When Tim Hortons was taken over by the American/Brazilian financial conglomerate Restaurant Brands International (RBI), I was afraid their new marketing strategy would dilute our unique Timmie’s Canadian brand. And it did. Big time. One of my biggest fears was that they’d start selling burgers, a food item so typically American and so far from Timmie’s culture of Canadian red mittens and road hockey commercials…
Browsing Category Business
My sympathies go out to McDonald’s Steve Easterbrook
Steve Easterbrook, C.E.O. of McDonald’s Corp. recently resigned his position because he had a consensual affair with a fellow employee of the firm. Yikes!! I have to say I feel sorry for him because I met both my first and second husbands through work, so I’m speaking from a position of experience. And many of my friends also met their spouses and partners through work….
Are self-checkouts a good thing or a bad thing?
There was an item on the news this week that demonstrated the future of in-store grocery shopping. Sobey’s is test-driving new shopping carts that allow you to scan your items as soon as you pull them off the shelf. Each cart is equipped with a product scanner and sensors so you can scan your purchases immediately and drop them into your (recyclable) shopping bags sitting…
It’s time to dump disposable fashion. Shop your closet
The closing of Forever 21 retail outlets across Canada is a good news/bad news story. On one hand, it’s a realization that consumers are beginning to reject the disposable clothing culture, but on the other hand, it means lost jobs for young people who often get their first working experience in retail. One of my favourite bloggers, retired university professor and fashionista Lyn Slater,…
Is the war on plastics do-able?
Every piece of plastic that has ever been created . . . still exists. Think about that. I certainly do as I cast my eyes across all the plastic shampoo and other bottles in the shower every morning, as I look at all the plastic containers in my pantry and fridge, when I toss plastics into recycling, never sure if they will actually be recycled….
Do you ever play the grocery cart shame game?
On my more virtuous days when my grocery cart is full of organic produce, fresh-pressed Green Goddess juice and two kinds of quinoa, I like to cast a critical eye on what’s in the cart of the person ahead of me or behind me in the lineup. It’s a bitchy and small-minded exercise in me getting all sanctimonious and judgey. When I see a…