MATT RICHTEL APRIL 26, 2014 E-Cigarettes Take Hold in Oklahoma Nick Whitson, who is 32 and covered with enigmatic tattoos — the number 13, an upside-down cross — stood in front of a table scattered with dozens of bottles of colorful liquids and a handful of syringes, preparing to mix Trevor Curren his usual. Mr. Whitson manages a small shop called Vaporlicious in an Oklahoma City strip mall. He sells flavored nicotine liquids for devices known variously as e-cigarettes, vape pens, tank systems and e-hookahs. In the last 18 months, the number of vaping shops in the state jumped from a handful to 300, with names like Vapor Haven, the Vape Hut, Vapor World, Creative Vapor and Patriotic Vapes. Mr. Curren, 47, took up chewing tobacco at age 10 and switched to cigarettes in seventh grade. When he discovered e-cigarettes in 2011, he quit smoking — and within six months,…

Linda Lisanti April 29, 2014 Convenience Store News NATIONAL REPORT — The world of foodservice is getting crowded. When hunger pangs strike, consumers have their pick of restaurants, food trucks, convenience stores, grocery stores, drugstores, etc. The foodservice channels that convenience stores compete against are unrelenting in introducing new menu items to whet consumers’ appetites. Not to be outdone, the retailers that participated in the Convenience Store News 2014 Foodservice Summit shared new initiatives they’re working on. The event, sponsored by Tyson Foods Inc. and held in March at the company’s Tyson Discovery Center in Springdale, Ark., focused on why consumers choose one channel over another when purchasing prepared food. A dozen retailers representing some of the most innovative and well-established foodservice players in the convenience channel were in attendance. Country Fair In an attempt to move beyond being No. 2 to McDonald’s at breakfast and to Subway at lunch,…

news.com.au APRIL 28, 2014 BEN and Jerry’s ice cream has been hauled over the coals by the Queensland Government for supporting WWF’s “propaganda” save the Reef campaign. Environment Minister Andrew Powell wants Australians to boycott the American company, saying it has damaged the reputation of the Reef and jeopardised jobs and tourism dollars. Grief on the Barrier Reef “Another company has signed up to the campaign of lies and deceit that’s been propagated by WWF,” Mr Powell said. “The only people taking a scoop out of the reef is Ben and Jerry’s and Unilever. “If you understand the facts, you’d want to be boycotting Ben and Jerry’s.” The Minister said he would write to parent company Unilever to express concerns and brief it on the truth. Earlier this month, Ben and Jerry’s withdrew popular flavour Phish Food because of its allusion to fishfood, as a way of drawing attention to…

Emma Duncan 27 April 2014 The Observer Move with the times. Turn empty shops into much needed housing During a slump, businesses in most parts of the economy get knocked sideways. It is during the recovery that you see which sectors are going to thrive in the long run, and which are going to wither. The data currently trickling in suggest that manufacturing, construction and financial and business services are doing pretty well. But there is one bit of the economy that shows little sign of life: that is the high street. The problem is not that people have given up buying stuff. Figures out last week showed that retail sales grew 4.2% in the year to March. It’s because they buy stuff online. Over the past four years, while online spending has grown by around 75%, sales from bricks-and-mortar shops have been flat, according to Verdict Retail, a consultancy.…

Eli Greenblat April 29, 2014 The Age The Coles supermarket group helped lift the Wesfarmers result. Perth-based comglomerate Wesfarmers has once again relied on its Coles supermarket, Bunnings hardware chain and Officeworks stores to do the heavy lifting in terms of sales with the company’s retail focused businesses driving group performance for the third quarter. Wesfarmers released this morning its third quarter sales results with the mix of trading performance across its divisions mirroring the results recorded during the first half, especially when considering the impacts of an earlier Easter in financial year 2013. Chief executive Richard Goyder said highlights for the third quarter included the performances of Bunnings and Officeworks, which recorded particularly strong sales growth as well as a solid result by Coles. For the third quarter Coles recorded total sales growth of 3.6 per cent, with its flagship food and liquor business within the supermarkets group up…

April 28, 2014, CSNews WASHINGTON, D.C. — When the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week finally released proposed deeming regulations covering electronic cigarettes and other tobacco products, one thing was missing from the proposal: rules on the marketing and advertising of the products. As a result, television commercials, radio spots, print ads, billboards and sponsorships will continue — for now. “It’s going to get a lot of people upset,” Jason Healy, president of blu eCigs, told Ad Age. “From a marketing perspective, I think this is great.” Praising the FDA’s science-based approach to the proposed regulations, he said “it’s a cautious approach and not a knee-jerk reaction.” Blu debuted its first TV advertising campaign in the fall of 2012, about six months after the electronic cigarette brand was acquired by Lorillard Inc. NJOY and LOGIC Technology Development LLC also have wide-reaching marketing campaigns for their e-cigarette products. It remains…