Dive Brief:
Grocers are taking steps to entice customers to visit their stores as authorities lift pandemic-related restrictions aimed at keeping people from spending time in public places.
Discount chain Save A Lot has announced a 99 Days of Summer promotional campaign that includes digital coupons intended to be redeemed at its brick-and-mortar locations and weekend sales on items like meats cut fresh in-store, while Schnuck Markets is highlighting products such as bratwurst and tortilla chips made in its stores as part of the Midwestern retailer s So St. Louis marketing program.
Retailers are looking to increase foot traffic in their stores as figures from the federal government show that about half of the total U.S. population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
St Louis-area hot sauce company Hot Charlie s to add new products at Schnuck Markets bizjournals.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bizjournals.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Rollout spans over 150 new items in grocery, health and beauty
Following up a consumables expansion last month, CVS Pharmacy plans to roll out more than 150 new store-brand products in grocery, health and wellness, and beauty care.
Woonsocket, R.I.-based CVS said Wednesday that the launches include new offerings in its Gold Emblem and Gold Emblem Abound food brands, an extension of the Live Better by CVS Health brand and the debut of Goodline Grooming Co., a men’s skin and grooming care brand exclusive to CVS. Also new are more convenient packaging forms, multipacks, resealable bags and value sizes, such as water in BPA-free recyclable boxes, feminine products made from 100% cotton, and beauty items free of harmful ingredients such as phthalates and formaldehydes.
Columbia and Boone County’s health order that has required masks in public places for most of the past year expired at 11:59 a.m. Wednesday.
Masks are still required in city and county buildings, at MU and in Columbia Public Schools buildings. Businesses, however, can make their own decisions about requirements.
As COVID-19 case numbers have decreased and vaccination numbers have increased, Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services decided to move away from the ordinance, instead favoring recommendations.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also recommends people continue to wear masks while inside public spaces.
Many businesses took to social media leading up to the order’s expiration to lay out their plans. Some will continue requiring masks to enter, while others are leaving it up to the customers.