BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Recognizing the dramatically changing mass retailing marketplace, the editors of Mass Market Retailers have selected Walmart as the initial recipient of the publication’s newly created award for the most outstanding U.S. omnichannel retailer. The designation of Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, for this recognition was not a difficult decision. In 2019, the
It’s that time of year again, the time the editors of MMR select the outstanding retailers of the year. Sometimes we recognize an individual; at other times we choose a company. In either case, it is our annual attempt to isolate the best and the brightest, to designate those people and organizations that have distinguished
On the day before Thanksgiving an acquaintance of ours wandered into a CVS drug store in Mendham, N.J. There, at the store’s entrance, was a display, a Disney Lionel train set. Price: $79.95. Our acquaintance, a longtime Lionel train buff, immediately snapped it up, took it home, assembled the track and, by 8:00 that night,
Unlikely as it sounds, New York City is quickly emerging as a retail Mecca, the scene of much that is new and exciting and innovative in the retail marketplace. That’s right. New York — scene of hourly subway snafus, constant traffic snarls, mind-numbing construction on every street, and all manner of inconveniences and holdups —
Wegmans, arguably the finest grocery retailer the United States has to offer, opened its first supermarket in New York City late last month, a 74,000-square-foot store in Brooklyn. So significant was the opening that The New York Times, often referred to as America’s newspaper of record, devoted the back page of its first section to
Lots going on in the mass retailing community these days — as is usually the case. With the holiday season fast approaching, mass retailers are sharpening their games, extending their reach, unveiling some dramatic new concepts and honing their basic skills. With all the activity, the editors of MMR have arbitrarily selected five must-visits in
Amid all the activity that promises to characterize mass market retailing this fall, one name stands out above the rest when it comes to innovation: Walmart. With the usual group of pundits and soothsayers once again predicting the demise or minimization of brick-and mortar retailing, and with online shopping threatening to crowd out the traditional
Doug McMillon, chief executive officer of Walmart, was in the news recently for all the right reasons. Bucking traditional business wisdom, he announced new restrictions on Walmart’s program around gun sales. No longer, he announced, would the nation’s largest retailer sell certain types of ammunition. More than that, customers would be discouraged from entering Walmart
Autumn is here — and with it, the critical fourth calendar quarter, that make-or-break period that separates the golden performers from the rest of the retailing community. This year, in particular, change has been the retailing constant, but in many quarters of the retailing community things have been remarkably consistent, with many companies doing very
Suddenly, without warning, mass retailing is experiencing a transformation without precedent — or, at the least, without precedent in this century. Within the space of days, Amazon.com Inc. has purchased Whole Foods Market Inc., an alliance that brings together two of the most fascinating retailers currently vying for business in America, while Walmart has entered
The fallout from Amazon.com Inc.’s agreement to acquire Whole Foods Market Inc. is just beginning. But the implications are already clear: This transaction, if completed, will shake up the mass retailing community as nothing has done in years, if not decades. Parallels do not come readily to mind. Walgreen Co.’s merger with Alliance Boots GmbH
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.’s (WBA’s) plan to acquire Rite Aid Corp. in its entirety is, for now, dead. For some, it was an inevitable conclusion to a strategy that was full of holes. For others, by far the majority, it was a surprising conclusion to a well-conceived plan to increase the already dynamic presence of