Biography

Heather Lalley

Editor in chief, Winsight Grocery Business

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Heather Lalley is the editor in chief of Winsight Grocery Business, overseeing a team of editors and a web producer to write, report and publish breaking news, features, trend stories and industry analysis. She spent six years as an editor with sister publication Restaurant Business, covering many facets of the restaurant industry.

Before joining Winsight, Heather spent nearly a decade as a reporter for the daily newspaper in Spokane, Washington. She is the author of "The Chicago Homegrown Cookbook." She holds a journalism degree from Northwestern University and is a graduate of the two-year baking and pastry program at Washburne Culinary Institute in Chicago.

She is the mother of two and rarely passes up a chance to eat tater tots.

Articles by
Heather Lalley

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Retail Foodservice

Fresh, best and low-stress: Trendspotting at IDDBA 2023

Food retailers and suppliers kicked off the first day of the International Dairy Deli Bakery Association show in Anaheim, California, on Sunday with a focus on convenience—for customers and for employees.

Inflation

Dollar stores sound the alarm

Aisle 1: In the past week, both Dollar Tree and Dollar General have warned that their shoppers are struggling. If deep discounters are feeling the stress, other retailers need to pay attention, writes WGB Editor-in-Chief Heather Lalley.

The discounter’s stock price fell nearly 20% Thursday following a challenging first quarter earnings report that revealed mounting consumer pressure.

After teasing it in March, the same-day grocery delivery platform is rolling out an AI-powered search tool as it expands its artificial intelligence capabilities.

WGB noted 25 supermarket grand openings during the month, once again led by fast-growing Aldi.

Aisle 1: Shrink dominated quarterly earnings discussions for Dollar Tree, Target, Walmart and others. But solutions are hard to come by, writes WGB Editor-in-Chief Heather Lalley.

Increased theft and the ongoing mix shift to lower-margin food and beverages are negatively affecting the discounter’s bottom line, the parent of Dollar Tree and Family Dollar reported.

The U.S. Department of Labor said it found blocked aisles, emergency exits and more at nine of the discounter’s stores in Maine, North Dakota, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Steve Deckard, who led the discounter’s recent expansion into Mexico, has been promoted to the new post as EVP of growth and emerging markets.

Billed as the “world’s most technologically advanced indoor vertical farm,” the Plenty Compton Farm is designed to grow up to 4.5 million pounds of leafy greens per year in one city block.

The Texas grocer is continuing its expansion in the Dallas-Fort Worth area following the opening last fall of an 111,000-square-foot store in the Denton County city.

The high-tech facility in Bentonville, Arkansas, is key to the retailer’s strategy of relying on its stores to complete digital orders. It’s powered by Alphabot, a proprietary storage and retrieval system.

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