Best of Pax Westona: January 2020

• The rise and fall of the '90s muffin (The Star)
• America loves its unregulated wellness chemicals (The Atlantic)
• Lessons from the rise and fall of Toms shoes (BoF)
• Cashmere country: The perils of making the world's finest fabric (The Guardian)
• The failure of the Forever 21 empire (Bloomberg)
• Shopify, the e-commerce company that's coming for Amazon (Vox)
• The future of work in CPG (McKinsey)
• They changed the way you buy the basics (NYT)
• They like that soft bread (The Bitter Southerner)
• Why Sarah Davis is the leader Loblaw needs now (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Grocery delivery goes small with micro-fulfillment centers (WSJ)
• What's to hate about Dry January (Eater)
• Caraflex is the ultimate cabbage flex (Taste)
• They like that soft bread (The Bitter Southerner)
• From the archives (2008): Ontario's store wars marching westward (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Why Sarah Davis is the leader Loblaw needs now (Globe and Mail)
• How Treorchy became UK's best high street (The Guardian)
• Kraft Heinz CEO, pushing for growth, separates winners and losers (WSJ)
• Discovery is lost in e-commerce. How can grocers improve (Grocery Dive)
• Simon Property, Authentic Brands consider buying Forever 21 (Bloomberg)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• How Under Armour lost its edge (NYT)
• Bathroom brands need to come clean on recycling (The Guardian)
• Nestle buys Allergan business to expand in medical nutrition (Reuters)
• Canopy delays cannabis beverage launch at most inopportune time (Bloomberg)
• Halo Top does keto; craft beer taps into oat milk craze (Food Dive)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• The future of work in CPG (McKinsey)
• They changed the way you buy the basics (NYT)
• Food delivery services feeling pressure to finally turn a profit (Fortune)
• The pharmacist is out: Supermarkets closing pharmacy counters (WSJ)
• Get ready for a direct-to-consumer shakeout in 2020 (Venture Beat)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Shopify, the e-commerce company that's coming for Amazon (Vox)
• Tesco's plastics purge: What took so long (The Guardian)
• Greeting cards retailer files for bankruptcy, plans to close stores (WSJ)
• How private equity wrecked New York's favourite grocery (Bloomberg)
• Trader Joe's Two Buck Chuck is $2 again (in California) (Food & Wine)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• After culinary and literary acclaim, she's moving to the woods (NYT) 
• Why Americans call ethnic foods by the wrong name (Quartz)
• The true story of Q (Taiwan Business Topics)
• In 1930s New York, the mayor took on the mafia by banning artichokes (Gastro Obscura)
• From the archives (2005): Canadian Tire banks on Q (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Low on food, blizzard-weary St. John's shoppers head straight to supermarkets (CBC)
• People still want plastic bottles, says Coca-Cola (BBC)
• Aldi to become UK's 'best-paying supermarket' (The Guardian)
• Ola proved itself smarter than Uber in India's food tech space (Quartz)
• Is a supermarket discount coupon worth giving away your privacy (LA Times)

Stephan's Wednesday Pics

• God save lard bread (Taste)
• Sears woes hit hometown stores (WSJ)
• Uber sells its food delivery business in India to Zomato (BBC)
• How Jean-Georges Vongerichten went from 'no-good kid' to 4-star chef (NYT)
• Our current food system can only feed 3.4 billion people sustainably (The New Scientist)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• The failure of the Forever 21 empire (Bloomberg)
• The 100-year-old unstoppable restauranteur (Food & Wine)
• Milk was an American staple. Now the industry is in trouble (Time)
• Cash, plastic or hand? Amazon envisions paying with a wave (WSJ)
• MEC's next steps: How the outdoor and sports retailer plans to stay in the race (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Thai tycoons may find Tesco is closed (Bloomberg)
• The advance of cultured meat (The Guardian)
• Farewell to the Sobeys bag (Globe and Mail)
• Amazon Prime's numbers (and influence) continue to grow (Fortune)
• Walmart opened a meatpacking plant. What does it mean for the beef industry (New Food Economy)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Stores must now tell you how they're tracking your every move (Wired)
• A bad time to be average (BCG)
• E-commerce and consumers. Can retailers meet rising demands (Knowledge@Wharton)
• Gap backs away from plan to spin off Old Navy (Bloomberg)
• From the archives (2006): Wal-Mart finds that its formula doesn't fit every culture (NYT)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• America's favourite poison (The Atlantic)
• The crisp flavours went from simple to sensational (The Guardian)
• Top consumer trends for 2020 (WSJ)
• Plastic to go containers are bad. But are the alternatives any better (Civil Eats)
• Just about every store at the mall is struggling. Then there's Bath & Body Works (WP)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Amazon publishes books by top authors, and rivals fret (WSJ)
• Away CEO is back, just weeks after stepping down (NYT)
• Walmart expands its robotic workforce to 650 additional stores (Bloomberg)
• America drank less wine for first time in 25 years (WSJ)
• Albertsons prepares for an IPO, again (WSJ)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• How a Wisconsin farmer became the big cheese (WSJ)
• Cashmere country: The perils of making the world's finest fabric (The Guardian)
• The midlife crisis of the American Restaurant Review (LA Review of Books)
• Global food prices jump to five-year high (Bloomberg)
• Pure growth from natural products (BCG)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Why we're approaching peak meat in America (The Atlantic)
• The power of algorithmic forecasting (BCG)
• The secret life of the supermarket shopper (Stanford GSB)
• Amazon takes a swipe at PayPal's $4 billion acquisition (Wired)
• A survival guide to Eataly (Toronto Life)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Welcome to Walmart. The robot will grab your groceries (WSJ)
• Almond milk is even more evil than you thought (The Cut)
• Boots launches business review as sales slide (FT)
• Grubhub considers strategic options including possible sale (WSJ)
• From the archives (2017): The unstoppable rise of Aldi and Lidl (Handelsblatt)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Caltex Australia attracts more suitors in possible $6 billion bidding war (Reuters)
• Will China buy fake meat (NYT)
• McDonald's expands Beyond Meat burger trial (Globe and Mail)
• Don't mistake execution for strategy (HBR)
• Borden Dairy files for bankruptcy (WSJ)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Blue eggs and salt? Restaurant freebies get fancy (WSJ)
• Lessons from the rise and fall of Toms shoes (BoF)
• Impossible Foods debuts its first plant-based pork products (Bloomberg)
• Lululemon founder Chip Wilson: Under Armour 'lost it many years ago' (CNBC)
• Hundreds to lose jobs to automation, consolidation at two Loblaw distribution centres (CBC)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• McDonald's looks beyond party culture (WSJ)
• Tim Hortons launches Timbits breakfast cereal (CBC)
• The entrepreneur stopping food waste (BBC)
• Hudson's Bay minority shareholders win after sweetened bid (Bloomberg)
• Cocoa cartel stirs up global chocolate market (WSJ)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• America loves its unregulated wellness chemicals (The Atlantic)
• Here's why milk comes in bags in some parts of Canada (CBC)
• In a burger world, can Sweetgreen scale up (NYT)
• Inside the world of one of YouTube's most popular food vloggers (Vox)
• Where to find America's best cheese (WSJ)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Online shoppers learn their own tricks for outwitting sellers (WSJ)
• The vegan jerky industrial complex (Taste)
• The cooking show at the end of the road (Eater)
• How a sip of Coca-Cola could cure all that ails Tim Hortons (National Post)
• From the archives (2000): Don't be undersold (HBR)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• For worst-performing industry of 2019, only way out is to shrink (Bloomberg)
• How frugality got its groove back (WSJ)
• By calorie, broccoli is a bigger carbon emitter than chicken (Quartz)
• The rise and fall of the '90s muffin (The Star)
• Asia's richest man unveils online store (Bloomberg)