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
MINNEAPOLIS — Target Corp. is hitting the bullseye. Target headed into the 2018 holiday season bolstered by a strong third quarter performance that included a 5.1% increase in comparable sales, a 49% gain in digital channel sales and a 5.3% increase in customer traffic. Total revenue for the three months ended November 3 was $17.8
LAS VEGAS — Baruvi Fresh LLC’s Hummustir and Lesley Elizabeth’s Spinach Seasoning won the ECRM/MMR Buyers Choice Awards during ECRM’s Winter Snack & Dry Grocery EPPS held last month in Las Vegas. The two companies were selected from more than a dozen entries in the award program which were sampled by attendees during the New
PHOENIX — Mark Panzer, senior vice president of pharmacy, health and wellness at Albertsons Cos., is leading his team and the industry in creating a singular destination for customers to take care of their health and wellness needs through their grocery and pharmacy stores. The goal is to raise the profile of the company’s health
ZAANDAM, Netherlands — The merger of Royal Ahold and the Delhaize Group always had a compelling logic behind it. The companies, with roots in the neighboring countries of Holland and Belgium, possessed complementary capabilities and geographic footprints, in both the European and American retail markets, as well as similar histories. Over the years, a variety
MINNEAPOLIS — Style is one of Target Corp.’s signature categories, businesses the retailer has said it wants to be known for, and that offer some of the biggest opportunities for it to stand out and win with consumers. Beauty (along with apparel and home) plays an important role within style, notes John Butcher, senior vice
DEERFIELD, Ill. — Rick Gates developed a passion for retail pharmacy early on, when he worked at an independent drug store in Des Moines while attending high school. Now, as vice president of pharmacy operations at Walgreen Co., Gates is making it possible for his fellow pharmacists to indulge the same passion by helping create
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Jeremy Gosch, executive vice president of strategy and chief merchandising officer at Hy-Vee, has been at the center of three major initiatives that the company has introduced over the past year to ensure that the retailer remains relevant in the lives of its customers. Hy-Vee’s rollout of an apparel line,
WOONSOCKET, R.I. — As vice president of consumables and general merchandise for CVS Pharmacy, Mike McEnany has helped oversee the chain’s expansion of healthier food and beverages. “Since CVS Pharmacy became the first and only national retail pharmacy chain to remove tobacco products from its shelves in 2014, the next natural step in this evolution
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Hy-Vee has one of the oldest — if not the oldest — taglines or jingles ever deployed by a U.S. company to insinuate itself into the hearts and minds of shoppers. The grocer has been using “A helpful smile in every aisle” for a half century — it’s possible that
BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Over-the-counter medications offer a first line of treatment for people with aches and pains, or minor illnesses. As vice president of O-T-C merchandising at Walmart, Annie Walker is responsible for making sure that the right products customers need to address those health needs are available on the shelf, at the low prices
BELLPORT, N.Y. — His career started in high school when he began working at a Loblaw Cos. supermarket in Erie, Pa., and today Jim Wonderly is vice president of strategic accounts at QK Healthcare Inc. Wonderly credits his manager at Loblaw, Jim Mifsud, for helping to launch his career by recommending him as a health