Top Retailers

CHICAGO — The majority of manufacturer engagements are not aligned with retailers’ core strategic goals, and do not create real value in the eyes of the retailer. Today’s winning companies are able to identify and leverage the unique hidden assets of their brands, and build a business around agile, transparent, retailer/manufacturer collaboration — experts call it “co-creation.”

Rite Aid reported its second quarter 2014 earnings Thursday, posting its fourth-consecutive profitable quarter, its passing the 1,000 mark in the number of stores it has converted to the Wellness format and more than 930,000 members of Wellness65+, the latest extension to its Wellness+ loyalty care program, aimed at seniors.

CHICAGO — Call it the Academy Awards of the shopper marketing business.

The Shopper Marketing Expo, scheduled for Oct. 8-10, here, at the Navy Pier, will once again host the Path to Purchase Institute’s annual Design of the Times merchandising display competition.

DSNTV recently interviewed Walgreens DVP of category strategy, innovation and space management Beth Stiller at the company's Bucktown/Wicker Park flagship store in Chicago for a Virtual Store Tour segment focused on Walgreens’ key strategy in such core categories as health and beauty, and how it plays out in its flagship stores.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Caremark has announced that it will come together with the Boston business community to support The One Fund Boston, established by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino to raise money for victims and families who have been affected by the Boston Marathon tragedy.

The CVS Caremark Charitable Trust, the private foundation of CVS Caremark, will donate $100,000 to The One Fund Boston, which is also accepting online donations from the public at Onefundboston.org.

NEW YORK — Rite Aid board member Michel Coutu has resigned, effective Wednesday, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Coutu's notification follows an announcement by The Jean Coutu Group Tuesday that it had sold 72.5 million Rite Aid shares, reducing its stake in the company to 11.7%.

In addition, board member and former chairman Mary Sammons notified the company Wednesday that she wouldn't seek reelection as a director at its annual shareholder meeting.

PURCHASE, N.Y. — Stop & Shop is marking Earth Day on Monday by emphasizing the measures it has taken to reduce its effects on the environment, the Ahold USA-owned supermarket banner said.

Stop & Shop highlighted its efforts to sell sustainably sourced seafood, reducing the environmental effects of its store operations — including adding environmentally friendly design features to stores — and helping customers reduce waste. The chain reiterated its intention to reduce its carbon footprint by 20% by 2015.

LOS ANGELES — Tea of a Kind, a tea beverage company, announced today a wide distribution expansion into retail pharmacies, grocery stores and supermarkets in Northern California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and more.

The product, which recently won Best Ready-to-Drink Tea Beverage at the 2012 Interbev Awards in Las Vegas, utilizes a "Gizmo Closure and Delivery System," a cap technology, which holds fresh, functional ingredients in a nitrogen pressurized chamber until the point of consumption, the company stated.