By Craig Grayson, Vice President Merchandising & Marketing, Imperial Distributors Inc. Back-to-School has evolved well beyond a one-time stock-up trip for notebooks, pencils, and lunch bags. Today, it represents a broader household reset shaped by omnichannel shopping, value-seeking behavior, wellness priorities, and the return to more structured weekday routines. For grocery retailers, that evolution has […]
Category: National
Expert Article
The Hidden Margin Leak Hiding in Your Accounts Payable Department
Every independent and regional grocer knows the math. Net margins run between 1% and 3%, which means that on a $10 million store, you’re working with $100,000 to $300,000 of breathing room before you’re underwater. Operators spend enormous energy managing the front end to protect those numbers, tightening promotional spend, auditing shrink, and fine-tuning labor […]
Posted inNews, Corporate Store News, Health & Wellness, National
Sam’s Club, Weight Watchers Team Up On Weight Health Programs
Sam’s Club and WW International Inc., known as Weight Watchers, are collaborating to give club members discounted access to weight health programs, including clinical weight management options for shoppers taking or considering GLP-1 medications. The initiative offers Weight Watchers’ Core, Core+ and Med+ programs alongside Sam’s Club’s pharmacy services, which include prescription value programs, acceptance […]
Posted inNews, National, Online Grocery Technology
Breez AI To Quadruple Store Count As Independent Grocers Sign On
Breez AI, an AI shopping platform built for regional and independent grocers, has announced another wave of retailer adoption as Brothers Market, Balls Food Stores, Price Chopper Enterprises, PFS Brands, operator of Moser’s Foods, Tietgen’s Food Stores and HAC Inc., operating as Homeland, joined its retailer network. Combined with a rollout across 170 Harps Food […]
Posted inNews, Finance News, National
FMS Solutions’ 2nd Profit Summit For Independents Coming This Fall
FMS Solutions, a financial management company serving independent grocery operators and restaurants, has announced its second annual FMS Profit Summit, set for Oct. 6-8 at Tapatio Springs Hill Country Resort in Boerne, Texas. The two-day event covers financial benchmarking, labor management, shrink reduction and the state of the independent grocery industry. Attendees will have direct […]
Posted inGrocery Research, National, News
Feeding America: Food As Medicine Programs Cut Hospitalizations
Feeding America, in partnership with Elevance Health Foundation, has released the nation’s largest Food as Medicine evaluation of food banks, which found that consistent access to nutritious food reduces self-reported hospitalizations by 14 percent and emergency department visits by 11 percent while strengthening food security among people facing hunger. The three-year program, evaluated by the Center […]
Posted inPrivate Label Brands, Association News, Featured News, Grocery Research, National, News
Report: Store Brands Hit 23.8% Unit Market Share As National Brands Lag
Store brands continued to strengthen their position in the marketplace during the first half of 2026, outperforming national brands in unit sales, according to the Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA). Over the six months ending June 14, store brand unit sales increased 0.2 percent while national brand unit sales declined 0.5 percent – a spread […]
Posted inNews, Featured News, Grocery Research, National, Specialty
Fancy Food Show Takeaways: Specialty Brands Navigate AI-Curious Market
by Diana Leza Sheehan, founder of PDG Insights At the Specialty Food Association’s Summer Fancy Food Show, held June 28-30 at the Javits Center in New York City, a few themes were clear throughout the educational sessions and across the exhibit hall. Specialty food and beverage brands are operating in a market defined by contradiction: […]