Best of Pax Westona: September 2020

• The end of open-plan everything (The Atlantic)
• Beer, Band Aids, and Ben & Jerry's (Forbes)
• It's time for grocery retailers to simplify (BCG)
• Stop over-engineering people management (HBR)
• The high price of salmon farming (The Guardian)
• Fear rules: Part II (Roger Martin)
• The race to redesign sugar (The New Yorker)
• Indigo's Heather Reisman on balance e-commerce development with bricks and mortar (Globe and Mail)
• Shaping the consumer of the future (Bain)
• How great supply chain organizations work (McKinsey)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Why American Eagle is the last mall brand standing (Fast Company)
• Gas station billionaires in running to buy Asda from Walmart (Bloomberg)
• The consumer data give and take  (Deloitte)
• Whole Foods CEO says Amazon merger enabled long-term thinking (Bloomberg)
• Food insecurity is hurting Canadians physical and mental health, social life, and ability to find work (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• How great supply chain organizations work (McKinsey)
• Grocers stockpile, build 'pandemic pallets' ahead of winter (WSJ)
• How Amazon conquered Italy in the pandemic (NYT)
• Kellogg's Nigel Hughes discusses innovation in the COVID era (McKinsey)
• Amazon to add another 3,500 employees to its Canadian work force (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Consumers with allergies - A growing market that remains under-served (McKinsey)
• How McCain Foods' CEO steered the french fry giant through COVID-19 (Globe and Mail)
• Shaping the consumer of the future (Bain)
• Demand for sports equipment and home gyms booms as Canadians prepare for pandemic winter (CBC)
• Meet the secretive billionaire who makes McDonalds' McNuggets, Burger King's Impossible Whopper and more (Forbes)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Ulta Beauty shelves plans for Canadian expansion (Globe and Mail)
• Aldi and Lidl at back of the queue during pandemic (FT)
• Indigo's Heather Reisman on balance e-commerce development with bricks and mortar (Globe and Mail)
• Beyond TikTok, Walmart looks to transform (NYT)
• From the archives (2006): Giant Tiger on the prowl (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• In China, paying with your face is a hard sell (WSJ)
• The race to redesign sugar (The New Yorker)
• Walmart expands fashion focus with new clothing line (CNBC)
• Canadians are buying record number goods. Services, not so much (Globe and Mail)
• Grocery bills are set to go higher and it's not just because of the pandemic (Financial Post)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Six problem-solving mindsets for very uncertain times (McKinsey)
• Fear rules: Part II (Roger Martin)
• Loblaw to resume fines on light shipments (Financial Post)
• Group of Co-op members raises funds to fight MEC's sale (Globe and Mail)
• Meat was once in short supply. Now it's on sale (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Canadian megamall developer's U.S. project on shaky ground due to pandemic (CBC)
• Couche-Tard founders to lose special voting rights (Globe and Mail)
• The high price of salmon farming (The Guardian)
• Coffee rust is going to ruin your morning (The Atlantic)
• Is Walmart letting Amazon set the rules (Retail Dive)

 Stephan's Monday PIcks

• Grocery tech star Ocado is a bet on big warehouses (WSJ)
• H-E-B jumps into micro fulfillment (Retail Dive)
• Why is everything sold out right now (The Atlantic)
• U.S. will delay TikTok app store ban as Trump supports Oracle-Walmart deal (CBC)
• How Amazon automated its work and put its people to better use (HBR)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Chipotle CEO on Coronavirus, online ordering, and delivery (Bloomberg)
• World isn't meeting biodiversity goals, UN report says (Globe and Mail)
• PepsiCo to launch drink to aid sleep as consumers struggle with stress (CNBC)
• How retailers should prepare for a weird COVID-19 Black Friday (Bloomberg)
• From the archives (2016): Canadian Tire ousts CEO, reinstates predecessor in surprise move (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Kraft Heinz to sell part of cheese business for $3.2 billion (WSJ)
• Why 600 books are being published on Thursday (BBC)
• Oatly said to plan 2021 IPO (Bloomberg)
• Tensions mount as Walmart starts chargin suppliers to pay for its retail revamp (Financial Post)
• MEC faces objectives to proposed deal to sell business to U.S. investment firm (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Loblaw makes $75 million investment in telemedicine provider Maple (Globe and Mail)
• Why swanky grocery stores are rare in Australia (The Guardian)
• Aldi UK trials click-and-collect grocery service (Reuters)
• How Hermes got away from LVMH - and thrived (The Economist)
• Hershey maps trick-or-treating risks in hopes Coronavirus won't scare off Halloween sales (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• MEC to be acquired by private U.S. investment firm (CBC)
• Stop over-engineering people management (HBR)
• Hao Noodle's Zhu Rong on reopening in China and New York (Grub Street)
• Amazon's relentless growth means more hiring, more offices (WSJ)
• Loblaw moves back into banking three years after cutting ties with CIBC (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• The rise of dark stores (Fast Company)
• Diseased chicken for dinner? The USDA is considering it (Bloomberg)
• Winning the future of retail with real estate (BCG)
• Whole Foods CEO says many people done with grocery stores (WSJ)
• Memo to the CFO: A new approach to 2021 budgeting starts now (McKinsey)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• It's time for grocery retailers to simplify (BCG)
• Walmart to test drone delivery of grocery, household items (Reuters)
• Amazon's murky world of one-star reviews (BBC)
• 10 food trends for the next decade (WSJ)
• From the archives (2013): Why Canadians are paying more at Target (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• The two men buying your favourite retailers (NYT)
• Retail is having a Darwin moment that will change it forever (Fast Company)
• Tiffany sues LVMH for backing out of $16 billion deal (Bloomberg)
• J.C. Penney reaches tentative rescue deal, averting liquidation (Reuters)
• Shopify, suddenly worth $117 billion, emerges as one of the biggest pandemic winners (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• The pandemic has created a class of super-savers (The Atlantic)
• Beer, Band Aids, and Ben & Jerry's (Forbes)
• Amazon's profits, AWS, and advertising (Benedict Evans)
• 7 ways the pandemic has changed the way we shop for food (NYT)
• Ikea's e-commerce was already pretty bad. During Covid-19 it fell apart (Fast Company)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• The butcher's shop that lasted 300 years (The Guardian)
• The end of open-plan everything (The Atlantic)
• The workplace will be a whole new world (Globe and Mail)
• Generation work-from-home may never recover (The Atlantic)
• Loblaw vows 'no improved offer' as Unifor digs in heels on Dominion strike (CBC)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Has the pandemic changed how we eat forever (Globe and Mail)
• America at hunger's edge (NYT)
• The sports trading card boom (Axios)
• America's department stores could be in 'their last stages' (CNBC)
• From the archives (1997): Setting value, not price (McKinsey)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• The makeup artist at ground zero of the internet beauty culture (The New Yorker)
• Who's winning the battle for India's $700 billion retail industry (Quartz)
• Amazon workers are hanging smartphones in trees to get more work (Bloomberg)
• Recovery in Canadian consumer confidence shows signs of cooling (Bloomberg)
• Dollarama sales climb as Canadians spend on cleaning supplies, summer products (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Vanishing jobs and empty offices plague Britain's retailers (Bloomberg)
• Amazon receives U.S. regulatory approval to start drone delivery trials (Reuters)
• Knowledge workers are more productive from home (HBR)
• Beauty stocks face new reality amid Coronavirus pandemic (WSJ)
• A tenth of the world could go hungry as crops rot in the ground (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• The Canadian consumer: Too big to fail (BCG)
• There's a reason parents miss back-to-school shopping (The Atlantic)
• Blue Apron's CEO talks about meal-kit company's Coronavirus revival (Bloomberg)
• Nestle moves further into health, buying peanut allergy treatment maker (WSJ)
• Convenience stores turn to home delivery to fight pandemic slump (Bloomberg)