Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Target's tech chief has a big role to play in the retailer's turnaround (WSJ)
• JD.com's European push pits Chinese retailer against Amazon (Bloomberg)
• Pop Mart bets on new toys as Labubu mania fades (Bloomberg)
• Big bargains and 'white knuckle' buying: Inside the rise of TJ Maxx (FT)
• Amazon launches 1-hour delivery in hundreds of U.S. cities (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Your holiday party food should be a shrimp tower (NYT)
• Sylvain Charlebois: The quiet transformation of Canada's grocery industry (National Post)
• The grocery code of conduct takes effect next month. Its first enforcer has a 'big job' ahead (Globe and Mail)
• The hottest toy of the year is made by a tech startup you've never heard of (WSJ)
• The cult of Kohl's cash (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Thomson and Weston families submit $18 billion joint bid for Hudson's Bay charter (Globe and Mail)
• Kroger expands partnership with DoorDash, Instacart, Uber Eats (WSJ)
• Aldi effect sweeps supermarkets as US embraces private label (FT)
• Pop Mart's Labubu risks Beanie Baby-style collapse, analyst says (Bloomberg)
• Protein has gone mainstream. But how much do you actually need (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• 'Struggle meals' and Hamburger Helper are trending because food is so expensive (CBC)
• Uber sees non-takeout deliveries becoming a $12.5 billion business (Bloomberg)
• The world's 50 best restaurants in North America (NYT)
• As unemployment rises, the promise of a grocery store job lures hundreds (CBC)
• Chinese retailer Miniso jumps on collectible toys train spinoff (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: A primer on strategic choice chartering (Medium)
• Who still eats sugary cereal (NYT)
• The mystery of Mamadou, a delivery guy who became a superhero (WSJ)
• Costco says giving shoppers an extra hour is paying off (WSJ)
• Forget Labubus: We're collecting semi-cured gel nail strips (NYT)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• General Mills cites cautious shopper in reiterating outlook (Bloomberg)
• Why restaurant diners are paying more everywhere (NYT)
• Tamgotchis are back as the pocket-sized pets ride a wave of nostalgia (Globe and Mail)
• Driving successful volume-led growth in consumer markets (BCG)
• Global economic profit bounces back to an all-time high (McKinsey)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Son of DavidsTea founder calls for leadership overhaul, accusing company of poor governance (Globe and Mail)
• August inflation rate ticks up to 1.9%, rising less than expected (Globe and Mail)
• What's the Lububu craze all about? And how long can it last (Bloomberg)
• The grilled chicken chain joining the crispy poultry frenzy. Sort of (WSJ)
• Jack Ma returns with a vengeance to 'Make Alibaba Great Again' (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• The aisle-prowling Albertsons CEO taking on Kroger (WSJ)
• Can Lububu, this ugly elf, make China cool (NYT)
• Kraft Heinz is ditching artificial dyes (WSJ)
• Swiss chocolate dynasty doubles down on private equity (Bloomberg)
• Chobani CEO says food system needs immigration to function (WSJ)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Inside the final days of Hudson's Bay (Globe and Mail)
• The plan that could have saved Hudson's Bay as we know it (Globe and Mail)
• She always felt like an outsider. Now it's this CEO's superpower (WSJ)
• Aldi owners holding talks about possible merger (Bloomberg)
  
• Retailers flex their vocabulary to war of potential tariff-driven price hikes (WSJ)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Rogers Sugar spends big on Montreal expansion (Globe and Mail)
• Big Retail gets bigger as smaller retailers struggle (WSJ)
• How changing demographics and tastes are shaping Canada's grocery stores (Globe and Mail)
• Toys 'R' Us Canada closing five stores, expand HMV, and add play spaces to some stores (Globe and Mail)
• From the archivers (2011): A historical geography of retailing in London, Canada (Social Science History) 

 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: 7 Powers and Playing to Win (Medium)
• Ina Garten and the age of abundance (The New Yorker)
• What happens after the baby boomers retire (Statistics Canada)
• Nerf blasters and Lego rockets: Another mall evolution (NYT)
• Economist Eugene Fama: Efficient markets is a hypothesis, not a reality (FT)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: The best strategy icebreaker (Medium)
• Ontario government seeks input on whether to regulate deals between insurers and pharmacies (Globe and Mail)
• How Crayola makes crayons for back to school (Bloomberg)
• How learning to adapt makes CEOs better (McKinsey)
• Red Lobster set to bring on former P.F. Chang's leader as CEO (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Online shopping has become a giant fake product machine (Bloomberg)
• Returns of the 'Amazombies': Unwanted packages are a retail nightmare (Washington Post)
• Halal meat is big business both within and beyond Muslim communities (CBC)
• Buyout firm L Catterton approaches Mattel with buyout offer (Reuters)
• Competition Bureau outlines what can be considered corporate greenwashing (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• When did teen boys get a nose for $300 cologne (NYT)
• The one place in airports people actually want to be (The Atlantic)
• The executive that turned around Barbie has a new long-shot mission: Save Gap (WSJ)
• After industry boom, Quebec distilleries fight for shelf space on liquor store shelves (CBC)
• Canada's inflation rate slowed to 2.7% in April, boosting bets for June rate cut (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Marc Lore is trying to build the Amazon of food delivery (NYT)
• Lego builds market share as ever-popular toy bricks defy demand drop (WSJ)
• Walmart wants to teach store managers compassion (NYT)
• How KitchenAid chooses colours for its appliances and cookware (Eater)
• The new science of what ultra-processed food does to your brain (WSJ)

 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 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)