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Stats: Sustainability Aware

Sustainability is on the minds of many consumers and they are bringing the topic to both retailers’ attention and product assortments. Sustainability—the avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance, according to research firm The NPD Group’s Health Aspirations & Behavioral Tracking Service—also is used in a broader sense to…

Trends: CBD Mainstreams

We’ve told you this before, but now a new study confirms that Cannabidiol (CBD) continues its mainstream appeal. According to a new NPD Group study, “With cannabis becoming legal in more states, it’s impossible to ignore the potential ramifications for the food and beverage industry.” That’s because CBD isn’t just for a select few people. Nearly 20 percent of adults have…

Fall Promotions Feature Food

Retailers are promoting a wide variety of events and products and recipes via social media this fall as they gear up for the all-important fourth quarter. Food played a big role in those promotions. Here are some that caught our eye. The Rolling Pin Kitchen Emporium in Brandon, Fla., held a private cooking event that featured steakhouse cuisine serving up a menu of…

Retail Profile: In The Kitchen

Location: Pittsburgh, Pa. Owner: KC Lapiana Founded: 2002 Own or rent: Own After years in the retail business KC Lapiana has moved out of her home base of Pittsburgh and put her store In The Kitchen into the hands of a trusted group of managers. The reason? Her husband retired from a long broadcasting career and the pair decided to move south. “We made the…

Stats: Meal Kits and Online Grocery Shopping Boost Home Cooking

Any renewed interest in home cooking rather than eating out is good news for kitchenware retailers. And, thanks to the growth in meal kits and online grocery shopping, more people are cooking meals at home these days. In fact, more than half of U.S. adults claim they really enjoy cooking (53%) and more than a third consider the kitchen to be the most important room in…

Trends: Top Cheese

With many gourmet retailers carrying cheese, here’s a rundown of the top cheeses in the recent 2019 American Cheese Society (ACS) Competition, held in Richmond, Va., in August. Beecher’ Handmade Cheese was a big winner taking home five awards. The cheesemaker’s aged clothbound cheese, Flagship Reserve, took first place in the clothbound cheddar category, making it one…

Retailing Outdoors

Traditionally a way to dump overstock merchandise and have fun with neighbors, street fairs and sidewalk sales are not as popular with independent retailers as they used to be. Most retailers interviewed for this story have participated in sidewalk sales in the past, but now have decided to take a pass on the events, citing staffing issues among other things. “We used to do…

Retail Profile: Perennial Accents

Location: St. Joseph, Mich. Founded: 1995 Owner: Kellye Wilson (since October 2018) Square footage: 5,000 sq. ft. Rent or Own: Rent Perennial Accents, which was launched in a barn in 1995 as a family-owned business growing perennial plants, making dried wreaths and selling cookware, got a turnaround when former Whirlpool executive Kellye Wilson bought the…

Stats: Specialty Cheese Market Expected to Grow

Although it is, ahem, ripe, the market for specialty cheese, while mature, is still expected to grow. Which is good news for those independent retailers who stock bries, blues and cheddars. According to the U.S. Food Market Outlook 2019, a report released by the market research firm Packaged Facts, retail dollar sales of the U.S. natural and specialty cheese market reached…