Chicago retail, including other iconic shopping destinations, looked like a war zone this week – not a major market poised to re-open after months of closures. This week was supposed to be the next re-opening phase in Illinois – not another setback that some retailers
Brian Sharoff, President of the Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA) passed away at the age of 77 after a brief illness. His loss is incalculable to the food retail industry. For so many who have worked in this area, Brian truly was the private label
The COVID-19 crisis has quickly swept over the US, amassing over 1.5 million cases and 90,000+ deaths through May 18 (NYT COVID Tracker). Consumers have responded with dramatic shifts in shopping and purchasing behaviors. While some of these new behaviors are probably short-term responses to
Lost in the wake of Walmart’s blowout quarter (e-commerce sales up 74% and same store sales climbed nearly 10%) is the news that they are officially shutting down Jet.com. The news itself is not shocking: they have been telegraphing this for well over a year
There’s nothing like massive disruption to accelerate a trend that was already occurring in the market. In this instance, a global pandemic the likes we’ve never seen before has caused significant change in the retail landscape. While grocery stores have remained open and fared better
What the last recession can tell us about this one
Extraordinary measures are being taken by supermarket retailers in response to COVID-19 in this extremely challenging time including customer limits, line spacing, the discontinuation of salad and hot bars and crucial safety precautions. Are these measures temporary or are they here to stay? We've been contemplating
This week the impact of shifting consumer spending during COVID-19 resulted in a new wave of massive employee furloughs in non-food retail sectors. For those retailers still open for business, the employees working on the front line have become increasingly anxious about their own health.
With the CDC now reporting over 300,000 COVID-19 cases and shelter-at-home orders issued in 40+ states (as of 4/3), every citizen and sector of the economy is being affected by the epidemic. By analyzing changes in foot traffic across food retail, we can monitor the
This week about 90% of U.S. consumers are under a “Stay at Home” order. Most of these customers have moved beyond the hoarding period to the next wave of shopping behavior focused on limited trips to stores with increased purchasing on-line with home delivery. In
