Asda has given its 100,000 sq ft Patchway store near Bristol a £3m revamp, making it a model Supercentre that will become the template across the UK. The multiple used consumer feedback to give it "the look of a department store", said general manager for Supercentres Paula Wright.

The Competition Commission's recent announcement of the provisional findings in its grocery inquiry may have risked creating 'inquiry fatigue', but it did point to possible changes in the code of practice regulating retailer-supplier relationships.

Sainsbury's customer William Chapman is quite entitled to look a bit smug, as he is now free of the treacherous world of mortgages, thanks to Bird's Eye.

Tesco Pure is an Extended Shelf Life (ESL) fresh milk that has been available to customers since 2005 and has gone from strength to strength. Available in 2-litre and one-litre formats, Pure was the first own label ESL milk in the market.

Gordon Brown has hosted a seminar with the drinks industry to tackle underage and binge drinking. Despite retailers apparently not being present at the meeting, the PM "challenged alcohol producers and retailers to take part in the effort to deal with unacceptable drinking, or face tougher action".

In a key speech on the government's green targets for business and individuals, Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently announced the setting up of a grocery industry forum to discuss how to eliminate single-use disposable carrier bags.

I'm starting to lose the will to live with food/health/environment scare stories. This month I've read that not only can I no longer enjoy a bacon butty or indeed any cured meat, I'm also to be visited by some kind of 'travel interrogator' who's going to shine a light in my eyes to find out how often I use my car and why I don't cycle everywhere.

An ACNielsen survey reveals the vast majority of consumers are purchasing more functional foods since 2005. 97% of consumers say they have bought some food with an added health benefit.

After nearly 100 years of production in Denmark, Castello speciality cheese has arrived in the UK. The producer claims it sells 21 million cases of the cheese per year across 50 countries. The UK has two varieties of the creamy cheese in time for Christmas cheeseboards - Castello Blue and Castello White, with a delicate rind covering, in distinctive 150g half-moon packs (rrp: £1.69).

Fredericks Dairies is the UK's largest independently owned ice-cream manufacturer. Like any other market dependent on dairy products as primary raw materials, the firm has seen an unprecedented increase in the cost of these ingredients over the past 18 months. The combination of restricted worldwide supply and increased demand for dairy products, including skimmed milk powder (SMP) and whey protein concentrate, has seen prices rise by more than 150% over this period. The reduction in supply has been caused by a combination of successive droughts in Australasia and a physical reduction by processors in much of the production capacity for SMP, following years of over-supply and unsustainably slim margins. Equally, increased demand has been driven by the increasingly affluent populations of emerging economies such as China and India wishing to enjoy Western-style diets.

Christmas is coming, the carp is getting fat. If that doesn't sound quite right, you're not Polish or Lithuanian. Turkey or goose may be a fait accompli for a British Christmas, but for those with Eastern European heritage the crowning glory of a Yuletide feast is a freshwater fish.

What are the favourite foods that Polish customers will be looking for this Christmas?

nWaitrose opened its new 24,000 sq ft store in Windsor in October. However, head office had to find a temporary solution for the existing store before this could happen. Being on the same site, it was impossible to keep the old store open while the site was redeveloped.

Q I've heard a lot recently about coaching and its positive impact on learning. Yet, in a retail environment, with all the problems and constraints of a busy sales floor, is coaching worth the disruption?

nHoodies are easily recognised, dressed in a uniform of jeans and/or American sports gear, topped off with a large fleece or nylon top with a funnel-like hood which serves to completely obscure their faces. This has the disconcerting effect of making their speech - a kind of bastardised version of West Indian patois, as satirised by Ali G - sound all echoey.

Packet of Lambert & Butler, Cheezy Wotsits, 2 Red Bulls, 2 miniatures of own-label vodka, pack of extra-large rolling papers, Nuts magazine

QWhat's the margin for error in 2008? Sitting with a sales director poring over his 2008 business plan for Retail Customer X, I was asked "how can I help my customer to realise that we really do need to increase our prices if we are to continue to provide ongoing support and innovation?"

Mike Estlea has followed an interesting road to his current role managing a successful Bud­gens in the Berkshire commuter town of Newbury. And that road has moved beyond just owning and managing a store to a more fundamental role in the local community.

Age: 41

Age: 35 (one and a half as a franchise)

2007 was a hugely significant year for the UK tobacco market. Not only did the restrictions on smoking in public places finally hit Northern Ireland, Wales and England, but a host of other high-impact legislation was introduced.

The recent flurry of press activity over the obesity 'epidemic' has once again thrust the food and drink industry into the spotlight.

So after surviving Christmas, how to face the challenges of a New Year and surmount them? This year has been particularly hard for some retailers, notably Kwik Save - a company that pioneered cheap products, overcome by others that did it better and moved faster.