Research & Analysis

Bottled water continues to ride an unquenchable popularity wave, with no crest in sight.

CHICAGO - IGA here has selected five retailers, including four U.S. stores, to receive its prestigious Global Award for excellence in retailing.

SAN FRANCISCO - California's attorney general is considering a labor union's request to look into Costco Wholesale Corp.'s efforts to put a measure to a statewide vote that would overhaul workers' compensation rules, Reuters reports.

NEW YORK - Safeway, Inc. and Giant Food Stores, a U.S. unit of Dutch rival Ahold, narrowly averted a strike yesterday when a majority of their workers ratified a new contract for the Baltimore-Washington area, according to a Reuters report.

WEST BRIDGEWATER, Mass. - When Albertsons announced last week it would acquire Shaw's Supermarkets in a stock purchase deal expected to take place in the next 30 to 45 days, both analysts and leaders of the labor union that represents about one-third of Shaw's work force were caught off guard, according to the Providence Journal in Rhode Island.

MCLEAN, Va. - MicroStrategy, Inc., a worldwide provider of business intelligence software, announced that existing customer H-E-B is expanding its deployment of the MicroStrategy Business Intelligence Platform enterprisewide, for reporting and analysis of sales, market baskets, advertising effectiveness and cross-merchandising opportunities.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. today said March domestic same-store sales are tracking near the high end of its 4 percent to 6 percent growth estimate, according to latest sales figures, Dow Jones Business News reports.

BALTIMORE -- Giant and Safeway supermarkets in the Baltimore-Washington area, as well as the union representing 29,000 of their employees, are facing a Tuesday deadline for a new contract -- and the possibility of a strike that could affect hundreds of local supermarkets and prompt thousands of workers to join picket lines, the Baltimore Sun reports.