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By Posted on Posted in Brands, Private Label, Retail Distribution, Supermarkets, USA No Comments

The Nice! brand name, two years in the making, began to appear on Walgreens store shelves last month on food products from soup to nuts. The rollout of more than 400 items, mostly grocery and paper products, is scheduled to accelerate this month and wind up at all 7,742 Walgreens and Duane Reade drugstores nationwide by January 2012.

“You will see a lot of transition within Walgreens brand portfolio over the next 12 to 18 months,” said Maurice Alkemade, divisional vice president, general merchandise manager for private brands in an article for the trade publication Private Label magazine.

Graphics on Nice! are bold, clean, and designed to be easily recognizable and simple to shop. An integrated marketing campaign will build on the brand’s message around quality and savings compared with other national brands, as well as the wide variety of everyday essentials under the label accessible from neighborhood Walgreens stores.

AC Nielsen consumer research shows that 75% of Walgreens shoppers purchase store brands in Walgreens.

By Posted on Posted in Travel, Trips, USA No Comments

Last week I bought the full 5 seasons DVDs of Las Vegas, an American television series that aired on NBC from September 22, 2003 to February 15, 2008. The show focuses on a team of people working in the fictional Montecito Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada—dealing with issues that arise within the working environment, ranging from valet parking and restaurant management to casino security.

My favorite character is DeLinda Deline, played by Molly Sims, official website, some photos here.

After going back to season 1 and watching few episodes, I went down the memory lane when I traveled for the 1st time to Las Vegas back in 1990.

That was after a 12 hours direct flight from Paris CDG to LAX and another 4 hours Grey Hound bus ride, that I entered Fabulous Las Vegas.

The main reason of my visit to this amazing city, was a convention. Yes, they also host lots of serious conventions, Vegas is not only about gambling and strip clubs.

I stayed at the Riviera also known as “The Riv”, a 2,100 rooms hotel located down the strip.

After the convention, it was time to have some fun in Vegas, I enjoyed every moment of my stay, spent few bucks literally in every major casino on the strip, Flamingo, Sahara, Circus Circus, Bally’s, Mirage, … and my biggest win was $400 from a slot machine at the Riviera.

Lots of things happen in this town mainly during nightime, but as it well known and said:
“what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!”

By Posted on Posted in Presidents, USA No Comments

US President George W. Bush (C) stands with President-elect Barack Obama (2nd L), former President George H.W. Bush (L), former President Bill Clinton (2nd R) and former President Jimmy Carter (R) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 7, 2009.

Bush, acting on a suggestion by Obama, invited the former Presidents and President-elect for lunch, the first time since 1981 that all living presidents have been together at the White House.

AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

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By Posted on Posted in Economy, USA No Comments

Financiapocalypse has claimed yet another victim. This time it is Office Depot—and they are planning to close 112 stores, or 9% of their North American locations over the next three months.

A list of the store closings has not been made available, but the breakdown will look like this: “45 stores in the Central U.S., 40 in the Northeast and Canada, 19 in the West and 8 in the South.” They are also shutting down six of their 33 distribution facilities and scaling back openings to 20 in 2009.

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By Posted on Posted in Economy, Reblog, USA No Comments

I found this fascinating quote today by Martin Varsavsky:

American overspending is not only seen in the perennial budget and trade deficits but in the last years it reached historical heights with the absurd secondary mortgage market that is bringing the US banking system to its knees. Bear Stearns is gone, Lehman is bankrupt, AIG is shaking, Citigroup is 75% down, Merrill was just rescued by Bank of America and is also 50% down from its peak. USA is paying dearly for the combination of the desire of US elected politicians to please voters and overspend and the desire of the average American to live beyond his/her means and take unpayable mortgages and overspend.Is America´s success a thing of the past?, Sep 2008

You should read the whole article.