July 22, 2016

Consolidation in the Pet-Store Space

Like dogs and cats living together. This month’s merger of Pet Valu and Pet Supermarket under the Roark Capital Group...

By Mike Baker

June 24, 2016

CVS: A Pharmacy that Cares about Health

CVS announced this week that it is expanding a 500-store pilot program launched in 2015 that tweaked its food and...

By Mike Baker

June 23, 2016

Taking Stock of the Big Chains

To mark next month’s publication of our 2016 Directory of Home Center Operators and Hardware Chains, we’ve pulled a sampling...

By Mike Baker

June 23, 2016

Breaking Down Barbecue

Summer is officially upon us, and it’s time to take stock of the barbecue segment of the chain restaurant industry....

By Mike Baker

June 22, 2016

Ralph Lauren Corporation and the Factory Outlet Scene

Add another iconic-yet-stagnating manufacturer and retailer to the list of apparel companies waking up to the need to “do something.”...

By Mike Baker

June 22, 2016

When the Outlet Comes to Town – Taking Stock

As Tanger Outlets prepares to open its 43rd location this weekend in greater Columbus, Ohio we dive into CSG’s locations...

By Mike Baker

June 21, 2016

QSR Mobile App Functionality at a Glance

As noted in our June 2016 Retail & Foodservice Technology DataTrac report, Chick-fil-A and Dunkin’ Donuts launched new mobile apps...

By Mike Baker

June 20, 2016

Five Below – and Rising

Your eleven-year-old and almost every Wall Street analyst have something in common. They both love Five Below, the fast-growing discount...

By Mike Baker

June 20, 2016

A Loaf of Bread, a Gallon of Milk and a Urine Sample

Safeway and Quest Diagnostics announced a partnership last week to open a dozen Safeway-branded in-store medical testing facilities in California,...

By Mike Baker

May 27, 2016

Looking Beyond the Big Three: Small Chain Growth Done Right

From a single Michigan pharmacy first opened in 2009, company President Alpesh Patel and CFO Manish Patel have grown Benzer...

By Mike Baker

May 26, 2016

Gloom and Doom at Sears and Kmart

The news has not been good for Sears and Kmart for quite some time. It didn’t get any better on...

By Mike Baker

May 26, 2016

Blaze-ing through the Numbers

Blaze Pizza ensures that it makes its presence known at each new location with its practice of giving away free...

By Mike Baker