By Bruce Japsen
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley tours a Walgreens store at 1533 67th Place in Chicago. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
Walgreen Co. plans to expand its fresh food offerings in several hundred stores in coming years, company chief executive officer Greg Wasson told shareholders this afternoon.
Addressing 2,500 shareholders at the company’s annual meeting at Navy Pier on Chicago’s lakefront, Wasson said such stores fit the company’s strategy to evolve from a “retail drugstore to a retail ‘health and daily living store.’”
Walgreen Co., which offers more and more health and wellness needs, began to test out fresh foods such as fruits and vegetables last year, particularly in poor urban markets where access to healthy food choices is a problem. Get the full story »
Jan. 12 at 11:46 a.m.
Filed under:
Internet,
Retail,
Updated
By Wailin Wong
A pair of Northwestern University graduates has launched a Chicago-based online deal company that merges snail mail and the Web.
Bare Deal, founded by Justin Shapiro and Glen Andrianov, launched Wednesday in Chicago and the site lists 12 additional cities where the company plans to expand, including Los Angeles and New York.
Chicago is home to tens of Web companies offering local daily deals, including Groupon, the pioneer of the space. Groupon’s co-founder, Andrew Mason, is also a Northwestern alumnus. Shapiro and Andrianov graduated in 2008. Get the full story »
Jan. 12 at 9:25 a.m.
Filed under:
Airplanes,
Updated
By Reuters
Guests exit a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft at the Farnborough Airshow in Hampshire, England, July 18, 2010. (Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images)
Aircraft parts maker Spirit Aerosystems Holdings Inc. said it has reached a deal with Boeing Co. on claims related to development and production of the 787 Dreamliner.
Spirit did not specify what claims had been addressed, but the company has taken financial hits in recent years due to delays in the Dreamliner, which is nearly three years behind schedule.
Spirit spokesmen were not immediately available for comment. Get the full story »
By Zoe Galland
The town of Cicero unanimously voted Tuesday to approve Wirtz Beverage Illinois’ request to build a $70-million, 600,000-square-foot distribution center at a location that used to be a racetrack. Wirtz’ new center will incorporate the company’s other offices and warehouses in Schaumburg, Wood Dale, Bensenville and Elk Grove Village.
The company had said in a statement last week that most of its 1,000 employees would move to the new center. Get the full story »
By Reuters
Verizon Wireless has announced that the iPhone will be available on its network in early February. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
After waiting three-and-a-half years, Verizon Wireless customers will finally get their hands on Apple’s iPhone next month.
The top U.S. wireless operator ended months of speculation and anticipation from impatient consumers on Tuesday by announcing that it would begin selling a version of the iPhone on Feb. 10 at the same prices as AT&T.
“I’m going to switch right away. I’m going to go back to Verizon,” said Raheem Noble, 24, a New York City rapper, who was on his way to buy the device before being told that preorders would not begin until Feb. 3. Get the full story »
Jan. 10 at 5:50 p.m.
Filed under:
Health care,
Pharmaceuticals,
Updated
By Bruce Japsen
Abbott Laboratories’ said its experimental dissolvable heart stent has received approval in Europe, a key milestone in the development of the next-generation heart device for patients in the U.S. and around the world.
The North Chicago-based drug and medical device giant said it is the first-ever government regulatory approval of an absorbable stent. Get the full story »
Jan. 10 at 5:00 p.m.
Filed under:
Food,
Restaurants,
Updated
Alfalfa sprouts.
By Alejandra Cancino and Monica Eng | Jimmy John’s is replacing the alfalfa sprouts on its menu with clover sprouts, the company said today.
The popular restaurant chain pulled alfalfa sprouts from its menus in December after a number of customers tested positive for salmonella. The recent outbreak has infected more than 100 people in 18 states.
Jimmy John’s said the switch will take place immediately in their corporate-owned stores, and that it will ask its franchises to follow suit. Get the full story »
Jan. 10 at 4:50 p.m.
Filed under:
M&A,
Magazines,
Media,
Updated
Playboy will be taken private under an agreement with Icon Acquisition Holdings, a limited partnership controlled by founder Hugh Hefner, left. (LATimes)
By Robert Channick | More than 57 years after launching Playboy from his South Side apartment, Hugh Hefner is buying back the bunny.
After six months of deliberation, an improved offer to take Playboy Enterprises private at $6.15 a share passed muster with the board, which voted Sunday to return the magazine empire to its 84-year-old founder.
Shares of Playboy spiked nearly 18 percent on Monday. Get the full story »
Jan. 10 at 11:12 a.m.
Filed under:
Conventions,
Health care,
Updated
By Kathy Bergen
A key health-care technology trade show whose departure helped trigger the overhaul of McCormick Place operations announced this morning that it is returning to the Chicago convention hall in 2015 and 2019.
The state-mandated reforms at McCormick Place were cited by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society as key factors in deciding to put Chicago back in its meeting schedule.
The changes could translate into cost savings of at least 25 percent, said H. Stephen Lieber, the group’s president and CEO. The estimate was based on talks with representatives from other trade shows that have taken place at the complex since the overhaul began last summer, he said. Get the full story »
Jan. 10 at 11:00 a.m.
Filed under:
Energy,
Updated
By Associated Press
Oil prices rose above $89 a barrel Monday after the 800-mile trans-Alaska pipeline owned by BP PLC and four other companies was shut down because of a leak.
Jan. 7 at 4:43 p.m.
Filed under:
Consumer electronics,
Technology,
Updated
By Dow Jones Newswires
(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Verizon Wireless said Friday that it will host an event in New York City on Tuesday, fueling speculation of an announcement regarding a Verizon-powered iPhone.
The invitation was largely devoid of details, saying little other than that Verizon President and Chief Operating Officer Lowell McAdam would host.
Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. wireless carrier, wasn’t immediately available for comment, and iPhone maker Apple Inc. declined to comment. Get the full story »
Jan. 7 at 4:31 p.m.
Filed under:
Retail,
Updated
From the Chicago Sun-Times | Philadelphia-based retailer Five Below, which sells everything for $5 or less, has signed leases for 10 locations in the Chicago area with openings planned in the spring. The chain, which calls itself a “five-and-dime for the Facebook generation,” sells merchandise geared to teenagers and pre-teens, with an emphasis on combining the cheap with the trendy. Get the full story »
By Emily Bryson York
Google is establishing a food-and-beverage team in Chicago to link with advertisers and marketers including Northfield-based Kraft and Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo. Karen Sauder, who recently resigned from her position as managing director at DraftFCB Chicago, will become Industry Director for Food and Beverages at Google.
In the new role, Sauder is expected to build a Chicago-based team, focusing on Google’s efforts to build its advertising and marketing business in the food and beverage industries for the first time, according to a Google spokesman.
Sauder will take on the role as early as Jan. 31. Get the full story »
Jan. 7 at 11:17 a.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Government,
Updated
By Associated Press
President Barack Obama appointed Gene Sperling as his director of the National Economic Council Friday, placing a Washington veteran with a bipartisan track record in the White House as the administration contends with a divided Congress.
Sperling’s appointment coincided with the release of the December jobs report that showed the unemployment rate dropping to 9.4 percent, its lowest level in nearly two years. But job growth fell short of expectations, and Obama said that Sperling, along with other newly appointed members of the economic team, have a challenging task ahead. Get the full story »
Jan. 7 at 6:02 a.m.
Filed under:
Beverages,
Food,
M&A,
Packaged foods,
Updated
By Dow Jones Newswires-Wall Street Journal
Sara Lee Corp. is moving ahead with plans to split up its meats and coffee businesses into two separate companies after it rejected Brazilian beef processor JBS SA’s takeover offer last month, people familiar with the matter said.
JBS hasn’t ruled out its interest in buying the company, which has a market capitalization of about $11 billion, and could yet come back with a higher offer, these people said. But they cautioned that JBS, which has a market cap of about $10 billion, could have trouble securing financing for a deal. Get the full story »
