy taste from flavorists (WP)
• Beauty giant Coty tries on a smaller size (WSJ)
• UPS delivers prescription medications to US homes by drone for the first time (The Verge)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Walgreens has explored taking the drug store chain private (Reuters)
• Walmart appears to be gaining ground against Amazon (CNBC)
• The seedless lemon revolution has taken root in California (LA Times)
• Walmart’s strategy when wading into the culture wars: Offend few (NYT)
• Casino, Intermarche probed by EU over French supermarket probe (Bloomberg)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• The sun rises on Wegman's (The New Yorker)
• Amazon drops grocery delivery fee as competitors close in (Reuters)
• Finally, a great single-cup coffee brewer (Wired)
• Before food took over reality TV, there was 'The Restaurant' (Eater)
• The 2019 holiday season: Shoppers are ready to spend but retailers need to personalize (McKinsey)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• The trouble with chocolate (WP)
• Stitch Fix is diving deep into data for a more tailored experience (Fortune)
• Food delivery looks like another gig economy dead end (Bloomberg)
• The making of high-tech kosher and halal meat (Quartz)
• J.C. Penney plots a comeback (WSJ)

Best of Pax Westona: October 2019

• The market for alternative proteins (McKinsey)
• How Irish butter Kerrygold conquered America's kitchens (Bloomberg)
• Taking on the tortilla industry (NYT)
• Jeff Bezos's master plan (The Atlantic)
• Is Amazon unstoppable (The New Yorker)
• Flour power: Meet the bread heads baking a better loaf (The Guardian)
• Inside beauty brand Deciem's ambitious comeback (Vogue)
• Online advertisers tell you what to buy, advertisers wonder who's listening (WSJ)
• The great Texas whiskey boom (Texas Monthly)
• How homeopathy went from fringe medicine to the grocery aisle (Vox)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Why do people hate vegans (The Guardian)
• Meet Maangchi, the internet's favourite Korean home cook (The Verge)
• The future of food. Meatless? (McKinsey)
• Altria cuts value of Juul stake by $4.5 billion (WSJ)
• From the archives (1994): Home Depot buys Aikenhead's in Canada (NYT)