Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Jobs to be assigned (Medium)
• Has the craft beer industry's keg finally kicked (NYT)
• Why is soda so popular again (The Cut)
• No one has to settle for bad pizza anymore (The Atlantic)
• Why US department stores have most to fear as credit card debt soars (FT)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• The epic mess at TGI Fridays (WSJ)
• Why coffee prices are soaring (again) (NYT)
• How a $12.98 t-shirt is made in America - at a profit (WSJ)
• The great American alcohol debate (FT)
• As tariffs loom, how one retailer aims to keep prices low on Asics and Nikes (WSJ)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• The luxury makeover of the worst pastry on earth (The Atlantic)
• The Walmart effect (The Atlantic)
• Holiday sales reveal a split in consumer spending (WSJ)
• Boxing Day retailers see smaller crowds, cautious spending this year despite GST break (Globe and Mail)
• From the archives (2012): Wal-Mart outlines strategy (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: The dangers of locking and loading (Medium)
• Are Amazon's drones finally ready for prime time (NYT)
• Thoughts on 'consumer culture' for the last-minute shopper (Bloomberg)
• Nordstrom family reaches $4 billion deal to take retailer private (WSJ)
• How a viral TikTok video led to a year-long global shortage of Swedish candy (CBC)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Why online returns are a hassle now (The Atlantic)
• Party City to close all stores by February, company says (NYT)
• What consumers want from personalization (BCG)
• H&M's comeback plan: Try to be cooler (WSJ)
• Canadian Tire tightens recruiting roles for temporary foreign workers (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Why India's food is the best in the world (Bloomberg)
• Oreo owner Mondelez taps AI to tweak its classic snacks (WSJ)
• Walmart's 82% surge leaves retail foes big and small in the dust (Bloomberg)
• The dynasty behind Walmart passes some control to the next generation of heirs (WSJ)
• From the archives (1992): Planet of the M&M's (Washington Post)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• A 7-Eleven heirs $50 billion fight to keep the company in the family (NYT)
• Albertsons is mad at Kroger (Bloomberg)
• Nearly a fifth of Canada's food production facilities deemed low risk without being assessed, data reveal (Globe and Mail)
• Walmart has a tough battle ahead in India (Bloomberg)
• Why Christmas trees in Europe are so much cheaper than in Canada (CBC)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• What killed a $20 billion merger? Albertsons says Kroger did (WSJ)
• The secret history of risotto (The New Yorker)
• Inflation is coming down, but prices won't stand still in 2025 (Bloomberg)
• Canada's inflation rate edges down to 1.9% (CBC)
• Lego flowers are a hot holiday gift for kids, adults (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• GST break begins with business owners frustrated at the last-minute measure (Globe and Mail)
• Americans are stockpiling to get ahead of tariffs (WSJ)
• The $1 billion cookie empire that teens love and parents hate (WSJ)
• Tiff Macklem on kicking inflation, tariffs, and uncertainty ahead (Globe and Mail)
• Not falling for the old McRib ruse? Then why are there 12 in your freezer (WSJ)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Sobeys parent Empire sticks with bet on full-service stores despite discount trend (Globe and Mail)
• You can buy a car on Amazon now (Wired)
• Lina Khan goes out with a bang (The Atlantic)
• An algorithm was supposed to fix Canada's food safety system. Instead, it missed a deadly listeria outbreak (Globe and Mail)
• Shopping shouldn't be instantaneous (The Atlantic)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Martha Stewart's empire monetized more than just domesticity (Bloomberg)
• Macy's probe found employee acted alone in $151 million accounting scandal (WSJ)
• Hershey's main owner rejects Mondelez's offer as too low (Bloomberg)
• Failure of Kroger-Albertsons merger may curb grocers' advertising ambitions (WSJ)
• From the archives (2016): Back-stabbing and threats of a 'suicide parachute' at Hershey (NYT)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Leaders shouldn't try to do it all (HBR)
• Walgreens is in talks to sell itself to private equity firm Sycamore Partners (WSJ)
• Why is it so hard for clothing resale platforms to make money (Bloomberg)
• Albertsons sues Kroger, terminates merger after judge blocks supermarket megadeal (WSJ)
• Bank of Canada cuts rate by half point, signals 'more gradual' approach to further easing (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Ozempic killed diet and exercise (The Atlantic)
• How an app selling second-hand clothes went from near collapse to worth $5 billion (WSJ)
• The state of grocery retail in Latin America (McKinsey)
• Kroger-Albertsons merger blocked by the courts (WSJ)
• Trump won't be able to save the struggling US beef industry (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Identifiability and segmentation strategy (Medium)
• Mondelez made a takeover approach for Hershey, sources say (CNBC)
• One of Japan's great sushi masters is working, quietly, in Manhattan (NYT)
• Canadian Tire to keep 100% of financial services division after review (Globe and Mail)
• Tricked by a fake viral food product? You've just been snackfished (Wired)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Canada's unemployment rate jumps to near eight-year high in November at 6.8% (Globe and Mail)
• How America lost its taste for the middle (The Atlantic)
• Frasers to launch takeover bid for Norwegian sports retailer XXL (WSJ)
• A menu for success in a challenging restaurant market (BCG)
• Ulta Beauty raises outlook amid financial discipline push, sees 'transitional' year ahead (WSJ)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• CEO of the year: All hail the almighty Dollarama (Globe and Mail)
• Why everybody is drinking Guinness (NYT)
• Amazon deliveries are slower in low-income D.C. zip codes, lawsuit says (Washington Post)
• Campbell's new chief inherits strengthened business, but big challenges loom (WSJ)
• From the archives (2012): How Dollarama turns chump change into billions (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Ms. Rachel's improbable journey from toddler whisperer to holiday toy story (NYT)
• How raw milk went from hippie to MAGA (The Intelligencer)
• How Amazon delivers packages within a day (NYT)
• Dollarama expedites growth plans to 2,200 stores by 2034 (Globe and Mail)
• European nongrocery retail: Transition and transformation (McKinsey)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Unilever CEO looking to sell food brands with $1 billion in sales (Reuters)
• The great grocery squeeze (The Atlantic)
• Amazon announces supercomputer, new server powered by homegrown AI chips (WSJ)
• Whole Foods chases shoppers with minimarket concept (WSJ)
• From Pong to Pokémon, a history of holiday 'it' toys (NYT)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Strategy & branding (Medium)
• The most hated way of firing someone is more popular than ever (WSJ)
• With discounts on offer, shoppers begin to bite (NYT)
• Buy now before tariffs hit, retailers are telling shoppers (WSJ)
• As cash fades, small retailers embrace efforts to rein in swipe fees (NYT)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• The sand wars dividing cranberry growers and their neighbours (WSJ)
• At 7-Eleven, Couche-Tard wins by losing out (Globe and Mail)
• How Harry & David gest 20,000 pears to doorsteps for the holidays (WSJ)
• Grupo Bimbo suing Maple Leaf Foods for more than $2 billion over alleged bread price fixing probe (Globe and Mail)
• Shoppers fight back as retailers crack down on returns (WSJ)