Walmart is pulling back the reins on opening new stores, instead focusing their efforts and money into their e-commerce sector and remodeling already established locations.

Last month, the retailer closed a deal for a more than $3 billion buyout of the fastest growing online retailer Jet.com, which means they’re serious about putting in the investment to grow online presence. Last year, this expansion totaled USD $13.7 billion, a small portion of their annual profit.

Walmart has said that moving forward, they will be investing more of their $11.5 billion capital expenditures on e-commerce and digital initiatives.

“This is the perfect time to accelerate the business,” says Marc Lore, co-founder and CEO of Jet.com, who will be overseeing Walmart.com.

The Canadian economy has been sluggish, but in the midst of this slow progress the food manufacturing industry is seeing opposite results. According to a recent study by The Conference Board of Canada, things are looking up for the food marketing industry due to a growing interest in Canadian products from the U.S. and other foreign markets.

“While the majority of the manufacturing sector has struggled to take advantage of the weaker exchange rate, cheaper oil prices and the strengthening of the U.S. economy, the food manufacturing sector has seen sales continue to grow,” says Michael Burt the director of the Conference Board of Canada’s Industrial Trends sector.

According to Grocery Business, The U.S. represents the largest export destination for Canada’s food products, accounting for more than 70 per cent of the industry’s exports in 2015.

Food manufacturers are all seeing a positive change from Canada’s ongoing dedication to natural ingredients and nutritious foods. Between 2011 and 2015, food and drink products marketing the term superfood, superfruit and surpergrain have more than tripled in growth.

The downside to these new changes is that Canadian shoppers are more conscious of where their money is going. As such, consumer spending in the food and alcoholic beverage market may see a slow down in numbers.

Costco Canada is about to expand in a major way, with plans for the opening of seven new stores during 2017.

“I think the fact that we are opening so many stores right now has to do with very strong sales over the last few years,” says Richard Galanti, the retailer’s executive vice-president and chief financial officer.

About 90 per cent of retailers in the U.S and Canada renew their membership, says Costco. Therefore their membership format will become a large problem for traditional supermarkets. Analysts estimate that opening a Costco Canada is equal to opening four to five conventional supermarkets.

An August report from Kevin Grier Market Analysis and Consulting has shared that general merchants such as Costco and Walmart have taken over the market share for traditional grocery retailers. In 2015, grocery retailers’ share of Canadian food sales was about 78 per cent, a steady drop from 84 per cent in 2010.

Toronto-based Onex has come out on top in their bid to acquire the Save-A-Lot discount chain from Supervalu. This was revealed at an auction that explores the potential option for Supervalu’s future.

Supervalu is currently making a decision about spinning off to become a publicly traded company controlled by Supervalu shareholders. A confidential source shares that a final verdict could be made in the coming weeks.

An industry wide downturn in sales performance this year reduced valuations for publicly traded food retailers including Supervalu. Sources have stated that this may have made a public offering for difficult for this time.

Ottawa-based retailer Rainbow Foods has announced its acquisition of Market Organics. With this, the company has significantly increased its size, continuing to grow in the Ottawa market.

“We now have three stores in Ottawa, employing about 100 people,” says Mischa Kaplan, president of Rainbow Foods. “Having the Market Organics store helps us leverage our existing support infrastructure, expand our reach into a different part of the city and take advantage of a well-located and long-running business.”

Kaplan adds that this acquisition will allow the company to build its city-wide footprint faster. “This purchase also allows us to discover more efficient economies of scale with certain areas that we couldn’t otherwise justify before the acquisition. We now have substantial buying and advertising power, and that allows us to be more efficient and, hopefully, more profitable.”

Also located in Ottawa, Market Organics is a full-service health food store, offering an in-house kitchen, coffee bar, and wide selection of organic food, supplements and cosmetics. This wonderful community store aligns with Rainbow Foods’ desire to provide consumers with organic, local, fair trade, sustainable and non-GMO products.

Nearly $11.7 million has been awarded over the course of five years to The Cancer Biology Research Center at Sanford Research from the National Institutes of Health to support clinical trial research for head, neck and pediatric cancers.

“Our hope is that this latest NIH grant allows us to improve cancer care for this region,” said Keith Miskimins, Ph.D., who is the project’s principal investigator and director of the Cancer Biology Research Center at Sanford Research. “A grant this large positions the participating scientists well for long-term sustainability in the research world.”
“Basic research is important because it leads to discoveries that might someday be translated to patients,” said David Pearce, Ph.D., executive vice president of Sanford Research.

Nearly $11.7 million has been awarded over the course of five years to The Cancer Biology Research Centre at Sanford Research from the National Institutes of Health to support clinical trial research for head, neck and paediatric cancers.

“Our hope is that this latest NIH grant allows us to improve cancer care for this region,” said Keith Miskimins, Ph.D., who is the project’s principal investigator and director of the Cancer Biology Research Centre at Sanford Research. “A grant this large positions the participating scientists well for long-term sustainability in the research world.”

“Basic research is important because it leads to discoveries that might someday be translated to patients,” said David Pearce, Ph.D., executive vice president of Sanford Research.

A new study shows the decline in plasma metabolites associated with inflammation and cardiovascular disease risk after undergoing the Ayurvedic-based well-being program that featured a vegetarian diet, meditation, yoga and massages.

“The researchers looked at the effects of a Panchakarma-based Ayurvedic intervention on plasma metabolites in a controlled clinical trial,” said first author Christine Tara Peterson, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at UC San Diego School of Medicine. “Panchakarma refers to a detoxification and rejuvenation protocol involving massage, herbal therapy and other procedures to help strengthen and rejuvenate the body.”
In the Panchakarma group a measurable decrease was discovered, in 12 specific cell-membrane chemicals correlating with serum cholesterol and inversely related to Type 2 diabetes risk.

“The study is part of our strategy to create a framework for whole systems biology research, our next step will be to correlate these changes with both gene expression and psychological health” says Deepak Chopra, MD, clinical professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and a noted proponent of integrative medicine

Cordyalis Yahhusuo (YHS) is a root extract from a flowering herbal plant that has long been used as a pain treatment. But not a lot of research has been done to understand fully how it works to fight different degrees of pain and there is more to be learned about its molecular mechanisms.

It can reduce chronic neuropathic pain that common medicines struggle to treat. YHS is able to maintain its potency overtime. Olivier Civelli, professor and chair of pharmacology at the University of California says, “YHS is not a highly potent medicine when compared to morphine. But I would propose that it can be used for low to moderate chronic pain.”

Sprouts Farmers Markets has confirmed plans to expand its US operations into Florida and North Carolina. The company says it will open eight stores in the first quarter of 2017, and anticipates opening 36 stores during the full year.

Last month, officials said the company had 58 approved new sites and 37 leases signed.

First quarter openings will include stores in Carrollwood, Florida and Falls of Neuse, North Carolina. Sources anticipate that the company will add additional stores to both markets later in the year.

Other sites opening in the first quarter include Decatur and Marietta, Georgia; Folsom and LaVerne, California; Prescott, Arizona; and Wichita, Kansas.

Sprouts stores are about 30,000 square feet and employ about 100 workers.