“Safeway didn’t change the banner.  It changed everything else when it bought Genuardi’s.” “Giant is going to change the banner, and I think the key will be to maintain as much of the integrity of Clemens as they can.”

“Most people think the good old days were better,  We’re a high-tech society – I think people are looking for a bit of high touch.” “We’re looking for things to hang on to.  There’s emotional bonding.  It’s emotional marketing.”

“There are some things that they could do to reinforce what Wawa stands for that would have more impact than coming out with their own yogurt.” “For example, they need to figure out a way to get more out of its fresh bakery cases, which are busiest from 6 a.m. to noon.”

“People once expected coffee to be inexpensive.  Just look at Starbucks.” “The biggest hazard is maintaining quality across hundreds of outlets.”

“When you look at food retailers, there is the low end, the big middle and then there is the cool edge–that’s Trader Joe’s.”

“We have this whole concern now about eating healthy, and there doesn’t seem be anything going on here in terms of the vanity issue.” “The South Beach diet and all those weren’t about healthy eating, they were about ‘Let’s look better.’ So I think there’s a different kind of paradigm going on here. And I […]

“It is more difficult to go upscale.”  “It is easier to come down than it is to go up.”

“The challenge to Consumer Packaged Goods is that we can’t make the same products, have them look the same and distribute the same.  We have got to start looking at this differently.” “We need to follow the customer and see how she or he interacts with that environment and change the presentation accordingly.”

“To be successful, supermarkets must look to customers to determine the set of needs that can be uniquely satisfied.  Brands are more than products on the shelf.” “Retailers are brands and need to focus on what the customer wants and how the retailer can positively differentiate their brand.” “It’s all about customers, not products.  Retailers […]

“This (diabetes) has real legs.  It’s a horse to ride.  People will say its a niche market, but the market, unfortunately, is going to grow.”