Stephan's Friday Picks

• Bank of Canada warns of low-hire, low-fire job market that complicates rate decisions (Globe and Mail)
• It's such a mess shopping for reasonably priced menswear (Bloomberg)
• Lidl overtakes Morrisons to become fifth largest supermarket in UK (The Guardian)
• Americans are about to pay even more at the grocery store (Bloomberg)
• From the archives (2014): A dozen things I've learned from Jim Sinegal (25iq)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• How Barnes & Noble became private equity's most radical retail experiment (Bloomberg)
• Lululemon settles dispute with founder (WSJ)
• For ailing Lululemon, going private might not be a stretch (FT)
• He invented the Basque cheesecake. He prefers chocolate (NYT)
• Swiggy CEO vows to stay out of Amazon-Walmart spending war (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• The ice-cold civil war between Diet Coke and Coke Zero drinkers (WSJ)
• Trump's tariffs have devastated coffee exports (Globe and Mail)
• America can't produce enough honey (Bloomberg)
• Ozempic maker cuts prices as generic versions hit shelves (Globe and Mail)
• How Canada's agriculture sector is getting its global swagger back (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• The paradox at the heart of American meat consumption (Vox)
• Experimental drug yields dramatic weight loss (NYT)
• Why the dream of the feel-good millennial brand didn't last (WSJ)
• Khloe Kardashian popcorn takes off after winning coveted Starbucks display (Bloomberg)
• Japanese retailer pioneer who transformed 7-Eleven dies at 93 (WSJ)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• How Super C is reshaping grocery in Quebec (Canadian Grocer)
• Kroger plans biggest price cuts in years to take on Walmart, Costco (Bloomberg)
• PepsiCo to raise prices on small chip bags over higher US costs (Bloomberg)
• Morrisons planning to close 100 stores in the next few months (BBC)
• In India, you can get milk faster than it takes to make coffee (WSJ)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Walmart sees signs at gas pump that consumers are stressed (WSJ)
• What comes after Peru's food revolution (Bloomberg)
• The world has officially reached peak bagel (WSJ)
• AI could transform economy, but no evidence yet of widespread job losses, Bank of Canada says (Globe and Mail)
• From the archives (2000): Craig Claiborne, 79, Times food critic and editor, is dead (NYT)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Trump cuts to grocery subsidies bite US food companies (FT)
• Target reports largest sales gain in years (WSJ)
• Calls for 'no seed oil' push companies to order up on butter and beef tallow (NYT)
• UK Treasury pushes supermarkets to cap prices (FT)
• Celebrating 50 years of great American wines (NYT)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• How Walmart is taking over empty drugstores to speed up deliveries (FT)
• Nestle's CHF 2.5 billion transform to boost efficiency, cut costs, and fuel growth (BCG)
• Why Gen Z's love 'boy kibble' and these other food trends (WSJ)
• Andy Jassy is rewriting Amazon's playbook for the AI age (Bloomberg)
• Court rules Coles misled shoppers with its Down Down discount campaign (The Guardian)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• GLP-1 users are taking a bite out of restaurants (WSJ)
• Why are life is now on subscriptions (NYT)
• The shoppers redefining how to save money on groceries (NPR)
• The world is awash in bourbon. That's a problem for big booze (WSJ)
• Do you have a mango dealer (FT)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• I want to live like Costco people (Taste)
• Why Spirit Airlines failed where European budget carriers thrived (The New Yorker)
• The slopification of lunch (Esquire)
• From the archives (2016): How Americans pretend to love 'ethnic food' (Washington Post)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Ambani's cola war with Coke, Pepsi spurs fridge bonanza in India (Bloomberg)
• Potato chip bags are going black and white because of the Iran war (WSJ)
• Retailers are making expensive bets that shoppers still want to go to stores (NYT)
• Dunkin' returns to Canada after ten years, with plans for hundreds of locations (Globe and Mail)
• Walmart lays off or relocates 1,000 workers (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• The race to automate the last mile of grocery deliveries (BCG)
• Resetting expectations: Canada's economy in a lower-immigration era (CD Howe Institute)
• Salmon farms on land take aim at a $19 billion industry (Bloomberg)
• Food prices rise to highest in three years on Iran war costs (Bloomberg)
• Italian gelato is getting weird and not everyone likes it (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Why beef prices won't drop anytime soon (Bloomberg)
• As AI upends shopping, retailers tailor their pitches to chatbots (Globe and Mail)
• Frozen TV dinners get a high-protein makeover for the GLP-1 era (Bloomberg)
• No whey, a cottage cheese shortage! Demand surges amid protein craze (CBC)
• What India's Diet Coke shortage means for the U.S. (The Atlantic)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• The last days of Butter Ridge (NYT)
• Americans will do anything to get Indian mangoes (WSJ)
• Derek Thompson: Why your best ideas aren't original (Substack)
• UK supermarkets as competition watchdog to rein in Aldi and Lidl (FT)
• Big Loblaw stretches its tentacles, on track to become Canada's biggest landlord (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• The Nortena burrito takes New York (The New Yorker)
• Doris Fisher, co-founder of the Gap, dies at 94 (NYT)
• Kraft Heinz CEO pushes value: Consumers are literally running out of money (WSJ)
• Will AB Foods' split from Primark unlock its potential (The Grocer)
• From the archives (2007): Michelin sprinkles stars on Tokyo (FT)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Loblaw 'fighting back' against price hikes and seeing strength in discounted sales (Globe and Mail)
• The invisible force making food less nutritious (Washington Post)
• Thai food in America enters an adventurous era (Bloomberg)
• Is China decoupling on food (FT)
• AI in shopping. Transforming the retail ecosystem (McKinsey)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Magnum's mini ice creams ease fears of weight-loss drugs (FT)
• ACCC vs Woolworths may have exposed the 'magic' of supermarket discounts - but how will it change the way we shop (The Guardian)
• Lululemon's new CEO is already on the hot seat - and she hasn't even started yet (WSJ)
• Two NJ malls separated by just four miles - and very different fates (Bloomberg)
• Tesco argues equal pay claim disregards 'economic reality' (FT)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Unilever sales lifted by Dove soap, rebound in Brazil (Bloomberg)
• Hershey beats expectations, buoyed by charging higher prices (Bloomberg)
• Hershey CEO on making luxury chocolate accessible - and battling Ozempic breath (WSJ)
• Walmart expands local products in bid to boost sales, traffic (Bloomberg)
• Colgate-Palmolive sales rise on international growth (WSJ)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• The State of Grocery Retail Europe 2025 (McKinsey)
• Ottawa announces $6 billion to boost skilled trades, smaller deficit projection of $66.9 billion (Globe and Mail)
• Health Canada approves generic Ozempic from Apotex as patients and insurers seek savings (Globe and Mail)
• The day the food noise died (NYT)
• New weight loss drugs like Ozempic can also erase people's love of food (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• What I learned about billionaires at Jeff Bezos' private retreat (The Atlantic)
• The Japanese designers changing menswear (NYT)
• How the Walkman, Game Boy, Liquid Death, and Pokemon became surprise hits (HBR)
• Why do the top sushi restaurants leave us so bored, and so broke (NYT)
• From the archives (2025): The great French Fry mystery (Toronto Life)