News

CONCORD, Mass. — Welch’s brought in food historian and Food Network star Alton Brown to celebrate Ephraim Wales Bull, the man who grew the first Concord grape in the mid-19th century.

In a ceremony at the company’s new headquarters in Concord, Mass., Welch’s and Brown honored Bull with the dedication of a freshly planted vineyard, grown from his original Concord grapevine, cultivated more than 160 years ago.

ATLANTA — The HoneyBaked Ham Company is gearing up for aggressive growth in the Northeastern U.S., and plans to sign more franchise deals in areas where demand for the brand is growing.

FORT WORTH — One doesn’t normally associate social media with Dickies, but the global workwear maker is teaming up with pitcher R. A. Dickey to launch a contest on Facebook and using the social media site to extend its reach.

The contest, called Built to Work, recognizes the dedication and contributions of blue-collar workers from all walks of life — that is, the target consumer which Dickies aims to outfit with its apparel. 

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Shopko and Stanley Black and Decker have teamed up to donate nearly 100 power tools to Greater Green Bay Area Habitat for Humanity.  

Office Depot has launched a new rewards program with several loyalty enhancements even as it moves closer to consummating its merger with OfficeMax.

The company’s new program, called simply Office Depot Rewards, is designed to reward shoppers for spending money, sharing information about themselves and recycling. It is a novel approach that is intended to offer a more customized approach to shoppers’ unique behaviors and preferences.

New York -- Luxury department store operator Neiman Marcus Inc. on Monday disclosed plans for a proposed public offering of up to $100 million.

The retailer’s plan, announced in a regulatory filing, comes some eight years after it was acquired for $5.1 billion by private equity firms TPG Capital and Warburg Pincus. In its filing, Neiman Marcus indicated a desire to expand its outlet center concept, Last Call, which currently operates 35 locations.

North Plainfield, N.J. -- A cooler start to spring and mixed-bag of Memorial Day weekend weather in the Northeast may have contributed to less than expected year-to-date sales and traffic for some retailers, according to Levin Management’s annual mid-year Retail Sentiment Survey, which polled retailers in the firm’s 90-property, 12.5 million-square-foot shopping center portfolio.
 

Redwood Shores, Calif. -- Coldwater Creek has deployed Oracle Retail’s suite of integrated merchandise planning and optimization solutions as part of a strategic initiative to increase full-price selling and improve the productivity and profitability of store, online and catalog channels. The women’s apparel retailer is using the new planning solutions to reduce aged inventory and ensure that popular items are consistently in stock.

Many socioeconomic pundits have bemoaned the trend in modern education and childrearing toward creating an artificially level playing field where everyone gets a participant ribbon for everything they do, regardless of how much effort they put in or how good (or bad) the results are.

In its PizzaRev case study series, CSA Online offers an insider’s look at the conception, initial rollout and growth of the southern Calif.-based fast-casual concept PizzaRev. Likened to “the Chipotle of pizza,” this innovative chain lets customers choose from an artisanal array of toppings to craft their own pizzas very quickly in a high-end stone hearth oven. A test kitchen in Northridge, Calif. was launched in April 2012 and two additional locations quickly followed.