Hallmark is partnering with several top supermarket retailers to test a new opportunity for greeting card sales at the grocery checkstand and is seeing positive sales as a result. One grocery partner reported seeing not only increased sales, but more units sold and a higher average price per card. “We are always looking for flexible […]
Category: Nonfood Items
Nonfood news for grocery retailers: health and beauty, household, pet and general merchandise trends.
See more center store coverage in Aisle Watch.
Albertsons Cos. Acquires MedCart Specialty Pharmacy
Albertsons Cos. has acquired MedCart Specialty Pharmacy in order to, the supermarket chain says, strengthen and extend its pharmacy specialty services. MedCart Specialty Pharmacy is an URAC-accredited pharmaceutical and healthcare provider of customized specialty care services and medication management for patients and physicians addressing complex diseases. “MedCart Specialty Pharmacy has built an exemplary operation, which complements […]
Non-Food For Thought: Are You Ready To Spring Into Warm-Weather Sales?
by Naomi Sleeper/director of business development, Imperial Distributors In honor of Father’s Day coming up in June, our May non-foods thoughts focus on products for male consumers. With grilling tools and gadgets—as well as camping gear and summer beer accessories—on display in stores now, supermarkets offer a variety of giftable seasonal general merchandise suitable for men […]
AWG Partners With RangeMe To Scale Growth Across All Categories
Associated Wholesale Grocers (AWG) is partnering with RangeMe, an online platform that streamlines new product discovery between product suppliers and retailers, to scale its retail buying efforts for general merchandise, health and beauty and specialty, natural and organic items for all of its members. “The technology and vendor interfacing that RangeMe provides will benefit our members and […]
Dove Launches Baby Care Product Line
Now in its 60th anniversary year, Dove is launching a line of baby care products called Baby Dove. Baby Dove has products for all skin types in its Rich Moisture and Sensitive Moisture ranges. Baby Dove’s Rich Moisture range has been developed for babies with normal to dry skin. These products are hypoallergenic with pH neutral, […]
SpartanNash Expands Opioid Safety Project To 61 Michigan Pharmacies
In a continued effort to educate store guests and prevent accidental prescription opioid overdoses, SpartanNash says it is expanding its Opioid Safety Project to each of its 61 Michigan pharmacies. SpartanNash was the first major grocery retailer in Michigan to offer this kind of program and expand it throughout the state, with participating pharmacies located […]
S.O.S Soap Pads Marking 100th Anniversary
S.O.S Soap Pads are celebrating a century of cleaning as 2017 marks the brand’s 100th anniversary. Developed in 1917 by a cooking utensil salesman named Irwin Cox, the scrubbers were designed to help his customers keep their new pans shiny. Cox’s wife called the pads S.O.S, which stood for “Save Our Saucepans.” When S.O.S pads […]
Southeastern Grocers Taps Former Ahold USA Leader To Lead Pharmacy Operations
Southeastern Grocers has hired Gayle Shields as the company’s new VP of pharmacy. Shields will be responsible for overseeing the day-to- day and strategic operations of the company’s several hundred pharmacy locations throughout the Southeast. For nearly 30 years, Shields has worked in the pharmacy industry in various positions for Allied Health, Maxor National Pharmacy […]
Housewares And Supermarkets: Sales Opportunities Abound
When a shopper thinks of a place to buy housewares, supermarkets probably aren’t the first thing that comes to mind; big-box retailers or department stores likely are. For specialty kitchen/cooking tools, gadgets and kitchen appliances, gourmet or specialty retailers might come to mind as well. But the supermarket channel is a major player in certain […]
Non-Food For Thought: Why Make HBW Your Top New Year’s Resolution?
by Naomi Sleeper/director of business development, Imperial Distributors According to an Acosta study commissioned by the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), sales of health, beauty and wellness (HBW) products total $84 billion annually. Grocery retailers only capture about $15 billion of those sales. This means a big opportunity for supermarkets to increase their share of HBW sales. […]
MOM’s Organic Market Commits To Solar, And More…
New Channels News In Brief… Maryland-based MOM’s Organic Market has begun purchasing all power from a designated solar farm in Kingsville, Maryland. This 1.5-megawatt DC system is projected to output 2,124,000 kilowatts per year. MOM’s will purchase the entire system’s output for the next 20 years. The power generated by the solar farm will account […]
Polar Bottle Donates To Pulse Nightclub Victims Fund
Polar Bottle has donated $2,684.76 in revenue from online sales of its limited edition Pride bottle to a Pulse Nightclub victims fund. The bottle, the company’s 24-oz. Sport design emblazoned with a rainbow graphic, was not intended as a fundraising item when it launched June 1. Instead, the limited edition bottle was meant to celebrate the start […]
Butler Home Products Buys Clean Ones Glove Co., And More…
New Channels News In Brief… Butler Home Products in Hudson, Massachusetts, has purchased Clean Ones Corp., a Portland, Oregon-based household glove company with more than 30 years in the market and nearly 2 billion gloves sold each year. Butler Home Products is a consumer cleaning company, selling cleaning tools (the company’s largest business segment), lint […]
Raley’s Donates Thousands Of Kitchen Utensils To Local Charities
Raley’s Family of Fine Stores, in partnership with Bradshaw International, has donated more than $80,000 worth of kitchen utensils to various organizations within the community. In January, Raley’s underwent a chainwide conversion from Chef Style brand kitchen gadgets to Good Cook kitchen utensils. The distributor, Bradshaw International, donated the remaining Chef Style products, which amounted […]
Hydro Flask Unveils First Retail Wall Display At Newport Avenue Market
Hydro Flask, an award-winning leader in high-performance, insulated stainless steel flasks that are now part of housewares segment of Helen of Troy Ltd., has unveiled its first retail wall display at Newport Avenue Market in Bend, Oregon. The display is the first to be rolled out nationwide by Hydro Flask. “We are excited to kick […]
Bradshaw To Acquire SHYE Food Storage Biz
Bradshaw International, a leading housewares supplier, has reached an agreement to purchase SHYE/LHS Inc., a Fullerton, California-based maker of food storage containers, lunch boxes and tabletop products, HomeWorld Business reports. Started in 2000 by founders Leonard Stamper and Brian Sykes, SHYE Inc. has evolved into a branded and private label business selling across all trade […]
‘El Chavo’ Makes Way To U.S. Toy Aisles, Including Select Supermarkets
Leading U.S. toymaker Jakks Pacific Inc. says the new “El Chavo” toy line, inspired by the popular comedy series, is set to hit store shelves—including those at select supermarkets—in August. Jakks currently is the North American Master Toy Licensee for “El Chavo,” a partnership entered with Televisa and exclusive licensing agent Univision. “Being on the air continuously […]
Reynolds Invites Independents To Profit From Housewares Show
The International Home + Housewares Show is now under way in Chicago and will continue through Tuesday. The International Housewares Association (IHA) is celebrating the 116th show with more than 61,000 people from more than 120 countries in attendance, including 22,000 buyers. “It is the world’s shopping place for housewares,” Perry Reynolds, VP of marketing […]
Non-Foods Marketing Fall Expo Set For Atlantic City
The Non-Foods Marketing (NFM) Fall Expo 2012 Merchandise Show is coming up Oct. 15-16 at the Borgata Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, N.J. NFM is a direct, one-stop source for today’s top general merchandise items, including housewares, seasonal items and pet supplies from more than 200 manufacturers serving the grocery, drug and convenience store […]
Technology Is the Key for the Future of General Merchandise
by Ashley Bates/staff writer Dave McConnell, president and CEO of the Global Market and Development Center (GMDC), says the future of general merchandise and health and beauty care centers on technology and focusing on sales throughout the food channel. In the recent study released by the organization, “Consumer Shopping Habits for Wellness and Environmentally Conscious […]
