M&M’S® Pretzel Chocolate Candies were named the 2011 Product of the Year in the candy and snacks category by Product of the Year USA. “This award is especially gratifying because it was decided by consumers,” Debra A. Sandler, CCO of MMMars Chocolate North America, said in a press release. “We felt confident that the delicious […]
Category: Bonus Content
Posted in, National, The Independent Perspective
Obamacare: One Year Later
[dropcap]M[/dropcap]arch 23 will mark the one-year anniversary of the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), often referred to as “Obamacare.” In January 2011 the House of Representatives successfully passed H.R. 2 (245-189), which would repeal PPACA. However, the legislation is largely symbolic and has no chance for consideration in the Senate. […]
Posted in, Another Side, National
Another Side: 4+1=48
Numbers which don’t add up? They do if you are using Shelby math. While some periodicals have been subtracting, we have been adding. Since the first Southeast issue (1967) to the Southwest (1976), we have added The Shelby Report of the West (2008), The Shelby Report of the Midwest (2009), and now The Shelby Report […]
Posted in, From My Point of View, National
What’s Wrong With This Picture?
We are on a path that our government says will leave us $1,500,000,000,000 (one trillion, five hundred billion dollars) in debt for the fiscal year 2011. And in the same breath, our government tells us they need 193,000 new employees (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Government Needs to Add 193,000 New Hires,” Jan. 16, 2011). Just the […]
Posted in, Bonus Content, Ellerbee Buzz, Southeast
Grocers Overcome Challenges Severe Weather Brings
Even the mighty fell—sorta. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. managed to open its headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., on Feb. 9, but employees did not have to report if they couldn’t safely travel to work. A foot of snow had fallen on Northwest Arkansas. Some parts of Oklahoma saw two feet of snow. In the northeast corner of […]
Posted in, National, The Independent Perspective
The 112th Congress Takes Office
Now is the time to build relationships and educate new members. A number of important and encouraging pieces of legislation passed at the end of 2011 that will have positive implications for independent retailers and wholesalers: the favorable extension of the estate tax at a top rate of 35 percent with a $5 million exemption, […]
Posted in, Bonus Content, From the Editor, Southeast
Tell Me—Do You Welcome Extreme Couponers?
I’ve wanted to ask a question of our retailer readers for some time now, and for reasons I will explain in a moment, I am posing it now: Do you have major coupon users that shop your store, and if so, do you welcome them or wish they would shop somewhere else? I would love […]