Ready for takeoff? Give it a few hours.

The last few weeks have seen frustrated travelers stuck at airports, constantly refreshing their inboxes for an update on when (or if) their flights would leave amid a run of bad weather and staff shortages.

• December 31 alone recorded at least 8,650 delays worldwide, per data tracking service FlightAware, while about 5,000 flights were canceled altogether one January weekend.

But all that waiting around has an upside—for airport retailers.

Incoming

Dominic Bartucca, a barista at a Starbucks outpost at Georgia’s Savannah International Airport—which witnessed a series of flight delays and cancellations earlier this month—told Retail Brew that flight delays usually bring more customers to the coffee shop.

“They’re stuck here for hours,” he said, adding that airlines often end up handing out food and beverage coupons during long stalls.

Stacy Moore, a food-service expert specializing in airports and other non-traditional venues, echoed the anecdote, noting that restaurants in particular have an opportunity amid delays. People are more likely to opt for a “sit-down-type food-and-beverage operation” and keep ordering items as they wait, she explained.

• “[People] maybe didn’t eat. They thought, ‘I’m just going to go on this one-hour flight,’ and didn’t bring lunch—but are now here forever,” Moore said. “So they’re thinking, ‘I’m going to eat, walk around, and do some shopping.’”

Convenience-style retailers that sell things like chargers and batteries also stand to benefit since “everyone gets power anxiety during delays and cancellations,” Jonathan Sharp, managing director at Alvarez & Marsal, told us.

Shop till you (eventually) board: Long lines and high prices won’t deter customers either, experts noted.

“You can ultimately get to kind of ‘insult’ pricing, and the consumer will switch off, but [travel] is a considerably more captive market that has much lower price elasticity,” Sharp said. “The best analogy for it is, how many times have you gone to buy popcorn at the movie theater, horrified by the price, but you still bought it? It’s pretty similar.”

What’s next? Click here to read why airport retailers are adopting tech to capture more $$$.—JS

It’s no longer enough to be fast. Now, to compete, instant-delivery companies are getting in on the private-label gold rush.

Enter: Gopuff’s new Basically line, which rolled out last week with bottled water. Snacks and home essentials are on the way, too.

• According to the company, almost 80% of its customers said that they already purchase private-label products (at least occasionally).

Data rules everything: Gopuff is counting on insight (cough, data) into customer habits to set it apart. Operating in the instant-needs space provides knowledge about shoppers that other, more traditional retailers might not have, like what kind of chips they want at 2am, or how often they run out of paper towels.

“We’ve got deep insights and information that we can leverage to really deliver something…really tailored to them. We want our consumer to feel like, ‘They get me, they know me, they know what I want,’” Jessica Glendenning, Gopuff’s general manager of new verticals and private label, told Retail Brew.

But the company didn’t just use data to inform its basic product selection; it also crunched the numbers to help pick specific flavors and package sizes that make sense for the instant consumer.

• After learning that Gopuff customers like bold flavors, the team developed a variety of spiced nuts, including packs of cheddar-jalapeño peanuts.

Looking ahead...Gopuff plans to introduce four new private-label brands and 100+ products this year. But it’s joining a host of other companies already on the trend. Last week, Buyk announced plans to expand its private-label line, following similar moves from FastAF and Gorillas in Europe.

“Private label is a business that is booming, and has been for multiple years. There are so many benefits to this type of business for an organization, and certainly one is gross margin expansion and profitability for the company,” Glendenning said.

“At the end of the day, it’s about the consumer and this ability to be able to create products and brands that are very, very specific and tailored to the consumer that you serve.”—JG

Husband-and-wife duo Jamie and Jilea Hemmings believe “checkout and robotic delivery are the future,” which is why they’re introducing Nourish + Bloom—the first Black-owned contactless market in the US, according to the founders. It opened its doors on Friday in Atlanta.

Nourish + Bloom is the store that never sleeps—it operates 24/7, 365 days a year, offering 1,000+ healthy grocery products from produce and meat to snacks and beverages, along with a sandwich-focused bistro.

• Consumers download an app to enter their payment info, and scan a code at the turnstile to enter and create a digital cart. Shelf scales and 30 cameras monitor shoppers, who are charged when they exit.
• Nourish + Bloom also offers food delivery through temperature-controlled robots.

Despite the focus on frictionless shopping, staff members will be on-hand to help the less tech-adept.

Think nationally, act locally: The Hemmingses initially entered the food biz when they co-founded plant-based kids-meal brand Greenie Tots in 2009, and said the experience taught them how hard it can be for a local brand to scale nationally.

• This is why their market will “always give preference to craft, local brands,” Jilea Hemmings said in a video announcing the launch.

The two said they hope to take that focus to new locales, telling TechCrunch they’re in the process of raising funding to open more stores within Atlanta, as well as in Florida and Texas.

Zoom out: Many grocers have been evaluating autonomous tech to offer convenient (and socially distanced) shopping and checkout experiences. Stores like Aldi, ShopRite, and Walmart have piloted autonomous grocery delivery, while retailers like Foxtrot, 7-Eleven, and Amazon Go are giving cashierless checkout a go.—EC

Today’s top retail reads.

Remembering Manfred Thierry Mugler: The iconic fashion designer died on Sunday at age 73. “​​He broke the taboos and the codes of the fashion industry, revolutionized haute couture with groundbreaking inventions, and wrote fashion history—without knowing it—season after season, by following his instinct and empowering men and women with his metamorphosis,” said Thierry-Maxime Loriot, the curator of an ongoing Mugler retrospective at Paris’ Musée des Arts Décoratifs. (WWD)

Cattle call: An interactive look at how the beef industry is destroying the Amazon rainforest. (Bloomberg)

Burrito inflation: Understanding the big price spikes—the largest in two decades—in fast food. (The New York Times)

*Sigh.* Retail is changing again: Got déjà vu? Same. But don’t panic. SAS’s e-book can show you how Accenture Applied Intelligence, using SAS and Intel capabilities, helps retailers approach big changes with customer-focused experimentation—now that’s how you achieve competitive differentiation! Read it here.*

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At the mall, it’s where band tees are the only tees. In Retail Brew, it’s where we invite readers to weigh in on a trending retail topic.

Everyone wants a piece of Kohl’s. The department store got a ~$9 billion takeover offer from Acacia Research Corp., which is backed by activist investment firm Starboard Value. And now there are reports that Sycamore, a PE firm, plans to make its own bid for the retailer.

• Kohl’s, in a statement, said its board of directors “will determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interests of the company and its shareholders.”

Ch-ch-changes? This isn’t the first time the department store has faced pressure from activist investors. But do things feel different this time? Share your thoughts here.

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• How men’s beauty brands plan to take off in 2022
• Taco Bell is opening its own biz school
• Amazon is going IRL again with its first clothing store