Center Store

ST. LOUIS — Tidy Cats has launched a new campaign to support its latest cat litter formula.

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — Kellogg's has unveiled its "From Great Starts Come Great Things" campaign, which celebrates how U.S. Olympians became the athletes they are today.

ATLANTA — The Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council on Monday published the final installment of its five-part report on social media, which suggested that grocery marketers significantly can leverage any social media participation by simply responding to tweets on Twitter and exploring the potential of professional networking site LinkedIn, where activity has been supercharged by the recession.

SHEBOYGAN FALLS, Wis. — Johnsonville has introduced four varieties of premium fully cooked sausage.

The new cooking sausage is available in andouille, Polish kielbasa, smoked and three cheese Italian style flavors, the company said. Each variety of Johnsonville premium fully cooked sausage is made with premium cuts of pork, no fillers and flavorful blends of seasonings.

BOULDER, Colo. — Thanasi Foods has expanded its Bigs sunflower seeds line with a new flavor.

Bigs Hidden Valley Ranch-flavored sunflower seeds joins the Bigs lineup of salted and roasted original, Vlasic dill pickle, Bacon Salt sizzlin' bacon, Frank's RedHot buffalo wing and sea salt and black pepper flavors, the company said.

Bigs Hidden Valley Ranch sunflower seeds will hit store shelves nationwide in June and will be available 0.7-oz, 2.75-oz. and 5.35-oz. sizes.

Electronic cigarettes, sometimes called personal vaporizers, are making their way into the drug channel. As tobacco smoking in public is steadily becoming a thing of the past, smokers are looking for alternatives, and more retail channels are carrying the products.

Rite Aid has begun to carry several models of electronic cigarettes, replacement batteries and replacement cartridges, and is merchandising the products at the checkout near tobacco products.

CHICAGO — Pampers Cruisers/Swaddlers with Dry Max, Gillette Fusion ProGlide and P.F. Chang's Home Menu were the top three new product introductions in 2011, according to the SymphonyIRI Group "2011 New Product Pacesetter" report released Tuesday afternoon. Respectively, Pampers generated $296 million in first-year sales, Gillette Fusion ProGlide generated $169.4 million and P.F. Chang's Home Menu generated $101.6 million. The three were the only new brands to break the $100 million barrier in year-one sales through 2011.

Technology is changing the general merchandise aisles. Online greeting cards have grabbed share from traditional cards, and photofinishing is taking a hit as consumers move to digital photo publishing.

When retailers look for products or services to fill the vacuum left by shrinking categories, they’re looking for something consumers want today and will still need tomorrow.

The uBreakiFix concept suggests one possibility. The electronics repair chain specializes in iPad, iPhone, iPod and smartphones, and offers walk-in repair services while consumers wait.