Tag Archives: business journalism

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Tampa Bay Times: HSN executives seek digital solution to TV, shopping challenges

 

In the wake of the departure of CEO Mindy Grossman, St. Petersburg-based HSN is seeking to build on digital initiatives that began under her watch. [Courtesy of HSN Inc.]

By Justine Griffin

ST. PETERSBURG — Before there was Amazon and phone apps that promise one-hour delivery, there was the Home Shopping Network.

Similar to its competitor QVC, the company now known as HSN was an innovator in reaching new audiences during live broadcasts on its cable television channel and even online. Over most of the last 11 years, the company flourished under the leadership of Mindy Grossman, a veteran retail executive who polished the St. Petersburg-based company’s image and added to its line of high profile partnerships with celebrities and fashion brands.

But times change. HSN is not immune to the challenges nearly all retailers face these days. They too are struggling to compete with nimble, digital competitors like Amazon and others that continue to surge ahead in sales and innovation. Even Grossman, who announced just last month that she had accepted the job of CEO and president of Weight Watchers International, couldn’t stem the bleeding of the retailer’s tumbling profits over the last year.

“The economy overall is moving toward digital. It’s vicious in a lot of ways. If you can’t keep up with the likes of Amazon, you’re going to be destroyed,” said Budd Margolis, a TV shopping consultant based in London. “I worry that TV shopping is at the beginning of the end. Companies are not being aggressive enough.”

HSN executives see the writing on the wall. In the wake of Grossman’s high profile departure, the company’s remaining executive team continue to build on the digital initiatives that began under her watch.

Read more here.

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How is Texas Roadhouse outperforming Outback Steakhouse and others?

By Justine Griffin, Tampa Bay Times, Jan. 29, 2017

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It’s been a tough couple of years for chain restaurants, including the ones that peddle T-bones and filet mignon.

Logan’s Roadhouse filed for bankruptcy protection last year. Lone Star Steakhouse is shuttering restaurants across the country. Tampa-based Outback Steakhouse, and its parent company, Bloomin’ Brands, have been struggling to break the cycle of quarter after quarter of flat sales.

So how is it that a restaurant chain known for its cheap steaks and encouraging its patrons to throw peanut shells on the floor is outperforming so many others in the casual dining category? Louisville-based Texas Roadhouse is expanding aggressively. In the past three years, Texas Roadhouse has doubled the amount of restaurants it operates in Florida. Two more are set to open this year, and dozens more could be coming soon as the company continues to scout for real estate in the area.

exas Roadhouse was named one of the stocks to watch in 2017 by the Nation’s Restaurant News after its stock prices jumped more than 35 percent last year. Texas Roadhouse has logged 26 quarters in a row of positive sales growth.

There’s no secret ingredient to Texas Roadhouse’s success, whose strategy has remained much the same for decades, says Brian Connors, a consultant with Fort Lauderdale-based Connors Davis Hospitality.

“There’s nothing special about them, it’s just a good, honest, American steakhouse,” Connors said. “They aim and shoot right down Middle America. It’s about meat and potatoes and ice cold beer. Now will they attract the health-conscious, city-living millennials? Probably not, but the 30-somethings with a mini van and two kids? Absolutely.”

Read more here.

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Tampa Bay Times: Retirees on St. Pete Beach have big plans for the medical marijuana industry

Here are some of the members of Gulf Coast Canna Meds. (From left to right) back row, Michael Welch, Thomas J. Murphy, Lonnie Orns, Oscar Mouton and front row Andrew Hano, MD, Linda Colindres, RN; and David Kitenplon pose for a portrait at Vinoy Park in St. Petersburg. [EVE EDELHEIT | Times]

By Justine Griffin

While Florida politicians have butted heads over how to regulate the growing medical marijuana industry this year, Tom Murphy and Michael Welch have been busy working behind the scenes to try to ensure their company gets a piece of it.

Murphy, 71, and Welch, 79, are two of the founders of Gulf Coast Canna Meds, a burgeoning medical marijuana company in St. Petersburg that wants to distribute cannabis products to patients in Florida. They’re just one of many groups in Florida eager to be part of this growing new medical industry. But that’s easier said than done.

While Florida voters have overwhelmingly voted to make medical marijuana legal, it’s been up to the Legislature to translate how it will work. To many, it may seem like a basic humanitarian issue for patients who want simple and affordable access to medical marijuana — but it’s not. There’s a lot at stake.

“We’re the guys on the outside looking in,” said Murphy, a former beer distributor who retired to St. Pete Beach. “We learned that the small business man didn’t stand much of a chance in Tallahassee with the bills that were being discussed. We’re small business people. We’re not these deep-pocketed cartels. We’re the free enterprise people. The mom and pops.”

Read more here.

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Meet Florida’s Legal Drug Cartels

By Justine Griffin, Tampa Bay Times, April 14, 2017

While Florida voters have overwhelmingly voted to make medical marijuana legal, it’s up to the Legislature to translate how it will work. There’s a lot at stake. It may seem like a basic humanitarian issue for patients who want simple and affordable access to medical marijuana. But it’s not. Why? For one, medical marijuana is projected to become a $1 billion industry in Florida within the next three years.

So far, only seven companies have been licensed by the state to produce, cultivate and sell it. They are responsible for providing patients who suffer from debilitating conditions with a medicinal alternative to prescription drugs. Often described as the “cartels,” Florida’s seven licensed cannabis companies have millions in investment behind them. They donated more than a half-million dollars in campaign contributions and employ well-known lobbyists in Tallahassee. Some have started to open dispensaries while others are just getting their production facilities up and running. But none has made any significant profit yet, nor have they since the start in 2014, as the state’s burgeoning patient population is only just starting to grow.

While those who defend the cartel system say it will ensure tight state control, others argue that it will keep prices needlessly high for some patients. When I visited a handful of dispensaries around the state, prices ranged from $50 to $250 for monthly supplies of some products.

“Florida is very different than other states’ medical marijuana programs. The argument is that having only seven companies gives the state more control, but it also creates a quasi monopoly — all the production is concentrated and you lose variety and quality that way,” said Peter Sessa, co-founder of the Tampa-based Florida Cannabis Coalition. “Without an open market, prices will be high for patients who can’t use their insurance to pay for it.”

Midway through the legislative session, the two chambers are still working out how the system will work — laws that would take effect this summer. This much is known. Seven companies will have much of the action, maybe all of it. Here are the seven CEOs behind the state’s currently approved medical marijuana companies.

The Tampa Bay Times analyzed campaign contributions and interviewed executives behind the state’s legal cannabis companies. Here are their backgrounds.

Click here to read more about each company.

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Retailers continue to struggle with no saving grace in sight

Tampa Bay Times, April 14, 2017

By Justine Griffin

I’ve written the phrase “it’s been a tough year for retail” more times than I can remember.

 

Not to sound redundant, but yeah, it’s been a very tough year for retail. And it’s only April.

Retail jobs fell by 30,000 in March, more than any other industry sector, according to the most recent U.S. jobs report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Macy’s announced it would close more stores, including the one that recently shuttered at University Mall in Tampa. The Sears department store closed at Tyrone Square Mall after nearly 50 years of operating there to make room for a future Lucky’s Market and Dick’s Sporting Goods. And with debt piling up, the future of what was once a household brand name, Sears, is as uncertain as ever.

Nine retailers have filed for bankruptcy so far this year — as many as in all of 2016. Sports Authority, Payless Shoe Source, hhgregg, The Limited and Wet Seal, are among those we saw disappear in Tampa Bay. Even the analysts, who have mostly been upbeat about the evolution of retail at least in the six years I’ve been writing about it in Florida, seem grim about the future.

Read more here.