The COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the most challenging business environments that independent community grocers have had to face – and it’s not over yet. The sudden shift in retail spending behavior during the second quarter of 2020 drove record supermarket sales. Grocers moved mountains to keep shelves stocked while contending with operational challenges, […]
Category: Guest Contributors
Posted inAssociation News, Guest Contributors, National
Floods Swallow Isom IGA In Kentucky
From IGA News The morning of July 28 hit different from other Thursdays for Isom IGA Owner and 2007 IGA International Retailer of the Year Gwen Christon. After a 12-hour deluge in eastern Kentucky brought 7-10 inches of rain overnight and raised the North Fork Kentucky River about 11 feet above flood stage – an […]
Posted inGuest Contributors, Association News, National
Why Are Food Prices Still Rising? Look No Further Than Fertilizer
Fertilizer isn’t a glamorous topic. Far from it. But it’s a key player in the game of rising food costs. Plants need nitrogen, potassium and other nutrients to grow. Add more nutrients in the soil and plants grow bigger, vegetable and fruit yields skyrocket and, in turn, land becomes more productive and profitable. Reverse it […]
Posted inGuest Contributors, Association News, National
Examining Price Authority And What Shoppers Don’t Know About It
“I know what I know; the problem is that I don’t know what I don’t know.” In business, and in life, awareness of what you don’t know can be critical to success. And of course, the opposite is true. Being confident you know something, when the opposite is true is a path to disaster. As […]
Posted inGuest Contributors, Association News, National
Independent Grocers Fly In Formation, Voices United For Fair Competition
NGA takes pride in representing the independent grocery industry and is honored to speak in the halls of power in Washington on behalf of retailers, wholesalers and suppliers. As a generator of tax revenue and jobs while helping to feed this great nation, the industry must remind policymakers how important it is to Main Street […]
Posted inOnline Grocery Technology, Association News, Guest Contributors, National
Grocery Stores Must Take Up Arms In War Against Cyber Crime
We know the stories: Some company, hospital, school or individual gets hit with a ransomware attack, which shuts down its computer system. It then must pay the criminals to get access to the system again or pay a lot of money reloading and restarting literally everything. These aren’t teenagers hacking corporate systems to show off […]
Posted inGuest Contributors, Home Page Slider, National
Helping Independents Engage With Success, Manage Future
It would be too easy for NGA to spend the year of its 40th anniversary just looking back on its history. Sure, it’s important to remember where we’ve been, but history is meaningless without a future. That’s why NGA is pursuing key strategic initiatives in 2022 designed to give independent community grocers a competitive edge […]
Posted inGuest Contributors, Home Page Latest News, National
Looking At Inflation And The Past – What Can History Teach Us?
When prices rise slowly, shoppers and the economy can adjust. But when inflation accelerates, as we are seeing in stores across the globe today, what happens then? For many younger store associates, this may be their first time going through a major inflationary period. Certainly, food prices in the U.S. have not seen cost acceleration […]