Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• The crazy, contentious history of Taco Tuesday (Thrillist)
• Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads (Recode)
• Tokyo's long lines lead to magic (and life-changing ramen) (Afar)
• A brief, bitter history of wild watermelon (Gastro Obscura)
• Hudson's Bay Co., Austria-based Signa form joint venture in European retail (CBC)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• The #1 office perk? Natural light (HBR)
• Alibaba's chairman, Jack Ma, plans to step down (NYT)
• Italy defied Starbucks, until it didn't (The Atlantic)
• Tackling the 1.6 billion-ton food loss and waste crisis (BCG)
• From lab to leader: How consumer companies can drive growth at scale with disruptive innovation (McKinsey)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Frozen dinners make a comeback (WSJ)
• Why U.S. grocery chains need more (and better) store brand products (HBR)
• Amazon's antitrust antagonist has a breakthrough idea (NYT)
• Walmart tries out home delivery service (WSJ)
• Kraft Heinz sees rising costs, weighing M&A deals: CEO (Reuters)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Why data culture matters (McKinsey)
• After 28,000 stores in 78 countries, Starbucks turns to Italy (WSJ)
• H-E-B to hire hundreds of employees for new digital HQ (Houston Chronicle)
• Third Point aims to replace Campbell Soup's entire board (WSJ)
• From the archives (2012): Discount birthday: Walmart, Kmart, Target hit 50 (USA Today)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Move over quinoa, Nestle is looking for the next superfood (Bloomberg)
• Tim Hortons escalates fight with dissident franchisee group (The Globe and Mail)
• Russia's top web store? Founded by a mom on maternity leave (Bloomberg)
• What does monopsony mean? Chicken farms offer an answer (The Atlantic)
• Loblaw rallies after selling Choice Properties REIT assets to George Weston (Financial Post)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Hard lessons breathe new life into retail stores (NYT)
• Why Walmart shoppers are finding more items 'out of stock' (WSJ)
• The shady world of beauty influencers and the brands that pay them (Vox)
• Inside Alibaba's new kind of retail (CNBC)
• New CEO Calvin McDonald looks to invoke Sephora experience as Lululemon surges ahead (The Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Beverage makes explore entries to Canadian cannabis sector (The Globe and Mail)
• Coca-Cola bets on coffee with $5.1 billion deal for Costa (NYT)
• Indian retail isn't a pot of gold (Bloomberg)
• Walmart adds toys and shelf space for holidays, expands online offering (Reuters)
• Google and Mastercard cut a secret ad deal to track retail sales (Bloomberg)