Congratulations to the new Costco president, and to Safeway for prevailing after 13 years! Some people are already mad at me for my Walmart cover story. Thoughts about Haiti, and my visit years ago to the Dominican Republic.  YOUR FEEDBACK ALWAYS WELCOMED AT This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Congratulations to Craig Jelinek, who was just named president and COO of Costco. He’d been exec vp in charge of merchandising since 2004. This is all part of a succession plan for Jim Sinegal, the co-founder and chief executive, who is 74 years young. Sinegal is not only a brilliant businessman, he’s a Class A gentleman.

Congratulations to Safeway! After 13 years of haggling, the Burlingame, Calif. City Council has approved the demolition of an existing Safeway so a new one can be built. Gee, do you think they acted too hastily?

Already taking some heat about my Walmart cover story in the Jan-Feb issue. (To see it, go to our digital edition, which you can access at the top left of our home page.) Some readers didn’t like the very end of the story, where I quoted a vendor saying all grand things about Walmart, under the headline “The Love Fest Lives On.” People tell me they thought the article was fine except for that. I noted in my column, and I’ll say it again here: Whatever it’s been doing, Walmart has burned up a lot of good will with vendors over the past year. I think it’s a combo of their aggressive SKU rat and private label programs. Got to say Walmart still comes out way ahead of most other retailers in terms of trade relations, but if I could take back my headline about “the Love Fest Lives On,” I would.

It’s really cool seeing how so many in the industry have stepped up to send help to Haiti. I’ve never been to Haiti, but I’ve been a couple miles from the border, shortly after Hurricane David. I was doing a story for the Boston Globe and the Christian Science Monitor on how the tourist industry in the Dominican Republic was trying to come back after all the devastation. The poverty was unspeakable. The car I was in was soon almost completely surrounded by kids with their hands out, some just begging, others asking me to buy trinkets. The driver was impatient, blasting his horn, trying to plow through. This kid about 10 reached through the car window and put a handmade mortar and pestle in my hand. I’d given away all my small bills and all I had was a few 20s in my wallet. I tried to give it back to the kid, and the guy standing next to him said “He wants to give it to you!” The car pulled away suddenly and I still had the mortar and pestle in my hand. I don't know what ever became of it. But ever since, I’ve regretted I didn’t empty my wallet to that kid.