Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• It's the hottest brand of the summer - and it's popping up everywhere (WSJ)
• The next generation of drinkers is breaking up with bubbly booze (Bloomberg)
• France's sacred food culture faces existential crisis (Bloomberg)
• Schwartz's deli in Montreal opts for local black cherry soda as US tariffs bite (Globe and Mail)
• Starbucks refreshed its menu. Chai fans are losing their minds (WSJ)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• How Eli Lilly got huge by making us thin (Bloomberg)
• Sales are so low, Californian wineries are burning their vineyards (NYT)
• Trump's tariffs take aim at Canadian whey protein during global shortage (Globe and Mail)
• Should multibuys on unhealthy foods be banned (BBC)
• Sainsbury's strikes deal to sell Argos for £120M to Swift Partners (FT)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Why Sears's last great hope was a promise that never materialized (NYT)
• How Costco won over wine snobs (WSJ)
• Costco earnings show Executive members driving the economy (Quartz)
• Sam's Club is beating Costco at its own game - in China (WSJ)
• Canada's lobster industry caught in a tariff trap (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: What has changed the most for strategy (Medium)
• Burger King strikes joint venture to double its presence in China (WSJ)
• Glass skin and snail mucin: South Korea's journey to global beauty player (NYT)
• Italian pasta is poised to disappear from American grocery shelves (WSJ)
• Private label food maker Treehouse to go private in $1.17 billion deal (WSJ)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Target mandates worker smiles, friendliness to boost sales (Bloomberg)
• Pizza Hut's parent says struggling chain may go up for sale (NYT)
• Ontario to ban exclusivity deals between insurers, pharmacies (Globe and Mail)
• Facing Trump's tariffs, Swiss farmers find themselves with too much milk (NYT) 
• Discount chain takes aim at 7-Eleven in Japan with $2 Tonkatsu (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Carlsberg falls after CEO warns of weak consumer spending (Bloomberg)
• Are samosa's unhealthy? Some Indians find official advice hard to swallow (NYT)
• There's money to be made from 'MAHA'. Food companies want in (NYT)
• Canola industry asks Ottawa to curtail vegetable oil imports after China imposes new trade restrictions (Globe and Mail)
• Amazon has tried to crack Walmart's grocery empire for decades, with limited success. A massive same-day grocery expansion could change that (Fortune)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Inside the automated warehouse where robots are packing your groceries (The Verge)
• JD.com's revenue climbs after foray into food delivery (Bloomberg)
• Bag charms selling for $1,000 are retail's next little luxury (Bloomberg)
• The U.S. alcohol industry is reeling from Canada's booze boycott (WSJ)
• Ulta Beauty, Target to end partnership (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Forget back to office, let's focus on back to the restaurant (Globe and Mail)
• The Home Depot doubles down on data science (Wired)
• American orange juice exports to Canada get squeezed (Globe and Mail)
• U.S. inflation held steady at 2.7% in July (WSJ)
• China escalates Canada trade spat with more levies (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: How I do strategy - Part Two (Medium)
• Can AriZona's 99-cent iced tea survive Trump's tariffs (NYT)
• Inside Target, frustrated employees and search for new CEO (WSJ)
• First Nations groups raise questions about lack of consultation before sale of 1670 Hudson's Bay Company charter (Globe and Mail)
• Landlords say Ruby Liu's plan to take over 25 Hudson's Bay properties defies 'commercial sense' (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Oreos combined with Reeses? Inside the Manhattan Project of snacks (WSJ)
• Bicks pickles no longer stocked at some Canadian retailers (CBC)
• What lobsters and chicken says about Europe's trade logic (NYT)
• What's more American than the McLobster (WSJ)
• Pick your own is the future, says sunflower farmer (BBC)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• A food reckoning is coming (The Atlantic)
• As cash fades, small retailers embrace efforts to rein in swipe fees (NYT)
• Hudson's Bay demise leaves large swath of empty real estate in its wake (Globe and Mail)
• Consumers are financing their groceries. What does that say about the economy (NYT)
• Retailers, ducking trade war curve balls, stick to their plans (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Generating creative strategy possibilities (Medium)
• What 350 retailers say about the future of merchandising (BCG)
• Former Burger King boss picked to oversee Panera, Pret a Manger (WSJ)
• The rising stakes of innovation in the consumer sector (BCG)
• Walmart warns about ability to 'absorb' tariff costs without raising prices (NYT)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Walmart becomes biggest retailer yet to pass through tariff price increases (WSJ)
• Walmart is prepping to meet its next customer: The next AI shopping agent (WSJ)
• Canadian Tire to buy Hudson's Bay stripe design, other intellectual property (Globe and Mail)
• Dick's Sporting Goods to buy Foot Locker for $2.4 billion (WSJ)
• From the archives (2010): Canadian Tire going back to the basics (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Hudson's Bay to choose a new owner in the next two to three weeks, court told (Globe and Mail)
• Woolworths is cutting prices. Expect more supermarket competition but not an all-out price war (The Guardian)
• Why America's 'beautiful beef' is a sore point for Europe (NYT)
• The new way bosses talk about workers (WSJ)
• Buying misfit fruits and vegetables can help reduce your grocery bill. And there's an app for that (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Is this the end of cheap stuff (Bloomberg)
• Amazon pressures suppliers to cut pries to limit Trump tariff shock (FT)
• Healthy sodas are drawing Coca-Cola's and PepsiCo's attention (Bloomberg)
• How 5 restaurants work wonders with no kitchens (NYT)
• US shoppers pay for Trump tariffs on Temu, doubling some prices (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Value retailers have been waiting for the higher-income consumer. They've arrived (WSJ)
• Three factories, $355,000, and the maddening quest to make a clear can (WSJ)
• Trump's tariffs threats chill Italy's cheese makers (NYT)
• Premium chocolatiers thrive as consumers develop taste for luxury (FT)
• Chobani plans to invest over $1 billion in new New York factory (NYT)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Nestle chided over lack of transparency in Perrier filtering (Bloomberg)
• Inside Home Depot's $20 billion secret garden (WSJ)
• Pepsi vs. Coke: How the soda rivals are faring in the tariff war (WSJ)
• Temu and Shein will raise prices for US customers due to Trump's tariffs (AP)
• Americans are obsessed with protein and it's driving nutrition experts nuts (WSJ)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Deal for Mountain Equipment Co. under review by Competition Bureau (Globe and Mail)
• The energy drink that hooked young women - and Celsius (Bloomberg)
• How Costco's Jim Sinegal built the $400 billion retailer (WSJ)
• Trade war starting to show up in higher grocery prices for some items (CBC)
• Loblaw CEO's pay drops in 2024 after getting signing bonuses the year before (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Albertsons sales grow on boost from pharmacy business (WSJ)
• A scientist is paid to study maple syrup. He's also paid to promote it (NYT)
• At China's wholesale hub, U.S. orders have suddenly halted. One example: socks (WSJ)
• HBC employees could use disability benefits with company's court restructuring (Globe and Mail)
• The colourful cult of Le Creuset (NYT)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Stop working for loser strategists (Medium)
• The locker-room mentality for managing Gen Z employees (WSJ)
• Reckitt home care suitors temper valuations amid tariff worries (Bloomberg)
• Luxury confectioner looks to take LVMH-backed Saudi brand global (Bloomberg)
• Amazon wants to keep prices low. One sellers' tariff woes show why it's hard (WSJ)