Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Sainsbury's update looks set to please investors with simplified strategy (WSJ)
• Industry minster urges Competition Bureau to conduct follow-up study of grocery prices (CBC)
• TikTok tests feature that could make all videos shoppable (Bloomberg)
• Amazon ends $1.7B iRobot acquisition in rare victory for tech regulators (Washington Post)
• Metro's first quarter sales near $5 billion, but profit slips (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: The strategic leverage of where to play (Medium)
• Why Walmart pays its truck drivers six figures (Freight Waves)
• Where Southerners go to fill the tank and feed the family (NYT)
• Leon's Furniture plans to build new Toronto neighbourhood with nearly 4,000 housing units (Globe and Mail)
• Hottest job in Corporate America? The executive in charge of A.I. (NYT)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• The great freight-train heists of the 21st century (NYT)
• How Walmart's financial services became a fraud magnet (Propublica)
• The forgotten genius who changed British food (The Guardian)
• How Houthi attacks have upended global shipping (NYT)
• Caffeine's dirty little secret (The Atlantic)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Anthony Albanese announces year-long investigation into Australian supermarket prices (The Guardian)
• Shein backers offer to sell at 30% discount as IPO prospects dim (Bloomberg)
• The curious history of Pac-Man snacks (The Guardian)
• Does negative advertising pay off for consumer brands (WSJ)
• From the archives (2013): Michael Mauboussin: Measuring the moat (Credit Suisse)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Pret a Manger opens first standalone restaurant in Canada with Toronto location (Globe and Mail)
• The menu trends that define dining right now (NYT)
• French regulator fines Amazon $35M over its surveillance system of warehouse workers (Tech Crunch)
• Walmart closes Store No. 8 innovation unit (WSJ)
• Fighting back against the algorithms (Rita McGrath)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Where textile mills thrived, remnants battle for survival (NYT)
• Gummy vitamins are just candy (The Atlantic)
• Manulife partners with Aeroplan over digital health-care initiative (Globe and Mail)
• ADM plunges most on record after probe, CFO placed on leave (Bloomberg)
• LVMH's Arnault set to propose sons Alexandre, Frederic for company's board (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Superstition & strategy (Medium)
• One city and three retailers tried to fight shoplifting. The stores closed anyway (WSJ)
• Ex-Louis Vuitton CEO to lead LVMH fashion brands after reshuffle (Bloomberg)
• EU Commission intends to block Amazon's iRobot acquisition (WSJ)
• Macy's rejects Arkhouse's $5.8 billion bid, citing financing concerns (Reuters)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Why every coffee shop looks the same (The Guardian)
• Uniqlo sues Shein over alleged copy of its 'Mary Poppins bag' (CBC)
• Stanley cups are just water bottles (The Atlantic)
• Bell, Best Buy team up to re-brand The Source (Globe and Mail)
• Loblaw backs away from plan to end 50% discount on food nearing best-before date (CBC)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Pepsi vs Carrefour: a battle inflamed by French retail rules (FT)
• Amazon to invest in Diamond Sports Group as part of bankruptcy deal (ESPN)
• Macy's to cut about 2,350 stores, close 5 stores (WSJ)
• Zara billionaire grabs chance to buy up discounted real estate (FT)
• From the archives (2015): Shifting from star performer to star manager (HBR)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• The trends defining the $1.8 trillion global wellness market (McKinsey)
• Uber to close alcohol delivery app Drizly (WSJ)
• You will miss the pizza delivery driver (The Atlantic)
• Scientists tricked our brains into craving ultra-processed foods - and now people are fighting back (Globe and Mail)
• Renting clothes was supposed to be the future of fashion. Then shoppers got board (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• DavidsTea steeped in turmoil but determined not to sell (Globe and Mail)
• Loblaws will no longer offer 50% off discount on expiring products (CBC)
• RBI buying top Burger King franchisee in $1-billion deal (Globe and Mail)
• Food marketing in the Ozempic age (NYT)
• Inflation heats up in December, posing a challenge for the Bank of Canada (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Why you should be afraid of 'great execution' (Medium)
• Halal food industry growing to meet demand as Muslim population continues rising (Globe and Mail)
• Supermarkets agree to accept smaller vegetables from rain-soaked UK farms (The Guardian)
• Why Rexall's American owner wants to sell the pharmacy chain - and might unload it at a loss (Globe and Mail)
• How smart marketing, scarce supply, and unique colours made the Stanley cup a must-have item (CBC)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• The barcode engineered its own downfall (The Atlantic)
• Rexall pharmacy chain put up for sale as American owner rethinks Canadian footprint (Globe and Mail)
• Farming is a dirty word now (The Guardian)
• The meme king of longevity now wants to sell you olive oil (NYT)
• At Kernel, Chipotle's Steve Ells is still trying to solve lunch (Grub Street)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• The growing link between microbes, mood, and mental health (Knowable Magazine)
• No, that's not Tayler Swift peddling Le Creuset cookware (NYT)
• The Stanley water bottle craze, explained (Vox)
• Where the CEO of Walmart U.S turns for advice (WSJ)
• From the archives (2008): Wal-Mart chief offers a social manifesto (NYT)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Is America's ultra-processed diet that bad? Big Food fights back (WSJ)
• Walmart experiments with AI to enhance customers' shopping experiences (AP)
• Instacart is bringing ads to its smart carts (Fast Company)
• Sainsbury's could have done more given fall in consumer costs (WSJ)
• Retailers battle fraudulent returns (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• PepsiCo, Carrefour bicker over who dumped who (WSJ)
• Annual Review of Shareholder Activism (Lazard)
• Plant-based has lost all meaning (The Atlantic)
• Why some Canadians are feeling duped about their breakfast cereal (CBC)
• Why McDonald's has been raising prices (Vox)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• An innovation wake-up call for CPG companies (BCG)
• The woman shaking up the $50 billion instant ramen industry (WSJ)
• California is solving its water problems by flooding its best farmland (Wired)
• Walmart abandons plan to open fulfillment centre in Quebec (CBC)
• FDA to issue first approval for mass drug imports to states from Canada (NYT)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Google is finally killing cookies. Advertisers still aren't ready (WSJ)
• AI is coming for the influencers (New York Magazine)
• Aldi and Lidl hail Christmas boost from bargain hunters (BBC)
• Carrefour drops PepsiCo products in France over price increases (NYT)
• Behind cheap stuff from Shein and Temu: A hard bargain with suppliers (WSJ)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Jeff Bezos bets on a Google challenger using AI to try to upend Internet search (WSJ)
• Lululemon seeks distance from founder Chip Wilson's diversity comments (Bloomberg)
• Supermarket chain Jumbo says shoplifting exceeds annual profits (FT)
• Big Fashion still hasn't figured out how to pay a living wage (WSJ)
• From the archives (2005): How Costco became the anti-Walmart (NYT)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• How a super affordable bakery chain became a British culinary icon (NYT)
• Covid slashed customer choices. This is why they aren't coming back (WSJ)
• Amazon crackdown on sellers spawns new legal industry (FT)
• Shopify is preparing to compete for a big piece of retail commerce (Globe and Mail)
• He revived Old Spice. Can this CEO revive a sneaker brand that lost its cool (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• What if farmers had to pay for water (NYT)
• How Ikea downsized to go downtown (WSJ)
• The rise and fall of Alibaba (FT)
• The rise and fall of prime rib nation (NYT)
• India's food security problem is also the world's (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• How a crisis in truck driving could change life in Japan (NYT)
• Why is LED light so bad (The Strategist)
• How America's diet is fueling the groundwater crisis (NYT)
• Loss of cooking skills has hurt our ability ot adapt to rising food prices (CBC)
• Diplomacy is best conducted at the dinner table (NYT)