Consumables

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Pharmacy is rolling out a new way for busy patients to easily buy on-the-go necessities. The company on Thursday introduced its automated retail vending machines, which contain such necessities as over-the-counter health products, better-for-you snacks and popular personal care products, and will be used as a vehicle to showcase products from the company’s exclusive store brands while meeting customers at well-trafficked areas.

SHANGHAI — Chocolate and cocoa maker Barry Callebaut is bringing a new type of chocolate to the world. Ruby chocolate joins milk, dark and white chocolates 80 years after the introduction of white chocolate. The company uses a unique process to bring out the natural berry fruitiness and color precursors naturally present in the ruby cocoa bean.

NEW YORK — A new report from Nielsen is highlighting the big role that easy-to-understand labels can play in driving product sales. The report shows that consumers want clarity from their product labels about what they contain, and that products with specific product claims are seeing dollar growth.

HOUSTON — Retailers serving the communities impacted by Hurricane Harvey aren’t the only consumer groups reaching out to their neighbors, the vendors who stock retail shelves with merchandise are similarly addressing the needs of Texas and Louisiana citizens in the week following the flood-driven devastation left by Hurricane Harvey.

NEW YORK — Mayor Bill de Blasio earlier this week signed a series of bills to help reduce the number of smokers in New York City by 160,000 by 2020, in part by banning the sale of tobacco products in retail pharmacy outlets by 2018.

NASHVILLE – ­Retailers are opening 4,080 more stores in 2017 than they are closing and plan to open over 5,500 more in 2018, according to a new research report from IHL Group.

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. — The back-to-school shopping season isn’t about one-stop shopping, The NPD Group reported Wednesday. Back-to-school shoppers make an average of 16 trips to purchase back-to-school related products between July and September, according to NPD’s receipt mining service, Checkout Tracking.