Stephan's Friday Picks

• Our top five working definitions' of 2023 (MIT Sloan)
• Respect each other's delusions (Collaborative Fund)
• Amazon is a go-to for batteries and toilet paper. Can it sell cars (WSJ)
• Nine predictions for how we'll eat in 2024 (NYT)
• From the archives (2016): Know your customer's 'jobs to be done' (HBR)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• A demographic time bomb is about to hit the beef industry (Wired)
• 'Food freedom' and the debate over raw milk in Colorado (Colorado Sun)
• What do we miss in standard supply chain measures (Brookings)
• What dermatologists really think about those anti-aging products (Bloomberg)
• Workers at 121 Loblaw-owned stores in Ontario ratify new agreement (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• How Dyson took over TikTok (The Atlantic)
• Temu and Shein are shipping millions of packages a day (WSJ)
• You wanted lower food prices, Ottawa gave you political theatre (Globe and Mail)
• South Korea will police 'shrinkflation' at the supermarket (WSJ)
• The English muffin problem (The Atlantic)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• 6 kinds of board members - and how to influence them (HBR)
• The art and science of reducing retail shrink (McKinsey)
• Starbucks CEO takes on chain's social media controversy (WSJ)
• Jorge Lemann's 3G fuels hedge fund bets for billionaire dynasty (Bloomberg)
• From the archives (2004): Interbrew said to be near deal for Brazil brewer AmBev (NYT)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Slow grocery checkouts boost time in a hurried world (Globe and Mail)
• Food groups accuse Galen Weston of misinformation over grocery code of conduct (Globe and Mail)
• How Olive Garden and IHOP build relationships across income classes (MIT Sloan)
• Rite Aid hit with five-year facial recognition ban over 'reckless use' (The Verge)
• Canada's inflation rate holds steady at 3.1% (CBC)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Farfetch gets $500 million lifeline from Coupang (NYT)
• Ontario court approves sale of Mastermind Toys chain (Globe and Mail)
• Factors to consider for same-day delivery (McKinsey)
• From salad trees to 'charcuterwreaths', has the festive food trend gone overboard (CBC)
• Inside Amazon's effort to challenge Musk's Starlink internet business (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• We're all addicted to cheap stuff - and Temu knows it (Vox)
• Inside the mad dash to buy your Walmart and Amazon returns (Washington Post)
• The biggest problem with lab-grown chicken is growing the chicken (Bloomberg)
• Chobani buys coffee company La Colombe for $900 million (Reuters)
• Step inside the secretive world of toymakers (CBC)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Sainsbury's boss defends decision to sell customers' Nectar card data (The Guardian)
• Convenience stores would rather sell you pizza than gas (WSJ)
• Campari buys Courvoisier from Beam Suntory for $1.2 billion (Bloomberg)
• How to reach sustainable packaging targets in retail (McKinsey)
• The self-checkout even the haters will love (WSJ)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Boots owner Walgreens revives talks on $8.8 billion exit (Bloomberg)
• How to bring an outside CEO into the family business (HBR)
• Is this how Amazon ends (The Atlantic)
• No storybook ending for Life Savers this Christmas (CBC)
• From the archives (2014): Walgreen shareholders approve Alliance Boots deal (WSJ)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• This is what happens to all the stuff you don't want (The Atlantic)
• The full reset (Collaborative Fund)
• The 'Moneyball' firm behind your chicken (WSJ)
• Retail group retracts startling claim about 'organized' shoplifting (NYT)
• Macy's billion-dollar question: What's more valuable, the real estate or the business (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• The world's most anonymous CEO is about to take centre stage (WSJ)
• Why are your groceries still so expensive (Noah Smith)
• Hermes created Europe's biggest family fortune after spurning LVMH (Bloomberg)
• How a $13.99 Snoopy sparked a Gen Z craze (WSJ)
• Mastermind deal would keep at least 43 stores open, preserve hundreds of jobs if approved (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Corporate America is testing the limits of its pricing power (NYT)
• U.S. retail lobbyists retract claim on 'organized' retail crime (Reuters)
• Is that food ultra-processed? Hard to tell (WSJ)
• Diamonds aren't rare. Why are they so in demand (The Atlantic)
• Investor group launches $5.8 billion buyout bid for Macy's (WSJ)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• The weird, secretive world of crisp flavours (The Guardian)
• The race to save ketchup: Building a tomato for a hotter world (WSJ)
• Shoppers discover boxes of Cheerios, bags of No Name chips that weigh far less than advertised (CBC)
• Krispy Kreme opens in France, the latest in a fast food invasion (NYT)
• Rom-com meets shopping? Why Walmart launched a shoppable series (WSJ)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• A few of the ideas about how to fix human behaviour rests on some pretty shaky science (NYT)
• If an octopus is so smart, should you eat it (Washington Post)
• Too much stuff: Can we solve our addiction to consumerism (The Guardian)
• Should we believe Americans when they say the economy is bad (FT)
• From the archives (2005): P&G agrees to buy Gillette in $54 billion stock deal (WSJ)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Australia's leading grocers to face Senate inquiry into pricing (Bloomberg)
• The unstoppable ascent of tequila (FT)
• The executives who could be Johnson & Johnson's next CEO (WSJ)
• Overheated food prices have Canadians buying less meat (CBC)
• Plush toy makers play hardball in a competition for the squishiest creatures (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• JAB's Panera Brands files confidential IPO paperwork (FT)
• No more dry burgers: McDonald's overhauls its biggest item (WSJ)
• Unpacking the real source of rising food prices (CD Howe Institute)
• He never thought he'd rely on food hampers. But he's one of the growing number of people who do (CBC)
• The annoying - and hard to solve - problem of stolen packages (Vox)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Market maps make me nervous (Medium)
• Why food discount stickers may be a thing of the past (BBC)
• The chicken tycoons vs the antitrust hawks (NYT)
• Neiman Marcus rejects $3 billion bid from Saks (WSJ)
• Mastermind Toys to be bought by company controlled by veteran retailer Joe Mimran (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Amazon introduces Q, an AI chatbot for companies (NYT)
• Shares of retailers surge despite mixed holiday results (WSJ)
• The great American eye-exam scam (The Atlantic)
• How fungi became an It food (The Guardian)
• Red Lobster's popular endless shrimp deal ate into its profits (NYT)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• A rural post office was told to prioritize Amazon packages. Chaos ensued (Washington Post)
• The State of Fashion 2024 (McKinsey)
• How mortadella went from cold cut to hot item (NYT)
• The 'lipstick' index and the strength of beauty retail amid inflation (CBC)
• From the archives (2020): Why the Restoration Hardware catalog won't die (The Atlantic)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Hudson's Bay shakeup to see return of Liz Robell as president and CEO (Globe and Mail)
• The McDonald's theory of why everyone thinks the economy sucks (Nate Silver)
• Retailers worry about shoppers' mood this holiday season (NYT)
• A strange, short journey through Shein's world (The Verge)
• Can you trust a robot with your holidays hopping (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Scientists and farmers race to save the world's banana supply (Bloomberg)
• Fast fashion giant Shein files to go public (WSJ)
• Americans love avocados. It's killing Mexico's forests (NYT)
• Scientists are turning basically everything into gluten-free pasta (The Atlantic)
• E-commerce stocks rally after Black Friday shoppers spend record online (CNBC)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Playing to win & pivoting (Medium)
• The biggest delivery company in the U.S. is no longer UPS or FedEx (WSJ)
• Mastermind Toys granted creditor protection, plans to close stores (Globe and Mail)
• Will livestreaming be TikTok's Amazon-killer (WSJ)
• Owners keep zombie malls alive even when towns want to pull the plug (WSJ)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• The FTC puts your lunch on its plate (Politico)
• American shoppers have plenty of dry powder (WSJ)
• Retailers worry about shoppers' mood this holiday season (NYT)
• Inside Lego's quest for the next hit toy set (WSJ)
• Toy shoppers come down with a case of the holiday blahz (WSJ)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• At 40, J. Crew shakes off a midlife crisis (NYT)
• \How Walmart is leveraging AI and automation to deliver faster (WSJ)
• How healthy is your gut microbiome (NYT)
• The juicy secrets behind food styling (NYT)
• From the archives (2020): Reviving agricultural innovation in seeds and crop protection (BCG)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Why several big box stores have ditched their self-checkouts (CBC)
• It's too easy to buy stuff you don't want (The Atlantic)
• Temu is burning cash to challenge Shein and Amazon on Black Friday (Wired)
• Labour group plans board fight at Starbucks (WSJ)
• HBC sells off $340 million in real estate as it falls behind on payments to suppliers (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Are Canada's food giants finally stabilizing prices (The Star)
• Cathie Wood and Walmart aren't speaking the same deflation language (Bloomberg)
• Canada's inflation rate slowed to 3.1% in October (Globe and Mail)
• Middle-aisle mayhem: How Aldi and Lidl changed British shopping (The Guardian)
• Canada's debt charges are ballooning as Freeland tables a gloomy fall economic statement (CBC)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Being fired - repeatedly. (Medium)
• Who chooses the world's colour of the year (The Hustle)
• At Lululemon, being Black is 'off-brand' (Business of Fashion)
• How Starbucks lost the top spot in China's coffee race (WSJ)
• Carlyle exits China McDonald's stake with 6.7x return (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• The Estee Lauder family built a beauty empire. A succession rift threatens it (WSJ)
• Nitrogen wars: The Dutch farmers' revolt that turned a nation upside down (The Guardian)
• At McDonald's, a growing appetite for fashion (NYT)
• No Frills reaches deal with Unifor workers to avert strike at 17 Ontario stores (Globe and Mail)
• Bargain hunters set to drive record Black Friday (BCG)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Here's why a New York City lobster roll (with fries) costs $32 (NYT)
• Why everyone you know is wearing On running shoes (Washington Post)
• U.S. giant Mars to buy Britain's Hotel Chocolat for $662 million (Reuters)
• FTC cracks down on food industry for paid dietitian 'influencer' posts (Washington Post)
• From the archives (2000): U.K.'s Tesco, Asda try to make online groceries more profitable (WSJ)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Loblaw profit rises more than 11% as grocery, drug store sales continue to climb (Globe and Mail)
• The corner lot where all the world's Vegemite comes from (NYT)
• Furniture retailer Bad Boy to file for bankruptcy over financial troubles, debts to vendors (Globe and Mail)
• How China took over the world's online shopping carts (Rest of World)
• Metro sales, profit rise as shoppers flock to grocer's discount banners (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Dietary guidelines may soon warn against ultra-processed foods (Washington Post)
• How to hijack a quarter of a million dollars worth of rare Kit Kats (NYT)
• Target tries to find its mark after a year of misfires (WSJ)
• General Atlantic to buy majority stake in Joe & the Juice (Bloomberg)
• Can tequila really go global? This booze boss is giving it a shot (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Strategy for natural monopolies (Medium)
• Food delivery apps catering to Chinese speakers deliver a piece of home (NYT)
• A grocery chain just fired its self checkouts (NYT)
• Amazon to expand grocery delivery, resume supermarket openings (Bloomberg)
• The fruit aisle is getting trippy (The Atlantic)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Why is coffee so expensive (Washington Post)
• Our world of organizations (Henry Mintzberg)
• The biggest 'shrinkflation' scandal yet: Oreo fans think cookies have less filling (WSJ)
• Can friction improve your customers' experiences (MIT Sloan Management Review)
• The global wellness industry is now worth $5.6 billion (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• How farmers are teaching old tractors to think for themselves (WSJ)
• Do big companies cut dividends to grow (McKinsey)
• Canadian Tire laying off 3% of its work force, cutting costs as economic pressures hit consumers (Globe and Mail)
• Holiday shopping 2023: Consumer caution and retailer resilience (McKinsey)
• From the archives (2017): Fresh, ready-to-go food fuels Farm Boy's growth (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Amazon dedicates team to train ambitious AI model codenamed 'Olympus' (Reuters)
• Indigo reports $22.4 million second quarter loss as consumers pull back (Globe and Mail)
• Shein targets up to $90 billion valuation in US IPO (Bloomberg)
• How Germany got hooked on Canadian maple syrup (Globe and Mail)
• Aldi and Lidl are now just as middle class as other UK grocers (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Amazon's drones are delivering cans of soup (NYT)
  
• It's time to define your company's principles (HBR)
• What is Erewhon? The strange history of the LA cult grocer (The Cut)
• Disney hires veteran Pepsico finance chief Hugh Johnston as CFO (CNBC)
• Innovative growers: A view from the top (McKinsey)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: The work and workings of leadership teams (Medium)
• Retailers brace for drop in holiday spending as stretched Canadian consumers pull back (Globe and Mail)
• All stores want for Christmas is the right amount of stuff (WSJ)
• Companies are a lot more willing to raise prices - and it's making inflation worse (CBC)
• LVMH to buy eyewear brand favoured by the stars (WSJ)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Sweet tasting proteins could be the cure for your diet soda habit (proto.lite)
• Restaurant industry facing bleak outlook, as costs mount even faster than skyrocketing prices (CBC)
• Jeff Bezos urged Amazon to flood search results with junk ads, FTC alleges (CNBC)
• Starbucks gets U.S. sales bump as Pumpkin Spice Latte returns (Reuters)
• No tip for your delivery driver? Then be prepared to wait, DoorDash says (NYT)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Where is the brand growth potential? An examination of buyer groups (Byron Sharp)
• 10 things I know about food - that people don't want to believe (Washington Post)
• The 'Ozempic effect' on Wall Street has gone overboard (WSJ)
• Years into a climate disaster, these people are eating the unthinkable (Washington Post)
• From the archives (2010): How Sobeys is taking on Loblaw (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• AB InBev beats forecast, but Bud Light boycott continues to hit U.S. revenues (CNBC)
• Why pharmacy workers at CVS and Walgreens are protesting (NYT)
• Chains are using theft to mask other issues, report says (CNN)
• Canadian Tire buys back stake in financial services arm of Bank of Nova Scotia for $895 million (Globe and Mail)
• The junk is winning (The Atlantic)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Why Aldi is the fastest-growing grocer in the U.S. (WSJ)
• The power of partnership: How the CEO-CMO relationship can drive outsized growth (McKinsey)
• The apple-picking apocalypse of upstate New York (NYT)
• Sainsbury's declares it is winning back Aldi and Lidl customers (The Guardian)
• Instacart's delicious little secret (The Information)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Turning the future into the past (Medium)
• Americans can't stop spending. Here's why (WSJ)
• Halloween shoppers not spooked as economic slowdown remains elusive (NYT)
• Bud Light, Target boycotts show how the culture wars came to retail (Bloomberg)
• The rigid world of French cheesemaking meets unbound climate change (NYT)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Is it time to give candy corn the respect it deserves (NYT)
• Indigo CEO unveils new store and vision, but refuses to address past issues (Globe and Mail)
• The Mediterranean diet really is that good for you. Here's why (NYT)
• Amazon's profit triples as sales show resilience leading into holidays (WSJ)
• Unilever announces the sale of Dollar Shave Club (Unilever)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Michael Mauboussin: Total shareholder return (Morgan Stanley)
• The drugstore chains' healthcare fail (Los Angeles Times)
• Why breakfast sandwiches rise and shine as cereal keeps losing steam (Washington Post)
• Grocery store chains now have two-week deadline to provide pricing plans, says House Committee (Globe and Mail)
• From the archives (2001): Traditional grocers feel vindicated by demise of online grocer Webvan (WSJ)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• One-third of Canadian restaurants operating at a loss as costs rise (Globe and Mail)
• As cost of living soars, millions of Canadians are turning to food banks (CBC)
• Amazon discloses it has more than 181 million users in the EU in first store transparency report (Globe and Mail)
• VF facing second activist push by Legion (Bloomberg)
• Heath Reisman is back to run Indigo for a very, very long time (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Panera Bread founder Ron Shaich shares leadership lessons on what matters most and why (McKinsey)
• The salmon on your plate has a troubling cost. These farms offer hope (NYT)
• How Lunchables ended up on school lunch trays (Washington Post)
• She made pesto. People started spilling their secrets (NYT)
• Who are the 12% of people consuming half the beef in the U.S. (The Guardian)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Tackling mysteries (Medium)
• Amazon confronts a new rival: TikTok (WSJ)
• Why olive oil is so expensive right now (NYT)
• Manitoba Superstore workers ratify new deal that ensures labour peace until 2028 (CBC)
• The unified theory of pricing (BCG)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• The battle over rewards points (NYT)
• Business competition has declined over the last 20 years, watchdog report finds (Globe and Mail)
• 'Zero consumers': What they want and why it matters (McKinsey)
• Food is on sale again. You might still have sticker shock (WSJ)
• How consumer companies outcompete (McKinsey)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Metro alleges Loblaw falsely implicated them in bread price-fixing scheme (Globe and Mail)
• Those Doritos too expensive? More stores are offering their own alternatives (NYT)
• Self-checkout is a failed experiment (The Atlantic)
• Casual dining chains are back (Eater)
• From the archives (2014): Maple Leaf restructuring heats up with sale of Canada Bread (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Canada's inflation rate dips to 3.8% (Globe and Mail)
• Barnes & Noble sets itself free (NYT)
• How the British corner shop has set itself free (The Guardian)
• Taller box, less cereal? Calls for more transparency when companies shrink your groceries (CBC)
• Amazon introducing warehouse overhaul with robotics to speed deliveries (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• California's ban on red food dye puts FDA on the spot (NYT)
• Amazon's Prime Day flashes warning sign for retailers (Bloomberg)
• Metro claiming against George Weston for false price-fixing disclosures (Metro)
• Goodwill tries to figure out online commerce (NYT)
• Warehouses are calling in the gig workers (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Ways of understanding (Medium)
• Rite Aid files for bankruptcy (WSJ)
• How a fertilizer shortage is spreading desperate hunger (NYT)
• Sobeys employees at Vaughan distribution centre walk off the job (CBC)
• U.S. races to expand Michigan locks and secure the supply chain (WSJ)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Dollar General might get shortchanged with CEO encore (WSJ)
• Capturing mind share with precision branding (BCG)
• Carl Icahn bet against U.S. shopping malls. Now he says the game was rigged (WSJ)
• Retailers' seasonal hiring plans signal a cooling labour market (NYT)
• Flexport is laying off 20% of its workforce (CNBC)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Women in the Workplace 2023 (McKinsey)
• Claudia Goldin's Nobel-winning research shows why women won (NYT)
• How a tiny island is adapting to climate change ... on its dinner plates (Vox)
• Food industry leaders launch alliance to champion net zero in agri-food sector (Financial Post)
• From the archives (2007): The emerge of retail food chains in Canada (BEC Boothman)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Wegmans stakes a claim in Manhattan (WSJ)
• Port of Montreal secures $150 million in federal funding for container terminal expansion (Globe and Mail)
• Amazon wants you to 'buy again' (WSJ)
• Walgreens names veteran health care executive Tim Wentworth as next CEO (CNBC)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Claudia Goldin wins Nobel in Economics for studying women in the workforce (NYT)
• Roger Martin: Heuristics, management, and strategy (Medium)
• Should Walmart be data-mining your Ozempic prescriptions (The Verge)
• In Provence, winemakers confront climate change (NYT)
• Home Depot tracked a crime ring and found an unusual suspect (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Tesco doing all it can to lower prices, boss says (BBC)
• Ocado CEO still believes robots can make it the Tesla of grocery (Bloomberg)
• Tesco: Steady Murphy still has room for more surprises in store (FT)
• Ozempic is making people buy less food, Walmart says (Bloomberg)
• A Resy founder expands his loyalty program for restaurants (NYT)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• A jargon-free explanation of how large language models work (Ars Technica) 
• You gorged on your European vacation but lost weight. Why (WSJ)
• The Harvard professor and the bloggers (NYT)
• America's food giants confront the Ozempic era (WSJ)
• From the archives (1990): Lessons in the cracker market (NYT)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Carlyle is dismantling US consumer team in buyout shift (Bloomberg)
• Amazon used secret 'Project Nessie' algorithm to raise prices (WSJ)
• For U.S. consumers, it's a matter of 'and', not 'or' (WSJ)
• Cargill's pandemic-era chicken-bet is finally ready to pay off (Bloomberg)
• How firms set prices during periods of inflation (Bank of Canada)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• When to put out holiday decorations? For small businesses, it's a tricky question (WSJ)
• Lego is a company haunted by its own plastic (Wired)
• Why is coffee suddenly more expensive (Vox)
• India is making luxury fashion for the world (Bloomberg)
• Gucci, Chanel, and other luxury retailers splurge on American real estate (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Who should do strategy (Medium)
• Sycamore to take apparel retailer Chico's FAS private for nearly $1 billion (Reuters)
• What is a 'moat' (NYT)
• Meal kit maker Blue Apron to be sold (WSJ)
• Amazon has become a one-click nightmare (The Atlantic)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Newer Nordic: The next wave of Copenhagen's fine-dining revolution (FT)
• Is an all-meat diet what nature intended (The New Yorker)
• Shopping habits have shifted for good, says Aldi (BBC)
• Canada's population surges on 46% jump in temporary residents (Globe and Mail)
• Working at Dollar General is so horrible even the investors are concerned (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• A new Coca-Cola flavour at the end of the world (The Atlantic)
• Amazon aggregator Thrasio engages restructuring advisors (WSJ)
• Morrisons CEO David Potts to step down as ex-Carrefour France boss takes over (The Guardian)
• Lululemon and Peloton end their feud (WSJ)
• From the archives (2012): Carrefour rethinks its 'bigger is better' strategy (NYT)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Building food and agriculture businesses for the future (McKinsey)
• The hottest American restaurants in Paris (of all places) (WSJ)
• Walmart's head of fashion Denise Icandela talks about changing discounter's staid image in fashion (AP)
• This could be the holy grail to replace pam oil (BBC)
• Starbucks CEO seeks to improve service - for baristas (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• The state of grocery in North America (McKinsey)
• Lululemon's secret power - even moms can't make it uncool (WSJ)
• Many of today's unhealthy foods were brought to you by Big Tobacco (Washington Post)
• Instacart IPO is latest stop of Fidji Simo's Silicon Valley ascent (FT)
• Rite Aid plans to shut down hundreds of stores in bankruptcy (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Measuring, managing, and mattering (Medium)
• What Big Tech knows about your body (The Atlantic)
• Can private equity be .... nice (Slate)
• Amazon's new challenge: Bargain retailers that are playing a new game (WSJ)
• Amazon to invest up to $4 billion in AI startup Anthropic (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Airlines are just banks now (The Atlantic)
• If you don't like inflation, you'll hate deflation (CBC)
• The microwave makes no sense (The Atlantic)
• Peek inside America's largest private company (Bloomberg)
• Let's clean up the Kleenex grocery myths (Financial Post)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• How TikTok is reshaping the American cookbook (NYT)
• Hard-core sleepers are obsessing over their sleep stats (WSJ)
• Amazon unveils a 'smarter' Alexa. Its AI has a lot of work to do (Washington Post)
• Why your Starbucks wait is so long (Bloomberg)
• From the archives (2019): Data science and the art of persuasion (HBR)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Why the Twinkie is now worth billions (WSJ)
• Insiders reveal major problems at lab-grown-meat startup Upside Foods (Wired)
• Instacart IPO is an expensive lesson for venture firms (WSJ)
• The long, slow return to normal of food inflation in Canada (Globe and Mail)
• Publix, Florida's favourite grocery store, explained (Vox)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Strategy for the experience economy (Medium)
• Indigo founder Heather Resiman returns as CEO (Globe and Mail)
• Mattel's windfall from Barbie (NYT)
• Minister says Canada's largest grocery chains have agreed to 'work' on stabilizing food prices (CBC)
• Turmoil in Indigo's C-suite leaves Canadian publishers reading between the lines (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Trudeau announces new measures to deal with housing, grocery prices (CBC)
• Instacart was all about grocery delivery. No longer (NYT)
• BioSteel files for bankruptcy protection, parent company Canopy Growth looking for new buyer (Globe and Mail)
• France's Carrefour puts up 'shrinkflation' warning signs (BBC)
• Instacart's grocery partnerships are no free lunch (WSJ)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Bernard Arnault built a luxury empire on 'desirability'. Who will inherit it (NYT)
• Dollarama posts 27-per-cent profit gain, raises sales forecast as shoppers seek relief (Globe and Mail)
• UK pub chains adopt surge pricing for pints (NYT)
• I learned the Italian tomato sauce tradition so I could enjoy summer all year long (Globe and Mail)
• From the archives (2005): Federated agrees to acquire May for $11 billion (WSJ)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Instacart to target much-diminished valuation range of under $10 billion (WSJ)
• TikTok popularizes products. Can it sell them too (NYT)
• Walmart goes all in on Africa (WSJ)
• Unionized Loblaw workers in Manitoba vote in favour of strike (CBC)
• Instacart is hard to value (FT)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Why furniture got so bad (Washington Post)
• Michelin's coveted stars can come with some costs (NYT)
• Amazon's makeover of Lord & Taylor's building shows challenges of office conversions (WSJ)
• What Kleenex's Canadian exit reveals about our grocery sector's lack of competition (Globe and Mail)
• 'Feedback' is now too harsh. The new word is feedforward (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Dangerous cost reduction projects (Medium)
• The supermarket's next big product is your data (FT)
• Smucker sets sights on snacks with $4.6 billion Twinkie deal (WSJ)
• Kroger says supermarket sales are under pressure as shoppers pull back (WSJ)
• The hyperreal wonders of glace fruit (NYT)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Turning consumer and retail companies into software-driven innovators (McKinsey)
• Here's something beyond the expiration date: Expiration dates themselves (WSJ)
• Fewer Canadians dining out as inflation and interest rates bite consumer spending (Globe and Mail)
• Canada Bread banned from federal contracts over price-fixing scheme (Financial Post)
• Tyson Foods couldn't produce enough chicken. Now it has too much (WSJ)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• How Momofuku CEO Marguerite Zabar Mariscal grew a $100 million company (Fast Company)
• Indigo CEO exits in latest shakeup in retailer's upper ranks (Globe and Mail)
• Walmart cuts starting pay for some new hires (WSJ)
• The Cook Out fast-food chain is expanding. It's glorious (Slate)
• From the archives (2019): From environmental leader to 'worst company in the world' (NYT)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Smarter retail promotions for a saturated market (BCG)
• Will I just keep spending more and more money forever (Vox)
• Tim Hortons drops new retro-inspired merch collection (Globe and Mail)
• Canada's energy drink crackdown needs more than recalls to dissuade kids, say parents and teachers (CBC)
• The incredible American consumer (FT)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• The glamorous, lonely lives of private chefs (NYT)
• Retailers bet wrong on American's feelings about stores (The Atlantic)
• How to read olive oil labels (NYT)
• Lining up at the Vancouver Artizia warehouse sale, searching for deals amidst the pain of high inflation (Globe and Mail)
• First party data is retail's next growth engine (BCG)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: What were they thinking (Medium)
• Boozy drinks blur lines between kid, adult beverages (WSJ)
• Come downstairs or we'll eat your order, delivery workers tell customers (Rest of World)
• Shopify deal for Amazon's Buy With Prime signals growing cooperation between e-commerce players (Globe and Mail)
• Instacart tells shoppers in hurricane: "Bad weather = good tips" (Vice)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• The rise, and fall of the direct-to-consumer model (Rita McGrath)
• Amazon tells staff "it's probably not going to work out" unless they visit the office three days a week (The Guardian)
• Dollar stores flash warning signs on consumer spending (WSJ)
• Metro workers accept deal to end monthlong strike (Financial Post)
• From the archives (2001): It's a natural pairing: P&G sells Jif peanut butter to J.M. Smucker (WSJ)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• London's Oxford Street battles new retail scourge: Candy stores (WSJ)
• Online ratings are broken (The Atlantic)
• How continuous learning keeps leaders relevant in the age of AI (MIT Sloan)
• Governments have put $1 billion toward making better meat alternatives. A lot more is needed (Vox)
• Metro and Unifor reach tentative deal with grocery workers' union after monthlong strike (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• America is draining its groundwater like there's no tomorrow (NYT)
• Southern Ontario's greenhouse operators warn lack of infrastructure is slowing down growth in booming sector (Globe and Mail)
• At the top, it's all about teamwork (Bain)
• Chinese robot waiters fuel Korean anxiety over labour shortages (FT)
• Best Buy sales drop on falling demand for electronics, appliances (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Performance measurement transparency (Medium)
• Climate change is coming for your olive oil (Fast Company)
• Heating waters force change in industries that rely on the ocean (WSJ)
• Supermarkets are being asked to cut plastic waste. What would that look like (CBC)
• Consumers are spending like it's 2019 (WSJ)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Eater. Resy. Blackbird? (Grub Street)
• Instacart IPO filing arrives with red flags (Bloomberg)
• Kleenex pulling out of Canadian market (CBC)
• The company that created a return-to-office plan that employees actually like (WSJ)
• A centuries-old bean is making a comeback in the form of vegan ice cream (CBC)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Walmart, Diesel, and Hugo Boss face federal probe for alleged sale of items made with forced labour (Globe and Mail)
• Subway sandwich chain agrees to sale to Roark Capital (WSJ)
• Shein strikes deal with fast fashion retailer Forever 21 that will expand reach of both brands (CNBC)
• Bud Light continues marketing blitz with 'relatable' NFL push (WSJ)
• From the archives (1934): Report of the Royal Commission of Price Spreads (Canada)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• How stores sucked the fun out of going shopping (Vox)
• Hudson's Bay ramps up rewards program with app and personalized offers (Financial Post)
• A bright spot in commercial real estate: retail shops (WSJ)
• No longer niche: Climate-conscious purchasing in Canada (BCG)
• Dick's Sporting Goods, Macy's, flash warning signs on U.S. consumer spending (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Kraft Heinz sees a $25 billion opportunity - in schools (WSJ)
• The price of sauce (The Atlantic)
• How Kroger became the biggest sushi seller in America (WSJ)
• Olive oil prices soar as climate change-related catastrophes shrink Mediterranean harvest (Globe and Mail)
• Subway Sandwich chain nears sale (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: The downside of go-to-market strategy (Medium)
• Instacart plans for US IPO as early as September (Bloomberg)
• Parmesan producers fight fakes with microtransponders (The Guardian)
• Retailers are fleeing downtown San Francisco. IKEA is moving in (WSJ)
• Inside Quebec's crumbling pork empire (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Sam's Club's war against Costco started with $1.38 hot dog combo (Bloomberg)
• Sustainability in packaging 2023 (McKinsey)
• Unifor refuses Metro's request for a mediator as Ontario grocery strike continues (Globe and Mail)
• Are chatbots a threat to fine dining (The Guardian)
• Using a credit card? At these restaurants it will cost you (NYT)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• The life and death of the Amazon brands (Intelligencer)
• What happens to all the stuff we return (The New Yorker)
• LCBO customer data hacked for a second time this year (Globe and Mail)
• Aldi to acquire Winn-Dixie and Harvey's Supermarket to continue growth in the Southeast (Aldi)
• From the archives (2008): Aldi grocery stores: The allure of plain vanilla (NYT)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• The sriracha shortage is a very bad sign (The Atlantic)
• Canada's inflation rate ticks up to 3.3% in July, raising odds of September hike (Globe and Mail)
• U.S. sunscreen is stuck in the 90s. Is this a job for Congress (NYT)
• Target sales are punished by Pride Month backlash (WSJ)
• B.C. seafood producers, conservation groups, wary of marine heat wave (Globe and Mail) 

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• What happens when you let a chatbot plan your meals (WSJ)
• A brief history of the corporate presentation (MIT Technology Review)
• The best boxed Mac and Cheese for no-sweat meals (WSJ)
• In retail's top echelons, female CEOs lose a bit of ground (NYT)
• 5-Hour Energy founder to buy majority stake in Sports Illustrated publisher (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Strategy, strategy everywhere (Medium)
• A Japanese candy tasted like nothing. So why do people miss it (NYT)
• Amazon wants you to pay with your palm. It's a sneak attack on Apple and Google (WSJ)
• It interest in meatless burgers is waning, how can plant-based eating be sustained (CBC)
• Restaurants and supermarkets are brawling over your dollar (WSJ)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Direct-to-consumer in appliances: A strategic growth opportunity (McKinsey)
• Birth, death, and wealth creation (Morgan Stanley)
• Amazon cuts dozens of house brands as it battles costs, regulators (WSJ)
• The triple play: Growth, profit, and sustainability (McKinsey)
• Amazon wants to deliver your next package without the box (WSJ)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• L'Occitane's boss in advanced talks on $6.5 billion buyout (Bloomberg)
• Metro reports jump in sales, profit as Toronto-area strike continues (Globe and Mail)
• A few stories about decisions (Collaborative Fund)
• Canadian Tire reports profit, revenue drop in quarter, withdraws three-year forecast (Globe and Mail)
• From the archives (2010): Loblaw COO leaves to head British grocer (CBC)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• MIT's Zeynep Ton on the case for good jobs (McKinsey)
• Fast food customers are giving up on dining in (WSJ)
• This scorching summer is taking a toll on your favourite foods (Wired)
• Amazon's grocery business needs a massive makeover (Bloomberg)
• Are cooking videos making us better cooks (NYT)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Why nobody can seem to solve Canada's cybersecurity problem (Globe and Mail)
• The chief strategy officer's evolving role (McKinsey)
• Amazon delivers surprisingly strong profit as retail business improves (WSJ)
• Profits did not cause inflation, Bank of Canada researchers contend (Globe and Mail)
• Campbell Soup to acquire Rao's parent company for $2.7 billion (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: The strategy lesson from the Bud Light fiasco (Medium)
• Why India's rice ban could trigger a global food crisis (BBC)
• Amazon expands virtual clinic to all 50 states in health push (Amazon)
• Canada's pork industry faces a painful reckoning (Globe and Mail)
• RBC to offer Taylor Swift pre-sale tickets, for her six Canadian concerts, opening loyalty program to non-customers (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Enjoy alcohol, without the hangover (WSJ)
• Amazon unveils biggest grocery overhaul since buying Whole Foods (Bloomberg)
• How people shop for groceries internationally (The Guardian)
• The economic impact of Walmart Supercenters (Annual Review)
• From the archives (2017): Who killed Sears Canada (Globe and Mail)