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Kansas City Retail Market Continues to Evolve During COVID-19
To the surprise of many in the Kansas City retail sector, the end of 2021 looked much different than most anticipated when 2021 began. As uncertainty buzzed through the retail world, the flurry of 2021’s real estate activity was a welcome surprise. Retailers who embraced technology and adapted to the changing circumstances of today’s world were able to reap the benefits 2021 offered.
As consumers took advantage of post-lockdown freedoms, brick-and-mortar retailers experienced a surge in sales volume. Throughout 2021, many national retailers and local Kansas City owners reported volumes exceeding 2019 pre-COVID levels. It’s comforting to report that retail leasing and sales continue to be strong, and overall Kansas City remains consistent in attracting retail business during these uncertain times.
One of the most recognizable transformations in retail is the way in which technology seamlessly connects e-commerce and brick-and-mortar stores. Consumers can now use technology to satisfy their desire for the contactless fulfillment of their order, browse local inventory at grocery and retail stores for immediate pickup and grocery shop without entering the store. This list will continue to grow as acceptance of the technology accelerates.
Another noticeable retail alteration is the addition of drive-thrus as well as drive-thru-only concepts at eateries such as Chipotle, Pizza Hut, Starbucks and multiple others. Chipotle opened its first Kansas City-area drive-thru location in early 2021 with additional “Chipotlanes” scheduled throughout the Kansas City region. Pizza Hut opened its first “Hutlane” in western Lenexa, with more planned throughout the area. Shake Shack recently announced it is now open in metro Kansas City with its second drive-thru location in the nation.
Banks have also adapted by expanding drive-thru lanes, shrinking lobby and office square footage and positioning locations in Kansas City’s most highly visible and prime spots.
The many changes that evolved in 2021 brought to life the notion that brick-and-mortar can and will become an integral and much-needed component to bridge the gap between e-commerce and the local consumer. Other notable changes in the Kansas City region include the relocation and/or expansion of several existing retailers, along with the introduction of new retailers adding their footprint to the Kansas City market.
In the Kansas City northland, locally owned RedX grocery store announced in late 2021 that it will begin to build a new 59,000-square-foot store on the southeast corner of its current location. Completion is slated for fall 2022.
Taco Bell’s Cantina concept just announced its first regional location will be located in Kansas City’s Westport district in the newly completed Westley on Broadway development. It will feature indoor and outdoor bars, VIP rooms, a DJ, many TVs and an assortment of local craft beers and wine, along with the Twisted Freeze customized with vodka, tequila or rum.
Whole Foods Market recently announced plans to construct a new larger store to replace a nearby existing market. The new 44,840-square-foot store will be located in Overland Crossing at the corner of 119th Street and Metcalf Avenue.
In South Kansas City, locally owned Chick-In Waffle opened its second location along Bannister Road between I-435 and Highway 71.
Another new addition to Kansas City is Chiefs Fit. M6 Football, the entity which has opened several gyms with other NFL teams, along with the former owner of 24-hour Fitness, have partnered to open their first Kansas City-area location. Chiefs Fit opened in 2021 at the corner of 91st Street and Metcalf Avenue at the newly remodeled Regency Park shopping center in Overland Park. The second Chiefs Fit will be a 32,000-square-foot location scheduled to open in the historic Jack Henry Building on the Country Club Plaza in early 2022.
Multiple coffee retailers announced their expansion plans for the region. Dutch Bros Coffee announced it will open multiple locations. Two locations will backfill former Sheridan’s sites in Kansas City and Belton, along with a third location planned for Shawnee. Other coffee retailers announcing new locations include Meta Coffee, Vested, Messenger, Transit, CommonHouse Coffee and several others.
Macy’s announced the closing of its Independence Center location early in 2021. On a positive note, the former Macy’s at the Shops of Prairie Village is slated for a proposed Hen House and a OneLife Fitness. The adaptive reuse will bring 120,000 square feet of new retail space to the area.
To sum up the 2021 retail activities in the Kansas City market, the grand prize for retail media coverage in the region goes to no other than Whataburger. When Patrick Mahomes introduced his ketchup craving to the nation in late 2018, one remark caught the attention of every Kansas City Chiefs fan — he craves a Whataburger in Kansas City.
That media attention led to a flurry of conversations that ultimately led to the desire being fulfilled. With new locations already open in Lee’s Summit and Independence, and soon to open in Overland Park and Blue Springs, Whataburger plans to add an additional 30 locations in the Kansas City region in the coming years. Mahomes is now a franchisee and many of the announced locations will be under his umbrella of stores.
As 2022 progresses forward, uncertainty will still exist as new variants of COVID pop up from time to time. As retailers continue to create a seamless connection between e-commerce and brick-and-mortar, consumer’s acceptance and use of these changes help investors, brokers and retailers breathe a sigh of relief from what 2021 could have unleashed. A comforting result of 2021 is that brick-and-mortar is an important component of the overall retail picture in Kansas City and across the rest of the U.S.
Darren Siegel is a retail specialist with Block & Co. Inc. Realtors. This article was originally published in the January 2022 issue of Heartland Real Estate Business magazine.


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The European Union is set to announce Wednesday a wide-ranging probe into how big technology firms such as Google, Amazon and Facebook use their market power, Reuters reported.
The move follows calls from France and Germany for regulation of so-called “essential digital platforms”, the report said.
Authorities will examine if the Internet platforms are transparent enough in how they display search results and if they promote their own services to the detriment of competitors, it said.
Politicians and businesses across Europe have been calling for the market power of dominant US tech firms to be curbed to help Europe’s fledgling web industry compete.
The Computer and Communications Industry Association, whose members include top US technology firms, said the idea of regulating platforms is ill-conceived given that businesses are increasingly becoming digital platforms.
“Platform regulation would hit European platform companies hardest given they grow here,” the association was quoted as saying.
As part of its strategy, the European Commission will also announce on Wednesday an “ambitious overhaul” of the bloc’s regulation of the telecoms sector, to take place next year, Reuters said.
The overhaul will take into account the increased competition from services such as WhatsApp and Skype, while also seeking to clamp down on “geo-blocking”, a practice whereby businesses restrict access to websites based on location, the report said.
– Contact us at [email protected]

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What is in this article?:
- Clicking for Comfort: HVAC.com Connects HVAC Contractors with Prospective Customers
- Keeping Up With New Lifestyles
- Caution Regarding Unlicensed Installers
- Will Housh says the new service is something customers have long been waiting for, in a world where time is short, and online HVAC information is plentiful.
Through HVAC.com, customers across the U.S. have the option of buying systems online and then, either finding an installer through separate channels, or they can provide the HVAC.com team with information related to the size of the home, their comfort needs, and expectations. That information is then put out to bid to area contractors, who submit a bid to HVAC.com.
Keeping Up With New Lifestyles
“We’re offering the customer the convenience of taking care of that process according to their schedule, through their mobile device or home computer, without the necessity of all the in-home visits, changing schedules around, and things like that,” Housh says. “Having come from the business, and having sat across the table from hundreds of homeowners, we know what questions to ask, and what photos we need of the home to visualize the type of job. Once we gather that information, and it’s entered into our database, we make a bundled, ‘good-better-best’ solution. We take what the customer has told us, and create those packages with the sizing, tonnage, and Btuhs we think should be included in the quote. Those bundles are then shown to the contractor.”
Housh wants to be clear that HVAC.com does not price the jobs.
“The local contractors in the customers’ area receive the lead and the opportunity to quote. It’s their opportunity to win a new customer with the brand of equipment they prefer to propose, with their understanding of the local market, building codes, permitting, and other things.”
“We are pro-contractor,” Housh says emphatically. “We’ve made quite a bit of investment and have done quite a bit of technical work to connect customers with contractors, rather than leaving the customers to their own devices. We’ve bent over backwards to create a system that includes the contractor, because we want to protect the integrity of the brands, and see that things are done safely and according to standards.”
Brands currently in the HVAC.com system include Goodman, Rheem, Rinnai, Mitsubishi, and Lennox. More brands will be added.
Housh says some manufacturers are happy to see their equipment and brands represented in a responsible fashion on the web, and having the brand exposure to tens or hundreds of thousands of consumers.
“They just prefer their equipment not be sold direct. They want to see it sold by the local contractor. In those instances, those brands are represented that way, and those brands go through the “assisted sale” process, so the local contractor can be the one that makes the sale through our system.
“HVAC.com is ‘the marketplace,’ or ‘matchmaker’ that allows the transaction to occur between the contractor and consumer in those cases,” Housh says.


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Wondering who sent the first Tweet or posted the first pet photo to Instagram? The answers may surprise you (and are definitely cute, when it comes to pets)
The bricks keep falling into place for Vine, Twitter's hot six-second microvideo app. Mere days after Vine for Android added selfie-inducing front camera support, version 1.2 of the app is now available in the Amazon App Store.
Instagram looks the same. It feels the same. But there's more oomph now with video.
After a weekend chock full of rumors and speculation, Yahoo has announced it plans to acquire Tumblr, the popular social service that hosts more than 105 million GIF-filled blogs, for $US1.1 billion in cash.
Twitter on Thursday released a new, video-focused iPhone app--replete with a social network of its own. If a tweet is 140 characters and a picture's worth 1000 words, a six-second video of the sort you can create with Vine must be worth 144,000 words...
Facebook now lets iPhone owners view its new Timeline layout and has added several extra handy features in an app update pushed out to iPhone users on Sunday. iPad users still can't view Facebook Timeline layouts.
Once again, a Facebook phone is the talk of the tech world, despite Mark Zuckerberg's insistence that his company is not building a smartphone.
Yahoo's improving stock price following a CEO shakeup makes the Internet portal ripe for a sale, and speculation is flying about industry titans that may bid for the company.
Whether you're running a business out of your den or from a penthouse in the sky, you don't have time or money to waste on second-rate tools. These well-designed services and resources are among the best the Web offers for small and midsize businesse...
Should you be concerned about your privacy on Facebook's recently announced "frictionless sharing" plan that lets online sites and services automatically share your activity with your Facebook friends?
Twitter and other social media sites are sparking an international debate over whether the forums serve the public good or make it easier to incite disorder.
Facebook's new profile layout, Timeline, promises to turn your Facebook account into an online scrapbook where you can highlight important moments in your life and resurface past Facebook activity.
Facebook is set to unveil an ambitious plan to attract more small businesses to set up shop on the social network. It plans to offer $50 in free advertising to as many as 200,000 small businesses to demonstrate the power of marketing on Facebook.
Frustrated by "the whale" on Twitter that pops up on your screen when you're trying to access the site but it can't respond because it's overwhelmed by traffic? Relief may soon be in sight.
If you liked the recent changes Facebook made to Improve privacy, then you'll want to upgrade immediately to the latest version of the social network's app for Android smartphones.
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November 10, 2017
SleepScore Labs — a joint venture between ResMed, Dr. Oz Media, and Pegasus Capital Advisors — has announced a new non-contact sleep improvement device available for consumer purchase.
From the user’s bedside, the SleepScore Max ($149.99) measures a number of different sleep-affecting variables including respiration, body movement, duration, and environmental qualities such as temperature and...
November 7, 2017
Monitoring sleep disorders while traveling just became easier this week after the San Diego based company, ResMed announced that the AirMini, a miniature CPAP device, will now to be able to connect to the AirView, a remote patient monitoring platform. The new feature allows clinicians to remotely monitor patients’ nightly data, verify adherence and find therapy issues, according to the press...
March 31, 2017
In the first quarter of 2017, we tracked seven digital health-related FDA clearances. While the list isn’t long, it’s varied and relatively novel – from app and device integrations for diabetes treatment to a vest that maps cardiac rhythms. The beginning of this year also rang in some big changes, as the Trump Administration took root and nominated Dr. Scott Gottlieb as FDA deputy commissioner....
March 22, 2017
ResMed, maker of devices and software to improve sleep and chronic respiratory conditions, has teamed up with Adaptive Sound Technologies to offer the sound machine through its portfolio of sleep technology products.
“With a leading global position in sleep technology and proven track record of offering innovative products and solutions to improve the health and quality of life, ResMed is...
February 8, 2017
The remote patient monitoring market saw a big jump in the last year, with 7.1 million patients in 2016 enrolled in some form of digital health program featuring connected medical devices as a core part of their care plan, according to new data.
Swedish market research firm Berg Insight, which specializes in IoT verticals, tracked a 44 percent jump in remotely monitored patients last year. While...
January 25, 2017
San Diego, California-based ResMed, maker of connected respiratory devices, announced strong results for its quarter ending on December 31, with over $530 million in revenue representing a 17 percent increase year over year.
On a call with investors, ResMed CEO Mick Farrell said the growth was driven by sales from Brightree – the cloud-based software company ResMed acquired last year for $800...
January 12, 2017
Two digital health companies focused on sleep published data this week that highlighted the efficacy of their respective platforms, bringing continued attention to the space after a CES week where sleep was a major focus. A whitepaper by Pricewaterhouse Cooper showed that ResMed’s myAir improved CPAP adherence while a paper in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that EarlySense’s new...
January 9, 2017
San Diego, California-based ResMed has received FDA 510(k) clearance for its small, portable continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device, the AirMini. The announcement was made during the JP Morgan conference in San Francisco today.
Designed to be used as an secondary device – particularly during travel or any other time the user doesn’t have access to or doesn’t want to bring their full-...
January 6, 2017
In addition to the many device launches, several digital health companies use CES (formerly known as the Consumer Electronic Show) in Las Vegas as an opportunity to announce updates and major partnerships and collaborations. Read on for the biggest non-launch health news from the show.
Lots of news from Fitbit
Wearable giant Fitbit announced a number of partnerships as well as updates to its app...
October 25, 2016
A new study from San Diego-based sleep monitoring company ResMed shows that patients on positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy for their sleep apnea are more likely to be compliant when they manage their therapy with a patient-facing app.
The study of 128,000 patients, which is being presented tomorrow at the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians, wasn’t randomized but did...


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Thirty four of the world's biggest tech companies have vowed to provide all customers across the globe from malicious cyber attacks from criminals and nation states.
The Cybersecurity Tech Accord features the likes of CA Technologies, HP, HPE, Microsoft, FireEye, Oracle, RSA, Facebook, LinkedIn and Dell.
The companies pledge commitments in four separate areas:
Stronger defence – The companies recognise that all customers across the world deserve protection regardless of the motivation of online attacks.
No offence – The companies will not help governments launch cyber attacks against ‘innocent citizens and enterprises'. They will also protect their product and services from tampering and exploitation throughout the entire lifecycle of technology development.
Capacity building – The companies will do more to empower developers, as well as the people and businesses who use their technology. This may include joint work on new security practices and new features.
Collective action – Members will build on their existing relationships and build new partnerships with industry, society, and researchers. The aim is to improve technical collaboration, coordinate vulnerability disclosures, share threats, and minimise the threat of malicious code.
Microsoft president Brad Smith says that security is not what about a single company can do, but what companies can do together.
“This tech sector accord will help us take a principled path towards more effective steps to work together and defend customers around the world.
Juniper research shows that economic losses from cyber attacks will reach $8 trillion by 2022.
“The real world consequences of cyber threats have been repeatedly proven. As an industry, we must band together to fight cybercriminals and stop future attacks from causing even more damage,” comments Trend Micro's chief operating officer, Kevin Simzer.
Members of the Accord plan to hold a meeting about capacity building and collective action at the RSA conference in San Francisco this week.
“Future actions may include jointly developed guidelines or broadly deployed features, as well as information sharing and partnering to combat specific threats to make the online world a safer place for people and businesses everywhere — and uphold the promise and benefit technology offers society.
The Accord remains open to membership requests from businesses that are trusted, have high cybersecurity standards and adhere to the Accord's principles.
The full list of members includes:
- CA Technologies
- Juniper Networks
- Trend Micro


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Montague welcomes second season of Envy apples
Montague, an Australian family-owned fresh produce company, are rolling out their second season of Envy apple.
Envy is one of the latest successes from the team at Montague who have been growing fresh produce for Australians since 1948. Sister variety to the already popular JAZZ™ apple.
Envy apples are recognised as the most popular new apple in Asia, achieving incredible demand.
Montague’s Envy apples are available within the fresh produce section at Woolworths supermarkets nationally.
Starting from the humble beginnings of harvesting fresh Australian apples in a family orchard, Montaque have spent over 60 years growing a tight-knit community of hard-working individuals to expand from fruit production to cold storage facilitation and logistics.
- Why Woolworths is removing wax from 2017 apple
- Applethat is red inside coming to Australia
- CSIRO develops applesthat don’t brown


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Nollywood actress Chacha Eke-Faani has revealed the reason she decided to go natural and avoid make-up.
In a post she shared on Instagram recently, she explained that there is a pressure to meet a flawless standard of beauty, which according to her is the reason many are living a fake life.
According to the mother of three, to meet these set standards, she had been using some beauty products recommended for her but she discovered these products were having negative effects on her skin.
She added that she was tired of living a perfect life but according to her, no one is perfect and most pictures we see on Instagram are ‘audio beauty’.
She also disclosed that a lot of people on Instagram do photoshop their photos in other to look perfect and flawless.


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MEIZU has announced that it will be unveiling more than 40 service centres across 20 cities in the coming months. The company currently has 28 service centres across India.
MEIZU will become the first brand in India to offer delivery repair services, a doorstep servicing facility for its customers.
MEIZU also recently launched its flagship device, MX5 at a price of Rs 19,990.
The MX5 smartphone comes with a metal body, 12-gun 3D sand blasting, a 5 step anodizing process. It sports an AMOLED display.
It is powered by a Mediatek Helio X10 is a 64-bit octa-core CPU manufactured using the 28nm HPM process.
It runs on 64-bit Flyme 4.5 for Android with 100+ functional updates. It also offers dual SIM functionalities with dual standby and dual 4G.
It is equipped with a 20.7MP rear camera of 6P lens. It also boasts the mTouch 2.0 fingerprint sensor that makes identification faster.
The device also uses the mCharge technology, that charges the smartphone at a high speed.


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Today Synoptik opened three stores in Värmland, and became, with its 121 stores in the country, the second largest optical chain in Sweden.
Earlier this year Synoptik acquired Domus Optik from Konsum Värmland who owned four shops in Värmland. In addition to the shops in the center of Karlstad, Bergvik and Hagfors it also includes a store in Arvika. The shop on Storgatan in Arvika replaces Synoptik’s former shop in the city.
In connection with the store openings in Karlstad and Hagfors, three aid collections to the optical chain’s own relief organization Opticians without borders started. The collections are expected to bring thousands of used eyeglasses to Optician Without Borders upcoming aid trip to Nicaragua in April.
“Visual impairment is a major problem, especially in poor countries where people can not afford to buy new glasses. Their poor vision affects the ability to study and work. With the collection of our new stores in Karlstad and Hagfors, we can continue to make a big difference for people, this time in Nicaragua, “says Lottie Funck Ekelund, marketing director at Synoptik who started the relief organization Opticians without borders.
The last time, the trip went to Guatemala with 47,629 donated glasses. Past trips included Peru and Bolivia. The goal this time is 65,000 collected glasses.


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Google has been having supply issues ever since it launched the Nexus 4. The Mountain View company likes to keep the supply low irrespective of the huge demand its devices have. However, this supply issue might not be the reason why Pixel and Pixel XL are hard to find.
In Canada, many Telus customers who had placed an order of the Pixel and Pixel XL phones have received mails from the carrier that they shouldn't expect to get their phones any longer as Google will cease the production of these phones soon.
Despite being one of the best smartphones launched last year, the Google Pixel lineup has been plagues by numerous issues ever since their release. This is something that the company has not faced in past with the devices those were launched earlier. Many of these issues related to Pixel and Pixel XL have been resolved by software updates. However, Google seems to have made up its mind to redirect the resources to projects such as Pixel 2.
As of now, the Canadian carrier has alone started sending emails to their customers who have placed orders for the Pixel smartphones and awaiting to get their hands on one. We need to wait for the other carriers to also confirm the same and until then we need to take this information with a grain of salt.
The Google Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones were made by the Taiwanese manufacturer HTC. Eventually, Google has nothing to do with the hardware issues in these smartphones.


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The plastic pipe industry in South Africa is facing a crisis that is threatening not only the industry but key infrastructure such as water supply in South Africa.
The current crisis is solely a result of the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) failing to perform in terms of its mandate and its obligations as prescribed in the Standards Act 2008.
Amongst others, the SABS has:
• Failed to renew expired licenses to plastic pipe manufacturers and has offered no indication of when the licenses will be renewed;
• Unilaterally and without consultation, decided in July 2015 to disallow partial testing of products manufactured by players in the industry;
• Failed to ensure that the necessary testing facilities and laboratories are adequate and that the persons responsible for the testing are competent.
The Southern African Plastic Pipe Manufacturers’ Association (SAPPMA) is a voluntary, non-profit organisation that represents almost 90 % of all certified manufacturers of HDPE and PVC plastic pipes in Southern Africa. One of its primary objectives is to improve product quality in the value chain of the industry in order to ensure the long-term viability of piping systems used in infrastructure through its representatives.
“As a result of the SABS’s failure to perform in terms of its mandate, local manufacturers of plastic pipes are no longer able to use the SABS Certification Mark,” said Jan Venter, Chief Executive Officer of SAPPMA.
Venter said that these developments have, and will continue to have, dire consequences for the manufacturers, the industry and the country including: a diminishment of product confidence in the market place; no measurable improvement in product and service quality; disqualifying manufacturers from submitting their products for tender, as manufacturers are hindered in the sale and distribution of their products without the SABS mark of approval.
Despite numerous warnings and attempts by SAPPMA to address this issue over the past ten years, the SABS has failed to take heed of the warnings or implement any programme to avoid the present crisis.
On the 29th of March 2016, SAPPMA through its attorney David Swartz of Phillip Silver Swartz Inc. called for an urgent meeting with the SABS in order to address the issues. SAPPMA has given its members the assurance that it remains committed to finding the best solution for the industry and will continue to give regular feedback in this regard. For more information and updates on the process, visit www.sappma.co.za.


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Lidl stores have issued a huge product recall for Birmingham customers to be aware of.
The budget retailer is a go-to for many Brummies, with stores across the city.
The supermarket giant is among the most popular in the country, alongside German rival Aldi.
Both Lidl and Aldi are posing a big threat to the traditional 'big four' supermarkets - Tesco, Britain's biggest grocer, and Asda, Morrisons and Sainsburys.
Lidl is recalling Kania Oregano due to the possible presence of high levels of pyrrolizidine alkaloids. Pyrrolizidine alkaloids are naturally occurring; however, prolonged consumption of high levels can lead to liver disease.
Point of sale notices will be displayed in all retail stores that are selling this product. These notices explain to customers why the product is being recalled and tell them what to do if they have bought the product.
If you have bought any of the above product do not eat it. Instead, return it to the store from where it was bought for a full refund.
Pack size: 7.5 g
Batch code: 9163BE
Best-before date: June 2022


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The online giant’s move to slash prices on everything from organic baby kale to fair-trade bananas on the same day its $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods Market Inc. closes showed the “High-velocity decision making” Amazon founder Jeff Bezos claims as his hallmark, and sent shares of Kroger Co., Costco Wholesale Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reeling Thursday.
While this won’t exactly bring responsibly farmed salmon to the masses – after all, Whole Foods stores will remain in high-rent neighborhoods – the price reductions could draw in curious new shoppers and present brick-and-mortar retailers with a dilemma.
For years, organic food was a niche category, but Whole Foods showed t was growing demand as it opened more than 400 stores across the country.
As organics became more widespread, the traditional supermarkets undercut Whole Foods on price, and the chain’s same-store sales have fallen for eight straight quarters as it struggled to respond.
Amazon will speed those efforts by layering on discounts for Prime members, who are typically shopping at Whole Foods already.
Nearly two-thirds of Whole Foods’ regular customers are Prime members, according to retail consultancy Magid.
“That’s a good thing but with this deal, Amazon bought the same customers it already had. So they have to expand beyond current Whole Foods customers by offering more value.” Whether Amazon can convert those value-seekers into long-term customers will be the challenge, Barthashus said.
Even with all this attention, Whole Foods is still a small player in the U.S. grocery market compared with Wal-Mart and Kroger, who together garner more than 30 percent of sales.


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Out this month.
First DLC character announced next week.
Guilty Gear Strive stealth patches out mention of Uyghur, Tibet and Taiwan in China-related lore entry
Neither publisher or developer have issued comment.
Pixel art system works.
No mention of Smash Bros. in this year's event.
Pre-orderers get to play three days early.
PS5 and Steam versions confirmed.
Due to coronavirus and beta test feedback.
Faust goes under the knife.


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What’s your idea of the perfect, romantic Valentine’s Day dinner with your significant other? Italian and French restaurants topped the list in a survey by Restaurant.com, the dining deals website, with just over half the votes. Italian got more romantic votes than French.
Lovebirds planning a romantic date should avoid tortillas and seaweed: Mexican food (44 percent) and sushi (34 percent) were deemed the least romantic cuisines.
Dining out is a key ingredient in the recipe for romance this Valentine’s Day; three out of four of the nearly 1,000 survey respondents indicated they plan to celebrate with a meal at a restaurant this year. They won’t plan ahead though; nearly half said they won’t make dining plans until the week of Valentine’s Day, and nearly one-third said they would wait until Valentine’s Day itself to plan their date. Just 22 percent of respondents said they will make Valentine’s Day dining plans several weeks in advance.
More Valentine’s Day dining survey findings include:
- Money on a Meal – 64 percent of survey respondents said they will spend more money on Valentine’s Day than on a typical dining occasion.
- Just Desserts – Nearly three out of four survey respondents re more likely to order dessert on Valentine’s Day than during a normal dining occasion; while 46 percent are more likely to order appetizers; 42 percent are more likely to order wine; and 40 percent are more likely to order expensive entrees.
- Check Please – The majority of respondents peg their estimated Valentine’s Day meal check to fall into the $50-$100 range, but just a few plan to spend $150 or more.
- Cost-Conscious Cupids – More than six out of ten respondents (61 percent) agree they admire the savings of a discount restaurant dining coupon for Valentine’s date, as compared with just two percent who said said it would be a turn off. I’ve got to think about that — is using a discount coupon for a romantic dinner smart, or cheap?


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Campaign (06 Feb 2019)
Creature makes creative team changes
CREATURE has expanded its creative department with four new appointments. Haley Koehn and Whitney Tam have joined as creatives from Sid Lee in Toronto, Poppy Cumming-Spain has also been appointed as a creative while Megan Egan joins as creative art director.
Campaign (07 Jan 2019)
Healthspan eyes TV campaign after hiring Isobel
HEALTHSPAN has awarded its £6m creative business to ISOBEL following a competitive review. The agency won out against AND RISING in the final pitch, while CREATURE and BIG AL'S CREATIVE EMPORIUM were knocked out earlier in the process. VCCP was the creative incumbent. Following Isobel's victory, the mail order retailer has announced plans to return to TV advertising with five new spots targeted at older audiences. It also plans to invest in digital and paid search.
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July, 30, 2021
The entire domestic electrical wiring requirement in Sri Lanka is produced by local industries and the industry contributes to the export market as well.
Copper, the main raw material for these products is being imported and the price of domestic electrical wires has been on the rise in recent days due to an increase of the price from US $ 5,000 to US $ 10,000 per metric ton, according to the Consumer Affairs Authority's investigation team.
Accordingly, three rounds of discussions were held with the companies and the maximum marked prices of 90% of their products will be reduced by 11% and one product only reduced by 5% from 1st of August 2021 as agreed by the companies. Further the prices will not be increased in the near future except in special circumstances.
The following companies participated in this discussion.
Item list of the price reduction is attached herewith


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Stanley puts £270m marker on LCI
GAMING group Stanley Leisure has made its long-awaited move on debt-laden casinos operator London Clubs International with a letter expressing interest in making a £270m share bid for the company.
But it was rejected out of hand by LCI, citing a 'long and unacceptable' list of preconditions. These included a requirement that LCI's lenders agree to their £223m of debt being paid back at a discount to face value.
LCI said Stanley's letter 'does not merit any further discussion'. LCI shares fell 2p to 22 3/4p.
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Cash market lifts US hogs – CME
Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) live cattle futures climbed on Friday, supported by robust beef prices that are likely to remain strong as retailers prepare for Labour Day demand through the month of August.
“The retailer will have beef going into the meat case, and that’s going to keep the product market together,” said Altin Kalo, economist at Steiner Consulting Group.
CME August live cattle futures added 0.275 cents to 136.450 cents per lb, while the most-active October contract climbed 0.400 cents to 142.225 cents.
Wholesale beef prices climbed, with choice cuts adding $1.47 to $269.24 per cwt, according to the the US Department of Agriculture, while select cuts gained $1.44 to $242.25 per cwt.
Outside economic forces could pressure beef demand, Kalo said, though fewer market-ready cattle should underpin live cattle futures.
“The talk of recession and slow down, that’s going to weigh on the market. But at the same time, we’re going to have fewer cattle to sell. At least for a minute here, it seems like this cattle market has a little more support, at least short term.”
CME feeder cattle futures firmed, with most-active September feeder cattle futures gaining 1.350 cents to 181.550 cents per lb.
Meanwhile, CME lean hog futures climbed on Friday, supported by strong cash prices that have lifted both nearby and the most-active October contracts.
“In the fall, we’re going to have higher slaughter numbers, seasonally, but for a minute here, the strength in the hog market and the product market has surprised people and supported the front end,” said Kalo.
The CME Lean Hog Index, a two-day weighted average of cash hog prices, added 85 cents to $120.58 per cwt, its highest since 21 June 2021.
CME’s nearby August lean hog futures firmed 1.525 cents to 120.65 cents per lb, while the most-active October hogs gained 0.900 cents to 97.225 cents.
Weather in major exporting countries favors harvesting and sowing, but rains delay...
Ukraine. Transportation of grain to ports exceeded exports through the western border
Canola harvest delay in Canada supports canola prices
Ukraine has practically reached pre-war grain export figures – Kubrakov
Corn harvest started in Ukraine
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Following its efforts to take legal action against those misusing its social media platform, Facebook has now filed a new lawsuit against a Hong Kong-based advertising company and two Chinese individuals for allegedly abusing its ad platform to distribute malware and Ad fraud. Facebook filed the lawsuit on Thursday in the Northern District of California against ILikeAd Media International
Episode 200: Sakura Samurai Wants To Make Hacking Groups Cool Again. And: Automating Our Way Out of PKI Chaos
In this episode of the podcast (#200), sponsored by Digicert: John Jackson, founder of the group Sakura Samurai talks to us about his quest to make hacking groups cool again. Also: we talk with Avesta Hojjati of the firm Digicert about the challenge of managing a growing population of digital certificates and how automation may be an answer. The…Read the whole entry… » Related StoriesEpisode 195: Cyber Monday Super Deals Carry Cyber RiskEpisode 198: Must Hear Interviews from 2020DHS Looking Into Cyber Risk from TCL Smart TVs …
Microsoft has shipped the stable version of the Microsoft Edge 88 browser, featuring a brand new Password Generator and the ability to alert on compromised credentials. The browser refresh also drops support for the FTP protocol and for the Adobe Flash plugin.
Cybercriminals behind a successful phishing campaign have exposed more than 1,000 corporate employee credentials on the Internet, according to a warning from security vendor Check Point.


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Samsung has announced that it has started the mass manufacturing of its 10-nanometer magnificence 8-Gigabit Double statistics fee four (DDR4) DRAM. the new chip, Samsung claims, gives a switch price of three,two hundred megabits in keeping with second.
The South Korean era company maintains to innovate in the semiconductor area. It says it had to conquer technical demanding situations in DRAM scaling to be able to manufacture this chip. It reputedly did so by mastering ArF (argon fluoride) immersion lithography, utilizing EUV (extreme extremely violet) gadget.
“Samsung’s 10nm-class DRAM will permit the very best level of investment efficiency in IT structures, thereby turning into a new growth engine for the global reminiscence enterprise,” stated young-Hyun Jun, President of reminiscence enterprise, Samsung Electronics. “in the close to destiny, we are able to also release next-generation, 10nm-magnificence cell DRAM merchandise with high densities to assist cell producers broaden even extra revolutionary products that add to the benefit of cellular tool customers.”
As for what the 8-Gigabit DDR4 DRAM brings to the equation, the corporation says that the chip gives extensively improved wafer productiveness over the 20nm 8Gb DDR4 DRAM it launched in advance. The facts switch fee of 3200Mbps is also 30 percentage quicker than the 2400Mbps rate of 20nm DDR4 DRAM. it’s far extra strength green, too, presenting 10 to twenty percentage less energy intake.
The DRAM modules are specific from those primarily based on NAND flash reminiscence, for the ones unaware. in place of utilising only a transistor, the DRAM cell calls for a transistor as well as a capacitor which might be connected together. transferring forward, the organisation believes it will likely be able to brought 10nm-class mobile DRAM solution with high density and pace later this yr.


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While virtually every electronics maker known to man seems to have a tablet on display at Computex this week, there’s one major player that’s been kind of quiet… up until now. We’ve been hearing rumors that Samsung would launch a new tablet for a while, and now the folks at the official Samsung South Africa blog have posted a picture of what looks like a 7 inch Samsung tablet, called the Samsung Galaxy Tab.
There are no additional details about the tablet, but it appears to be running Google Android with the same tweaked user interface as the Samsung Galaxy S smartphone.
Meanwhile, Korea Herald is reporting that Samsung isn’t just working on one new tablet, but three. The site reports that Samsung will introduce a 7 inch Android-based sPad tablet in Korea in August. This may be the same machine you’re looking at in the photo above.
Then in October, Samsung will reportedly launch an 8 inch tablet, followed by a 10 inch version in December. All three tablets will reportedly feature 3G connectivity and will be available through SK Telecom in Korea.
There’s no word on how much the tablets will cost or if and when they’ll be available outside of Samsung’s home country of Korea. But the fact that Samsung’s South African blog posted the picture of the Galaxy Tab gives us reason to hope for an international launch.
Update: It looks like Samsung South Africa might have jumped the gun on this one. GottaBeMobile noticed that the photo has been removed (although you can still see it here).


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Del Frisco’s Restaurant Group Inc. has created new president positions at each of its three brands, the company said Tuesday.
The Southlake, Texas-based company named Ray Risley president of Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steak House and Scott C. Smith president of Sullivan’s Steakhouse. A brand president for Del Frisco’s Grille will be named later, the company said.
“Having an individual brand president for each of our three concepts will help us achieve our strategic vision,” said Norman Abdallah, DFRG CEO, in a statement. “We believe that highlighting our three separate and distinguished brands will benefit our overall performance.”
“Ray has spent nearly his entire career with our company and not only has deep knowledge of our three concepts, but also has demonstrated excellence in operational leadership,” Abdallah said.
Smith most recently served as chairman and CEO of the Plano, Texas-based Day Star Restaurant Group Inc., parent to the Texas Land & Cattle and Lone Star Steakhouse brands. Prior to co-founding that group, Smith served as senior vice president of Romano’s Macaroni Grill. Previously, Smith held leadership roles at Restaurants Unlimited Inc., Amer Group’s restaurant division, TRH Restaurants, Quality Dining Inc. and Brinker International Inc., where he was director of franchise operations.
“We’re thrilled that Scott has joined the Del Frisco’s Restaurant Group family,” Abdallah said. “His understanding of restaurant-brand positioning coupled with his robust franchising experience makes him the ideal candidate to oversee Sullivan’s Steakhouse.”
Earlier this month, Del Frisco’s released preliminary and unaudited sales results for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 27, reporting that systemwide same-store sales increased 0.8 percent. Fourth-quarter same-store sales increased 0.1 percent at the Double Eagle Steak House, 0.9 percent at Sullivan’s and 2.1 percent at Del Frisco’s Grille, the company said.
Del Frisco's Restaurant Group has 53 restaurants across 24 states and Washington, D.C.
Contact Ron Ruggless at [email protected]
Follow him on Twitter: @RonRuggless


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Dental Care Startup Quip Raises $40 Million Following Launch at Target
Quip, an oral health care startup that has boomed with the proliferation of startups banking on the so-called subscription economy, is only getting bigger now that it has raised $40 million more in venture capital.
A combination of equity and debt financing while led by existing investor Sherpa Capital, the latest funding round brings Quip’s total funding to over $60 million.
Announced Tuesday, the funding round follows Quip’s expansion in October from its online-only subscription model for delivering electric toothbrush replacement heads and toothpaste to in-store placement at Target (TGT). Quip joins a number of other personal care subscription services that have made the jump from online to brick-and-mortar, including Harry’s razors and grooming products as well as Casper mattresses. According to Quip, the toothbrush company’s launch was “one of the most successful direct-to-customer launches” that Target has seen to-date.
Founded in 2015 and based in Brooklyn, Quip previously hinted at ambitions of being much more than just a toothbrush subscription and replacement brand earlier this year with its acquisition of dental insurance company Afora in May. The startup’s first major purchase, the deal lined Quip up to have access to a network of more than 25,000 dental professionals nationwide. The two brands haven’t entirely merged yet, but Quip noted in Tuesday’s funding announcement that it is on a mission to offer simpler and affordable alternatives to current dental insurance plans on the market.
For now, Quip said its latest line of financing will be put toward growing its subscriber base, notably through an offline distribution program to recruit more dental providers to its network while dangling Quip products and services as a means to attract and retain new patients.
Finally, just this weekend, Quip also launched a limited edition, all-black toothbrush just in time for the holidays. Retailing for $55, proceeds from every all-black Quip sold will help provide oral health education and dental care access to disadvantaged families in collaboration with the ADA Foundation.


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The top sports that Millennials and teens love to tune in for might surprise you.
We surveyed 1000 13-32-year-olds on the sports they watch, to find out how often Millennial and teen fans are tuning in to sporting events, what they’re watching, and what they’re favorites are. According to our monthly survey, 32% of young viewers are watching sporting events on a monthly basis, with 16% tuning in a few times a week:
So what are they watching? When we look at the sports they say they’ve watched over the last two years, football tops the list for both males and females:
But when we ask them to tell us their favorite sports to watch on TV, the viewing list shifts a bit. We had the Millennials and teens who told us they watch sports to tell us the sport that they most like to watch on TV.* Here are their top 10 responses:
Hard to see past the top five, isn’t it? That’s because football and college football received by far the most responses, over double the amount that number two sport basketball received. So though there are hints that football might be having difficulties retaining some Millennial fans, it is still the majority’s favorite sport to tune into. Basketball ranks as their second favorite, and soccer comes in at number three, ranking above baseball.
We’ve begun to see the impacts of soccer’s popularity among younger viewers, and their favorite sports to watch list indicates that longtime U.S. standbys could be losing ground to futbol. According to some marketing experts, soccer has become a “juggernaut” in the U.S. among younger viewers, prompting some brands to move advertising money into the sport. Heineken, which recently became the Official Beer of MLS believes, “’the Millennial consumer and really the Mexican Hispanic consumer love the sport and [we] will continue to see it grow.’” In fact, a 2014 ESPN poll found that soccer is 18-34-year-olds second favorite sport, after football. However, our survey found that basketball is safely in second place among Millennial and teen viewers. Here are their top nine favorite sports to watch, with football removed to make things a bit more clear:
Here, it’s easier to see the top ten list after football: baseball, hockey, gymnastics, tennis, WWE/wrestling, MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), and track/running. Some might be surprised by the inclusion of wrestling and MMA, and brands should note that these are potentially growing areas with appeal beyond a niche audience.
But some of the most interesting things about this list are the sports that don’t make it. Golf and Nascar are both missing from their top ten favorites to watch, reflecting the struggle that both brands are having attracting Millennial viewers.
*These were open-end response questions to allow us to capture the full range of Millennial and teens’ sport viewing favorites. As with any qualitative question, the responses include those that are top of mind, and those that are actually most loved.


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“If it bleeds it leads” is a well-worn expression for describing how the media reports the news, if you can interview a victim/ family member and get them crying, well that’s even better for ratings. But all news isn’t bad, or that good news doesn’t deserve a higher position in the news hierarchy.
Two cases in point: this week’s APEC summit meeting between US President Biden and Chinese President Xi, and a very interesting development coming out of Taiwan.
It’s no secret that US-China relations have been strained over the past several years. Former President Trump started a trade war with America’s largest trading partner, imposing billions worth of tariffs on Chinese imports and accusing Beijing of engaging in longstanding unfair trade practices as well as intellectual property theft.
President Biden has not canceled the Trump tariffs; in fact he increased them. CNBC reported this week that tariffs on select Chinese goods were imposed in three stages between 2018 and 2022. Currently, two-thirds of US imports from China are under tariff, with the average set at 19.3%, more than six times higher than before the trade war began. Chinese tariffs cover 58% of US exports at an average 21.1%.
In October the Biden administration announced plans to halt shipments to China of chips designed by Nvidia and others, to try and stop Beijing from using advanced US technologies to strengthen its military.


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The power of consumers is evident in food company’s actions
Years ago, consumers went to the grocery store, grabbed what they needed from the shelves and plopped it into their shopping carts before heading to the checkout line.
Mostly, they checked prices and looked for their favorite brands.
Not any more. Some people might still grab and go, but many consumers scrutinize labels. The list of ingredients companies have agreed to remove or changes they have pledged to make keeps growing longer. Never doubt the power of the consumer.
The additives were targeted by bloggers such as Food Babe and have been on the “not recommended” list for years by consumer advocacy groups such as the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Here are three examples food companies have announced this year:
•Kraft has announced it’s removing artificial preservatives from its full-fat American and White American Singles cheese. It will replace sorbic acid with natamycin, which the company says is a natural mold inhibitor.
•Subway said it would no longer use azodicarbonamide in its breads after after Food Babe blogger Yani Hari started a petition pointing out that the same ingredient is used in making yoga mats and shoe soles.
Shortly after that Publix Super Markets announced it also was phasing out azodicarbonamide, used in some of its bread products.
•Chick-fil-A has pledged to serve only chicken raised without antibiotics within five years, again, after Food Babe started a petition.
Then, there is perhaps the biggest food issue for many people right now — bioengineered ingredients, usually referred to as GMOs for genetically modified organisms. The bottom line is, some consumers want the right to know whether their food contains GMO ingredients.
A genetically engineered food is a plant or meat product that has had its DNA altered in a laboratory by genes from other plants, animals, viruses or bacteria to produce foreign compounds in that food. This type of genetic alteration is not found in nature, and is experimental. The correct scientific term is “transgenics,” and also often is referred to as GE — genetically engineered, according to LabelGMOs.org.
But a recent NPD Group survey found that 67 percent of all primary grocery shoppers are not willing to pay a higher price for non-GMO foods.
Over half of U.S. consumers say they have some concerns about genetically modified organisms, but are not sure what GMOs are.
Consumers are also confused about the prevalence of GMO versus non-GMO items at the grocers. Four out of 10 primary grocery shoppers either feel that they buy non-GMOs mostly while the same ratio of consumers say they are not sure.
However, the survey found that 11 percent of all primary shoppers are aware and concerned about GMOs and willing to pay more. Additionally, half of people who primarily shop specialty stores are willing to pay more for non-GMO products.
More than 60 countries with over 40 percent of the world’s population already label genetically engineered foods, including the entire European Union and China.
GMO/GE foods have been on the market since 1996. Many Americans may not know that about 70 percent of processed foods on grocery store shelves contain ingredients that have been genetically engineered.
General Mills said in January that it will begin to label its plain Cheerios as “not genetically modified.” What’s interesting is that there are no genetically modified oats, a fact General Mills states on its website.
Whole Foods has stated it will label products with GMOs by 2018.
On Feb. 6 a coalition of 29 food industry groups, including the powerful Grocery Manufacturers Association launched The Coalition for Safe Affordable Food. Its goal is to ensure that GMO labeling does not become mandatory.
“”We’re advocating to Congress to develop a federal GMO labeling solution that would require labeling of foods containing GMO ingredients if the FDA, our nation’s foremost food safety authority, determines there is a health or safety risk,” said Pamela Bailey, president and CEO of the GMA. “All available science has shown that GMOs are safe and that they have a number of important benefits.”
In response, Just Label It’s executive director, Scott Faber said, “Voluntary labeling of genetically engineered ingredients is a failed system and the food industry’s proposal is just more of the same. The solution to consumer confusion is to provide people with more information, not less. We welcome the opportunity to work with industry leaders to craft a federal solution that gives all consumers the right to know what’s in their food.”
Shopping was easy when most food came from farms. Now, factory-made foods have made chemical additives a significant part of our diet.


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The idea of a new HTC Butterfly model has been floating around for a while now – back in the spring we heard some early talk about just such a model and saw some signs of testing for a DLXPLUS (the first Butterfly was the DLX). The pace sure started picking up this month, and just a few days ago we were able to confirm the Butterfly S name for the handset thanks to an invitation HTC was distributing. It looks like we’ll be getting the official news of the phone on June 19, but in the meantime we have what sure appear to be the first images of the Butterfly S to gawk over.
The biggest change we can see here, at least compared to the first Butterfly, is the move to give the handset a pair of front-facing speakers, like the BoomSound HTC first introduced on the HTC One.
That makes a lot of sense, as the general impression we’ve had of the Butterfly S was that it would be a more One-ified take on last year’s model. That’s meant rumored specs like an upgraded SoC and one of HTC’s UltraPixel cameras, and now apparently BoomSound, as well.


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It was Massachusetts vs. Microsoft and now it's Connecticut vs. Oracle.Well, there you have it. Antitrust as a form of price control.
The Nutmeg state filed an antitrust lawsuit to block Oracle's hostile takeover of PeopleSoft, according to a statement issued Wednesday.
The lawsuit, to be filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Hartford, charges that the proposed $6.3 billion acquisition would violate state and federal antitrust statutes, according to state officials.
A combined Oracle/PeopleSoft would boost prices for businesses and consumers by "significantly reducing competition in the markets PeopleSoft serves and forcing current PeopleSoft customers to replace their software with other companies' products," according to the statement issued by governor John Rowland, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and Comptroller Nancy Wyman.
Connecticut is a PeopleSoft customer, according to the PeopleSoft's Web site.
Friday, June 20, 2003
Antitrust News: Connecticut Files Antitrust Lawsuit To Block Oracle Takeover Of PeopleSoft
Posted by Nicholas Provenzo at 3:15 PM


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Arsenal was defeated 2-0 by Tottenham at last Wednesday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final and Gunners manager Unai Emery wants his players to impress with great performance at Emirates Stadium.Gunners defeat on Wednesday is the fourth time Arsenal is being defeated this season but their coach is optimistic that future matches will be impressive and that he still has trust in his players.Speaking the official club website, Emery said:“Each match is very important and when other teams are winning, they are not stopping, they’re improving. We need, after our defeat in Southampton, we need the three points. But I am happy with the players. I think at the Emirates we are continuing strongly and for example, in the last match against Tottenham on Wednesday, the spirit is very good.”Merson believes Arsenal should sign Sancho Manuel R. Medina – September 14, 2019 Borussia Dortmund winger Jadon Sancho might be the perfect player to play for the Gunners, according to former England international Paul Merson.“The players pushed and the players created the chances, and now we continue working on our efficiency to score. I trust in my players, I trust in our strikers, and tomorrow we need every supporter to help us.”“We are also going to push to give them a good match with energy, by playing well, and also with the three points in victory. We will play with a big respect for Burnley because they are a very good team with very good players.”“They played very well organised and also defensively they are very strong, and they have the personality to play with the long ball, the second action, a lot of crosses and have players with quality to score. This is a big match tomorrow.”
WILMINGTON, MA — Rocco’s Restaurant (193 Main Street) is holding a Breakfast with the Easter Bunny on Saturday, April 13, 2019, from 10am to noon. There will be fun, photos, and baskets for bunnies of all ages.The Bunny Buffet Menu includes:Scrambled eggsSausageBaconPancakesHash brownsCerealYogurtFruit – watermelon, cantaloupe, grapesHomemade blueberry, chocolate chip, and corn muffinsRefillable beverages – coffee, tea, and soda.Non refillable beverages – Apple juice, orange juice, cranberry juice, grapefruit, pineapple juice, milk and chocolate milk.Call the restaurant at 978-657-7361 for pricing and reservations.Like Wilmington Apple on Facebook. Follow Wilmington Apple on Twitter. Follow Wilmington Apple on Instagram. Subscribe to Wilmington Apple’s daily email newsletter HERE. Got a comment, question, photo, press release, or news tip? Email firstname.lastname@example.org.Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:Like Loading… RelatedPHOTOS: Wilmington Sons of Italy Holds Easter Bunny BreakfastIn “Photo of the Day”Wilmington’s Annual Easter Bunny Breakfast Set For April 14 (UPDATED)In “Community”Wilmington’s Annual Easter Bunny Breakfast Set For April 9In “Community”
Maisie DunbarCelebrity Beauty Expert and Makeup Artist, Maisie Dunbar, will be the emcee for “Kids Rock” fashion showcase, 1 p.m., Aug. 9, at the West Village Banquet and Conference Center, 13711 Annapolis Road in Bowie, Md.“I am excited and honored to be a part of this very special event,” said Dunbar, owner and founder of Maisie Dunbar Spa Lounge and BluffaJo Cosmetics, 8711 First Avenue, Silver Spring, Md.BluffaJo Cosmetics is the official makeup sponsor for this annual event.The “Kids Rock” Fashion Showcase is part of the 10th Annual Maryland Premier Showcase event that beganAug. 3 and runs through Aug. 10.
Style, it would appear, never goes out of fashion. But the passion to spend on designer clothes and accessories took a beating in the past year, ever since the Narendra Modi government implemented the demonetisation policy. The introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in July added to the woes, say designers.”Demonetisation was a wonderful move by the government, but it was badly executed. They did not see the entire scenario. It has disrupted the business (of fashion). There were a lot of times that my employees – like tailors and embroiderers – could not go to the bank. Demonetisation impacted them badly,” Rahul Mishra, a regular participating designer at the Paris runways said.The stress, he says, was felt more by weavers, embroiderers, tailors and craftspersons. The introduction of GST on July 1 impacted the same set of people more than others.”I am not against GST. We work with handmade clothes and labour is intensive. So if I supply merchandise worth Rs 1 crore, then 12 per cent needs to be paid upfront as GST. Next month, again if I am supplying, then I have to pay 12 per cent, so I have to pay so much to GST and then wait for the sale to happen.”He says the government should encourage the handmade industry by bringing in separate laws for it. “I want to pay taxes on what I am selling because if I am not selling, then business is less, opportunity is less and so is potential for employment,” said Mishra.A report by Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency of India (ICRA) stated that the Indian textiles and apparel industry, which accounts for almost 24 per cent of the world’s spindle capacity and eight per cent of global rotor capacity, has been struggling due to the impact of demonetisation and GST.The report stated that the disruptions caused by demonetisation and transition to the GST regime has “narcotised the Indian apparel and fabric industry”.Other designers say they are witnessing reduced business, but they are hopeful that the forthcoming wedding season may bring a touch of relief. Many feel that banning of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes was a good move to weed out corruption in the country, even though it took its toll on the design world. GST only added to their troubles.Designer Samant Chauhan is disappointed that the festive season failed to raise the shoppers’ spirit.”I always knew that the market is slow and we will get good sales in Diwali. But things were not that great during the festive time either, with sales at less than half. There was no (big) party happening on Diwali, so why will people buy designer clothes. I think the note ban did have an impact on that (party culture).”He said that after demonetisation, prices of yarns and fabric went up. “Only those people survived who had systems (workstations and mills). There was a huge crunch of fabric as most of the weavers were in the bank getting their cash. When things normalised, the prices went up,” he added.Sunil Sethi, President, Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), the country’s apex fashion body, admitted that sales had slumped due to demonetisation and GST. “I’m hoping that the business is going to be regularised in the near future. Certain amount of discipline has set in for both the customer and designer. However, there is no doubt that the volume of business has gone down, which is not a good sign. Hoping for the market to pick up soon,” Sethi said.Menswear designer Pawan Sachdeva echoed the sentiment. “The effect of demonetisation has lingered even after a year. The luxury market has faced a major slowdown. Even as the effects of demonetisation hadn’t lessened, GST was introduced as a new policy, slowing the market even more,” he said.The major problem, according to him, was that cash flow declined sharply, resulting in slashing of up to almost 80 per cent of luxury sales.


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From dining establishments to schools, everybody’s prepping for a lifeline throughout a long, cold, Covid-19 winter season
In cities and towns throughout the nation, makeshift outside dining establishments strung together with pop-up tents, plants, and string lights have actually colonized walkways and recently pedestrianized streets. With indoor dining not motivated — or in some locations like New York City, still off-limits — these on-the-fly adjustments have actually ended up being the only lifeline for a market bludgeoned by the pandemic. “It is extremely hard, difficult times for me; I just endure here,” Amritpal Singh, the owner of Angel Indian, a dining establishment in Queens, just recently informed the New York City Times. Singh apparently invested $3,000 to update his outside dining location, and it’s simply hardly keeping business afloat.
In New York City City, some 9,500 dining establishments have actually been given outside licenses; San Francisco has actually a comparable Shared Areas program with 1,000 dining establishments authorized; and Chicago has actually given licenses to hundreds more through its Expanded Outdoor Dining Program. However what takes place to these dining establishments when fall and winter season settle in, there still isn’t a vaccine, and individuals are informed the just safe location to collect is outdoors? There will be a substantial operate on outside heating units.
The outside heating unit is rapidly ending up being the sign of peace of mind for a long, cold Covid-19 winter season.
In mid-July, Dan Munger initially began getting calls from dining establishments about leasing heating units. He’s the director of sales for DMC Center Providers, a Cherry Hill, New Jersey-based business that handles centers for regional dining establishments, consisting of chains such as Shake Shack, Chick-fil-A, and Olive Garden. While he gets a pre-winter bump every year, 2020 has actually currently been more like a rise. “I’ve had nearly 75% more calls about heating units than in 2015,” he states. “With the constraints, they’re all attempting to optimize their hours of service.”
Desperate dining establishment owners aren’t the only ones attempting to get their hands on them. If this summertime was everything about hoarding inflatable swimming pools, Recreational vehicles, and patio area furnishings for the Great Staycation, the outside heating unit is rapidly ending up being the sign of peace of mind for a long, cold Covid-19 winter season. From restaurants and bars to schools hatching outside class, a substantial increase in need is forecasted for the warm gadgets generally booked for hip dining establishments in L.A. Currently, House Depot reports that existing need for outside heating units is outmatching 2019 while Wayfair has actually apparently seen a 70% boost in look for patio area heating units in the previous 5 weeks compared to in 2015.
The heating unit boom initially drew back in March as lockdowns kept lots of Americans caught in their houses and searching for methods to use their outdoor patios and yards. Amazon reports that sales of outside heating units increased by almost 70% from April to June compared to the very same time in 2015. Now it’s getting once again, and some heating unit producers are having problem maintaining as Covid-19 has stretched global supply chains. “We’re purchasing as much as possible,” states Josh Rookstool, the director of sales for Sunheat outside heating units, which are equipped by Wayfair, House Depot, and more. “Nevertheless, there are still significant backups in production.” The Nebraska-based business has actually seen sales boost 400% up until now this year on its broad choice of patio area heating units and fire pits — consisting of a 12-color LED light-show heating unit, whose base cycles through pink, green, orange, and more to develop a celebration atmosphere, and the “Sunheat & Beat,” a wall-mounted heating unit and Bluetooth speaker combination.
Need is likewise anticipated to increase as schools and colleges progressively think about outside class.
Pre-Covid-19 forecasts approximated the patio area heating unit classification to grow more than 7% each year from 2018 to 2022, however comparable to other pandemic-induced hurries on toilet tissue, flour, and bikes, the classification’s experiencing extraordinary need. Every taste of heating unit has actually been going quick — wall-mounted heating units powered by Bluetooth apps, freestanding heating units similar to CB2 lights, tabletop fire pit heating units with a concealed propane-tank base, heating units concealed within restaurant table legs, and heating units nestled inside outside parasols. “All outside heating classifications are hot today,” states Kaley Galinsky, an associate merchant for outside fire at House Depot. Melissa Wilson, the senior classification supervisor for Overstock’s outside and garden patio area furnishings and design, states that Overstock’s gas heating units have “regularly” been popular, with “free-standing high gas heating units with glass tubes offering finest.”
Business have actually fasted to promote their heat-emitting products as clients start thinking of how to extend summertime convenience through the chillier months. On Instagram, Alfresco Heating, a patio area heating unit supplier near the Bay Location, informed fans, “Even in a pandemic, your own patio area provides a modification of scene, fresh air, and the noises of nature,” and AEI Corporation, an Irvine, California-based supplier of electrical heating units, motivated hospitality companies to “resume with a heating unit.”
Need is likewise anticipated to increase as schools and colleges progressively think about outside class, which are being hatched in Vermont, Philadelphia, and most just recently, New york city City, which held outside classes throughout the 1907 tuberculosis pandemic. Mount Madonna School in Watsonville, California, has actually currently bought outside heating units and tarpaulins and is asking for trainees use layers.
The outside heating unit boom likewise appears to be driving a rush for something else: fuel. In Houston, propane-tank shipment start-up Cynch reports a fourfold boost in orders, and Stackline, an e-commerce platform that keeps track of day-to-day search volume, costs, sales, and scores on merchants like Amazon and Target, reports that e-commerce sales of gas tanks are up 83% year to date (compared to in 2015), with look for “gas tank” up 82%. The Lp Education and Research Study Council has some recommendations about the next best-seller for companies to hoard: Lock down your gas supply now.
Update: An earlier variation of this piece misidentified Amazon and Target as Stackline’s clients. It keeps track of search volume on those retail websites.


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Christmas Deliveries Delayed After Snags at UPS and FedEx
NEW YORK | Santa's sleigh didn't make it in time for Christmas for some this year due to shipping problems at UPS and FedEx.
The delays were blamed on poor weather earlier this week in parts of the country as well as overloaded systems. The holiday shopping period this year was shorter than usual, more buying was done online and Americans' tendency to wait until the last possible second to shop probably didn't help either.
Neither company said how many packages were delayed but noted it was a small share of overall holiday shipments. While the bulk of consumers' holiday spending remains at physical stores, shopping online is increasingly popular and outstripping spending growth in stores at the mall.
The problems appear to have affected many parts of the country. The Associated Press spoke to people in Alabama, California, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia who didn't receive presents in time for Christmas.
Many were left with little or no time to make alternative plans.
Jeff Cormier and his Dallas family were among those who ordered gifts that didn't arrive.
He had three separate UPS packages — including two for which he paid extra for expedited shipping — delayed.
"I've had to apologize to three different people when I thought I had everything wrapped up and good to go way before," Cormier said.
He and his wife are celebrating their baby daughter's first Christmas and flew in his grandmother from Ohio to join them. Her gift, a customized iPhone cover with a photo of her new great-granddaughter, didn't come in time for Christmas.
"My wife and I had our presents to open. Our daughter had her presents to open. And my grandma, she didn't have anything to open," Cormier said.
"We apologize that our customers did not receive their packages on Christmas," said Natalie Godwin, a spokeswoman for United Parcel Service Inc.
Godwin said snow and ice in the Midwest last week and an ice storm that hit Dallas two-and-a-half weeks ago were partially to blame. She also said the volume of packages shipped exceeded the capacity of UPS but would not share the number of packages shipped or what the company's maximum capacity is.
UPS did not make pickups or deliveries Wednesday. Extra workers were being brought in Wednesday night to the company's hub in Louisville, Ky., to sort packages for delivery today and Friday, according to Godwin.
Godwin said "UPS will honor its peak shipments commitments" to customers who used its air delivery service. Those shipping by ground have no guarantee past Dec. 11. Godwin said she didn't know whether customers would receive refunds.
However, some FedEx customers are able to pick up packages Christmas Day at their local FedEx Express centers.
"We're sorry that there could be delays and we're contacting affected customers who have shipments available for pickup," said Scott Fiedler, a spokesman for FedEx Corp.
Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, FedEx handled 275 million shipments, according to Fiedler. Those that were not delivered in time, he said, "would be very few."


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Tim Hardwick, MacRumors:
Apple today launched a large-scale promotion in China offering special discounts for consumers who use Apple Pay, in the company’s latest bid to counter the dominance of rival digital wallets in the country.
Between July 18 and 24, Apple device owners who use the mobile payment system to make purchases in participating merchants across mainland China will receive concessions of up to 50 percent and as much as 50 times the usual number of reward points for credit cards, according to Apple’s official Chinese website.
I went to the official site and ran the results through Google translate:
Apple Pay brings as low as 50% off this season and up to 50x bank points.
Our lives are often filled with tedious, but do not have to pay so. With Apple Pay, just touch it and hear “bite”, and it will be done quickly and easily. Whether in supermarkets, cafes or shopping malls, payment has become more convenient. From 18th to 24th July 2017, where you can use Apple Pay to pay, you can enjoy as low as 50% discount, as well as up to 50 times the bank credit card points reward 3 in a designated store with a CUP cloud flashover logo.
Not clear to me how this discount gets funded. Is it all Apple or a shared cost with the merchant? Certainly an interesting move on Apple’s part.


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The DAX has posted sharp losses in the Wednesday session. Currently, the index is at 11,869, down 1.30% on the day. On the release front, German unemployment rolls climbed by 60 thousand, much higher than the estimate of -8 thousand. The ECB released its financial stability report, which is published twice a year. On Tuesday, the U.S. releases its second estimate of GDP for the first quarter.
Reports that China has raised the ante in a bitter trade dispute have rocked global equity markets. Chinese media has reported that China is threatening to curb the supply of rate metals to the U.S. These products are used in the production of items such as cell phones and electric cars, so any interruption in supply could hurt U.S. technology companies. The DAX has fallen sharply on the news, with bank and automakers stocks heading lower. Deutsche Bank has dropped 1.9%, while Daimler, BMW and Volkswagen have declined around 1.0%. May has been a dreadful month for the blue-chip DAX, which has declined 3.6%.
The ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China shows no signs of ending anytime soon, and this has weighed on investor risk appetite. A weak consumer confidence release out of Germany hasn’t helped matters. Consumer confidence took a hit in May, as GfK Consumer Climate slipped to 10.1 points, down from 10.4 in April. This was the lowest score since April 2017. With the escalation in U.S-China trade tensions, there is no end in sight to the tariffs which have been imposed on European goods, which has dampened consumer confidence. We’ll get a look at the health of consumer spending on Thursday, when Germany releases retail sales. After a decline of 0.2% in April, the markets are expecting a rebound in May, with a forecast of 0.4%.
Wednesday (May 29)
- 3:00 German Buba President Weidmann Speaks
- 3:55 German Unemployment Change. Estimate -8K. Actual 60K
- 4:00 ECB Financial Stability Review
Thursday (May 30)
- 8:30 US Preliminary GDP. Estimate 3.1%
*All release times are DST
*Key events are in bold
DAX, Wednesday, May 29 at 6:10 DST
Previous Close: 12,027 Open: 11,914 Low: 11,848 High: 11,926 Close: 11,865
This article is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Corporation or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. Leveraged trading is high risk and not suitable for all. You could lose all of your deposited funds.


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The Waipā business community came together on Friday night to celebrate with finalists at the 2019 Waipā Networks Business Awards Gala Dinner, where Cambridge business Gourmet Delicious was announced the Supreme Winner.
The premier business event is hosted annually by the Cambridge Business Chamber and Te Awamutu Chamber of Commerce.
Over 40 submissions were received for the 2019 Awards across 16 categories, focused on recognising excellence and success in business in Waipā District.
The head judge, Howard Davey from the University of Waikato Management School, said this year he had seen a very high quality of entrants.
"We have seen a number of businesses, both established and new, that demonstrate innovation, a focused and sustainable strategic direction, a strong customer focus, and attention to detail.
"Overall the quality and diversity of entrants bodes well for the future of business in the district."
Gourmet Delicious provides professional catering services across the greater Waikato area, employing 25 regular staff and up to 60 for events.
They catered for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their visit to Cambridge.
Judges commented their application showed "strong growth and diversification with new outlets and alternative business elements. They are future focussed with clear strategies in mind".
"They are really emphasising positive outcomes in terms of improving systems and explorations of new revenue streams," judges said.
Co-owners Kim Moodie and Ali Foers started Cambridge catering company Gourmet Delicious in 2006 and have grown to open Suburban Kitchen on Robinson St in 2015 and Podium Cafe at Lake Karāpiro in 2017.
They will soon open their third, yet to be named, cafe at Amber Garden Centre on Peake Rd on the outskirts of Cambridge and operate GD Eats, a food truck used for events and site catering.
The pair thanked their clients, customers and dedicated staff for the support.
Kim said Cambridge was a wonderful town to start and grow a business in, with many loyal clients and customers becoming good friends.
"Cambridge is an amazing place to live — I wouldn't want to live anywhere else," she said.
"It's growing and it's really neat to be a part of that."
She said the company had won Best Small Business twice previously and was always looking to up their game.
"Managing growth and maintaining quality means we had to put more procedures into place," said Kim.
She paid credit to the staff, saying it was an awesome team that always gave their best.
Kelly Bouzaid, CEO, Cambridge Business Chamber thanked everyone involved on behalf of the Waipā Networks Business Awards team — entrants, judges, ForumPoint2, SBI, Mystery Creek, sponsors and Cambridge Business Chamber.
She said it was a fantastic event and she had received a lot of positive feedback from so many attendees.
"ForumPoint2 and SBI did a superb job to make it such a slick event — without a doubt the most prestigious networking events in the region."
"The food was exceptional, MC Kanoa Lloyd was outstanding and there was a tremendous buzz of excitement and celebration.
"Large numbers stayed on dance to the Three Brothers band after the awards presentation."
View the full line-up of winners here.


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The plant, which makes products like breaded salmon and halibut portions, had too many workers once a large order to retail giant Sam's Club was filled, so some people were let go, said ASI chief executive Russell Schreck.
The layoffs occurred three weeks to a month ago, he
added that he
couldn't say how many workers had been laid off and how many had already been hired back.
"To have my people spend a few hours putting all that together -- who's gone, who's come back, how many net (layoffs) -- if your newspaper is willing to pay for that, I'll have my accounting people do it," Schreck
said."You guys must be hard up for news.This was something that happened weeks ago and was a nonevent." Schreck
was quoted this week in a story in the Alaska Journal of Commerce
as saying the company "got rid of some deadwood." ASI
occupies a $50 million, 202,000-square-foot building near the Anchorage airport.It was erected with state funds with an eye toward creating 400-plus manufacturing jobs.
The state, via the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, is a 20 percent owner of the company and ASI
's landlord.The agency bought into the company after ASI
nearly collapsed amid financing troubles after its start-up in late 1999.
, who specializes in turning around struggling companies, was brought in by Sunrise Capital Partners
, a New York investment firm that spent $5 million about a year ago for a 51 percent stake in the stalled seafood company. ASI
is marketing products under the brand name Great Alaskan Seafood Co.
Last November, ASI
executives said the company employed 140 people.Schreck
said Monday he
would provide the number currently working at the plant, but he
didn't supply the figure by the end of the day.
disputed Poe's assessment, saying the company is actually running even with or ahead of its budget. He
added that ASI
has a lot of new orders coming in and that it expects to rehire all the workers who were let go.


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Ghent, Belgium-based Esko, a maker of finishing equipment and developer of workflow software with U.S. headquarters in Miamisburg, Ohio, recently named Marc Vael as its director of IT Security.
Esko’s cloud-based collaboration tool is called WebCenter, and its Automation Engine tool allows for automation in the production environment. The company also offers a broad range of other hardware and software products, some of which reside on-premise with the customer and some of which are cloud-based. All of these offerings come with the assurance Esko gives its customers that their own operations are protected from invasion by unauthorized third parties, the company says.
In his new role Vael, who will be based in Belgium, will oversee the security of Esko’s internal IT operations as well as the security inherent in the products it delivers to customers around the globe.
“There are many business benefits to using cloud-based/SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions, but they require the right protection to ensure users can trust the (data) security of this important suite of tools,” says Vincent van den Broek, vice president of information technology at Esko. “We selected Marc for this important role based on his vast experience in and knowledge of the security domain and to ensure Esko solutions embody the utmost security and are able to ward off security threats in an ever-changing environment.”


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It’s early October in Tiptonville, Tenn., and John Lindamood’s farm office is bustling. Gin preparations are underway, defoliation applications and the movement of harvest equipment is being coordinated. Everyone is busy, with the exception of a Chesapeake Bay Retriever napping by the window.
Despite the hectic pace, Lindamood obliges our interview request because we’re discussing a topic about which he feels strongly — promoting cotton sustainability.
“Sustainability is really what we do and who we are,” said Lindamood, “There’s no question U.S. farmers have the most sustainable practices in the world, but I think we share the common misconception that the truth always comes out, and it just doesn’t. People are painting a picture of agriculture that is just wrong.”
Our conversation takes place in what’s already been a trying year for cotton production. Now looming regulations on textiles sold in the European Union could place more responsibility on cotton producers to prove the sustainability of their practices.
We spoke to Lindamood about the sustainable practices he’s implemented in nearly 40 years of farming and why he thinks the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol will help his cotton operation.
Technology improves conservation
For Lindamood, technology has always played a key role in improving efficiency and, thus sustainability. His family farm and the family gin, Phoenix Gin Company, were running Apple computers back in 1984. Prior to the development of GPS technologies, he was using soil maps to do variable rate applications of lime and potash.
Since then Lindamood has experimented with many precision ag platforms to improve crop yields and better manage inputs. Most recently he’s implemented a new farm management software called Granular. All employees can see their daily work assignments through an app. Lindamood can see when tasks are initiated and completed.
“It’s helped us be better organized,” said Daniel Arant, farm foreman. “We know where we are and what we’re doing each step of the way.”
However, Lindamood cautions that the data generated by this technology is only useful if you use it.
“You can generate all the pretty maps, and all the information, but if it just stacks up and you don’t have time to review it and incorporate it into your workplan, it’s useless. It still comes down to having someone process the data, analyze it and determine what to do with it.”
Using the data
Lindamood views yield maps as the proofing process to determine which management decisions pay off and which don’t. There are two practices where he’s seen big results — cover crops and variable rate application.
“We’ve seen very dramatic payoffs in cover crops on certain soil types in cotton,” said Lindamood, who mostly uses a blend of cereal rye and hairy vetch before cotton. “There’s less impact in other crops and other soil types, but in our sandy loam soils we’ve increased our yields by 30 to 40%. That’s largely attributed to cover crops.
“We’re also finding that because of the variable rate application of nutrients we’ve done over the years, our fields seem to be leveling out. We’ve amended our soils to apply more where we needed it and cutting out applications where we didn’t. Now we have much less need for variable rate fertilizers and variable rate defoliation and plant growth regulators.”
But, Lindamood and Arant caution, variable rate applications and cover crops are not necessarily cost savings measures, but rather allocation tools.
“Those practices have allowed us to allocate our resources where they’ll best be used by the crops, diminish run-off of nutrients and also decrease herbicide use rates," Arant said.
“It’s an exciting time to be farming. It’s a lot of fun using the technology. Seeing how we can do things more efficiently, push our yields, while at the same time protect the environment.”
Cotton Trust Protocol
For Lindamood, that’s the very definition of sustainability — finding those practices that are economically beneficial while also reducing the environmental footprint. In addition to variable rate applications and cover crops, he no-tills 90% of his fields. He works closely with NRCS on several conservation programs. He has installed flow meters and soil moisture sensors to monitor irrigation use.
And he’s not alone. Combinations and variations of these practices are in use on farms across the nation. The story of the improved sustainability of U.S. cotton farms is a great one, but the story alone may not be enough.
For some time, environmental sustainability has been a growing concern to consumers. According to a survey done by the National Cotton Council, those concerns have become amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the potential for new textile regulation in the European Union could put more pressure on brands to only source products that are verified sustainable.
“We know the U.S. cotton industry has a 35-year record of improving cotton sustainability, but many of our brands truly value the data behind that story. While U.S. cotton is recognized for its quality, we’ve never had the data to support our sustainability credentials,” said Ken Burton, executive director of the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol.
The U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol is a new standard for verifying the progress of cotton sustainability in the U.S. Participating growers will anonymously document their production practices in an online form. Responses will be compiled to create a transparent picture of cotton production practices that will be shared with participating brands and retailers.
Leaders of the protocol see two major benefits of the initiative. First, by providing verified data, it will help grow demand for U.S. cotton, and second, it will give growers a good picture of their own sustainability performance that can be compared to state and national benchmarks. As it says on the Trust Protocol website, you can’t improve what you don’t measure. Sort of like those pretty maps that Lindamood recalled.
“This program allows you to prove your sustainability to the world, as well as provide insights that will help you continuously improve,” said Burton.
In September, the National Cotton Council opened enrollment for the Trust Protocol. They’re hoping to get 1,000 growers to sign up this season. Lindamood plans to be one of them.
“So many companies want cotton that is verified sustainable. We know we’re sustainable, but the day-to-day cotton farmer just doesn’t have time to get that story out there. We don’t want to be shut out, simply because we’re not considered sustainable,” said Lindamood.
“Something like the Trust Protocol is going to help us compete. I know it takes a little time to sit down at your computer and fill out the forms, but it’s where we’re going in the U.S. cotton industry in order to be able to sell our cotton and make it the preferred cotton.”
For more information on the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol or to enroll, visit trustUScotton.org.