Best of Pax Westona: April 2020

• How Dave Lewis fixed ailing supermarket giant Tesco (FT)
• The workers who make American work (NYT)
• The king of venture capital (Forbes)
• How consumer goods companies can prepare for the next normal (McKinsey)
• The death of the department store (NYT)
• Companies should shift from 'just in time' to 'just in case' (FT)
• What managers get wrong about capital (HBR)
• The war on coffee (The New Yorker)
• Closing the restaurant that was my life (NYT)
• How the pandemic will change the face of retail (The Atlantic)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Sympathy cards are selling out (NYT)
• Tyson Foods helped create the meat crisis it's now warning about (Bloomberg)
• Women are buying 'Essential AF' shirts, candles, and wine glasses (The Atlantic)
• Why am I paying $60 for that bag of rice on Amazon (The Markup)
• Monopoly maker gets big lift from lockdown (WSJ)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Bezos takes back the wheel at Amazon (NYT)
• The scramble for delivery robots is on and startups can barely keep up (WSJ)
• How the pandemic will change the face of retail (The Atlantic)
• Why does everyone but me have a sunburst mirror (Vox)
• Foodora to exit Canada just months after workers won the right to unionize (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Closing the restaurant that was my life (NYT)
• Grocery upstarts race to exploit food delivery overload (Bloomberg)
• Avocados are in, pork bellies out in the era of pandemic eating (Bloomberg)
• Grocers hunt for meat as Coronavirus hobbles beef and pork plants (WSJ)
• Retail M&A and partnerships after COVID-19 (McKinsey)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• The war on coffee (The New Yorker)
• Victoria's Secret sale at risk as buyer blames virus response (NYT)
• Amazon scooped up data from its own customers to launch competing products (WSJ)
• What grocery store upstarts say they're facing amid the Coronavirus pandemic (Vox)
• Here's why you can't find frozen fries while farmers are sitting on tons of potatoes (Reuters)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• What managers get wrong about capital (HBR)
• These photos show the staggering food bank lines across America (Mother Jones)
• Calling me a hero only makes you feel better (The Atlantic)
• Nina Balducci, who shaped a famed grocery store, dies at 91 (NYT)
• From the archives (2010): Walmart tries to unmask its opponents (WSJ)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Sysco goes direct-to-consumer with new online grocery service (Globe and Mail)
• The death of the department store (NYT)
• Companies should shift from 'just in time' to 'just in case' (FT)
• The state of the restaurant industry (Open Table)
• Surge in demand sees Robin Hood flour running out of its iconic yellow bags (CBC)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• People are finally cooking more (NYT)
• How consumer goods companies can prepare for the next normal (McKinsey)
• Even in Paris, homemade sourdough is inevitable (Grub Street)
• Lord & Taylor explores bankruptcy as stores shut down in Coronavirus pandemic (Reuters)
• Fandango just purchased Vudu from Walmart to better compete against Amazon, iTunes (The Verge)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Grocery stores scrambling to keep up with online orders (CBC)
• As Amazon rises, so does the opposition (NYT)
• Connecting with customers during a crisis (McKinsey)
• The crash of the $8.5 billion flower trade (Bloomberg)
• How retailers can reach consumers who aren't spending (HBR)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Neiman Marcus to file for bankruptcy as soon as this week (Reuters)
• Re-imagining food retail in Asia after COVID-19 (McKinsey)
• How restaurants will try to convince diners its safe to return (Bloomberg)
• The supermarket after the pandemic (The Atlantic)
• The food workers on the coronavirus front line (The Guardian)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Costco is thriving amid the pandemic. Its workers say they're paying the price (Buzzfeed)
• A global view of how consumer behaviour is changing amid COVID-19 (McKinsey)
• Wuhan's 11 million residents are free to dine out. But they aren't (Bloomberg)
• How many more great restaurants will New York lose (Grub Street)
• From the archives (2016): David Chang's unified theory of deliciousness (Wired)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• The hard truth about innovative cultures (HBR)
• Pretty catastrophic month for retailers, and now a race to survive (NYT)
• This is how America drinks now (Vox)
• 'Animal Crossing' gives Nintendo new horizons (WSJ)
• Quick-service restaurants in coronavirus times (McKinsey)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Food waste of the pandemic (NYT)
• JD.com vs TMall (Jing Daily)
• What the hell is going on at Trader Joe's (Eater)
• U.S. food supply chain is strained as virus spreads (NYT)
• How The Rolling Stones made tequila a hit (The Daily Beast)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Trader Joe's employees say virus response was haphazard and chaotic (Bloomberg)
• It's time to rewire the fashion system (McKinsey)
• Our health is in danger. Wellness wants to fill the void (NYT)
• Playing the delivery slot lottery during COVID-19 (Bloomberg)
• Farmers dump milk, break eggs as Coronavirus restaurant closings destroy demand (WSJ)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• The king of venture capital (Forbes)
• Sneeze guards, temperature checks are new normal for retail (Bloomberg)
• Amazon isn't the only shop online (WSJ)
• Amazon's shifting definition of what is 'essential' (The Markup)
• Coronavirus hits meat plants as some workers get sick, others stay home (WSJ)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Processed foods make a pandemic comeback (NYT)
• 'Mamma Desta' made Ethiopian food an American fascination. So why did fame elude her (Vox)
• Retail landlords in talks on rent relief amid Canada shutdown (Bloomberg)
• Baking bread in Lyon (The New Yorker)
• From the archives (1994): Weston civilization (Vanity Fair)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Grocery store executives get a taste of the hard life on Coronavirus front lines (Financial Post)
• The workers who make American work (NYT)
• Retailers to shoppers - we want you, but in smaller numbers (Fortune)
• Why we crave bread - and where to get it (WSJ)
• Bed Bath & Beyond sues 1-800-FLOWERS for trying to renege on deal over COVID-19 (Reuters)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• What stockpiling during the Coronavirus crisis reveals about us (The Guardian)
• Is this the end of influencing as we know it (Vanity Fair)
• Corona beer to halt production amid Coronavirus outbreak (NYT)
• The month Coronavirus felled business (WSJ)
• Grocers implement one-way aisles (Grocery Dive)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Building an e-commerce business: Lessons on moving fast (McKinsey)
• As supermarkets feel hazardous and sparse, small farms deliver (NYT)
• Factory workers join grocery clerks on front lines (Bloomberg)
• With bars and restaurants closed, boozing at home is booming (Fast Company)
• As e-commerce demand surges, seniors and other vulnerable shoppers are in need of delivery services (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Amazon picks Southern California for second grocery-concept site (Bloomberg)
• Five actions retail supply chains can take to navigate the supply chain pandemic (McKinsey)
• Dean & Deluca files for bankruptcy, still hopes to reopen stores (Bloomberg)
• The Coronavirus delivery pivot is already coming to an end (Eater)
• From the archives (2004):The ketchup conundrum (The New Yorker)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Reinventing the direct-to-consumer business model (HBR)
• Amazon workers face high risks and few options (Wired)
• Bangladesh garment workers face ruin (NYT)
• The return of the barter economy (Bloomberg)
• Amazon auditions to be the 'new Red Cross' (FT)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• How Dave Lewis fixed ailing supermarket giant Tesco (FT)
• How can't-close retailers are keeping workers safe (HBR)
• How to buy luxury products, groceries wholesale amid crisis (Bloomberg)
• Why brands have so little to say during the pandemic (Fast Company)
• Whole Foods delivery workers say Amazon is failing to protect them (The Intercept)