OREGON
Daily deal site sets record with Whole Foods
PORTLAND — Daily deal site LivingSocial hit a record-selling pace Tuesday with an offer at Whole Foods Market Inc., its first nationwide grocery deal.
The offer lets shoppers buy $20 worth of products at Whole Foods for $10. LivingSocial said it was selling roughly 115,000 an hour, which company spokesman Andrew Weinstein said is its fastest-selling offer ever. That’s about 30 deals sold per second.
“It is a staggering rate,” he said.
The company planned to sell up to 1 million of the deals. They went up for sale at 5 a.m. Eastern Time and were scheduled to run until the same time Wednesday. However, by midday Tuesday about half were gone, and the deal was expected to sell out early.
The offer is available to anyone who registers for LivingSocial or is an existing member of the site.
Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods, which already is seeing higher traffic and sales trends in its stores, was not immediately available to comment. The company plans to donate 5 percent of the sale price to its Whole Kids Foundation, which supports children’s nutrition and wellness.
LivingSocial, based in the District, is the second-largest daily deal company behind Groupon and has run grocery offers before for regional or specialty retailers. But large supermarkets and grocery stores typically shy away from such deep discounts because they already operate on thin profit margins and offer a host of other promotions already.
RHODE ISLAND
Twister among finalists for toy hall of fame
PAWTUCKET — Twister and the Rubik’s Cube are among six Hasbro toy and game lines that have been named finalists for induction into the National Toy Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame on Tuesday announced the 12 finalists, which also include the Pawtucket-based company’s Transformers, Star Wars action figures, Jenga and the Simon electronic flash game. Also in the running are the dollhouse, Mattel’s Hot Wheels, Dungeons & Dragons, the pogo stick, puppets and radio-controlled vehicles.
Two will be selected for induction in November.
Forty-six toys have earned a place in the Rochester, N.Y.-based Hall of Fame. Among them are Crayola crayons, Silly Putty and Hasbro’s Mr. Potato Head and the Easy-Bake Oven. Toys are chosen for induction based on several criteria, including “icon status,” longevity and innovation
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