Industry Update: Grocery, Supermarket & Convenience Stores – April 2015

Personnel Updates

Ahold USA announced that Mark McGowan will be the Exec VP of Operations while simultaneously becoming President of Stop & Shop New England Division.

Albertsons/Safeway announced that Bob Miller will become the company’s CEO, effective immediately. The company also named: Robert Edwards as the company’s Vice Chairman; Wayne Denningham, COO for all of the company’s regions; Justin Dye, Chief Administrative Officer; and Shane Sampson, Chief Marketing & Merchandising Officer. Jim Perkins and Kelly Griffith will continue to serve as Exec VPs of Operations for the company’s regions.

Coborn’s named Scott Morris Senior VP of Center Store. Morris is replacing Andy Knoblauch, who will retire later this spring. The company also hired: David Pack, Director of IT; Cheryl Graham, Director of Private Label and Topco relations; Denise Berg, Controller; and Scott Brooks, IT Senior Project Manager.

FreshDirect named Toby Noiles Senior VP and Chief Merchandising Officer.

Haggen announced the first five members of its Pacific Southwest leadership team based in Irvine, CA:  Wendy Oliver, Senior VP of Operations; Chris Linskey, Senior VP of Marketing; Rich Winters VP of Fresh Foods; Jaime Praeger, VP of Center Store; and Melina Ranii, VP of Human Resources.

Inserra Supermarkets named Ron Onorato as its new President and COO. Onorato takes over the role as Steve Chalas retires from the Inserra.

Kroger announced that Marlene Stewart has been promoted to President of the company’s Dillons Division.

Reasor’s announced the retirement of Allen Mills. No successor has been named.

Walmart announced that Jack Sinclair will retire on March 20 and Senior VP Tony Airoso, will become a California-based Senior VP of Global Food Sourcing.

Weis Markets announced that Chairman Robert F Weis would not stand for re-election to its Board of Directors and will be succeeded by his son, Jonathan H. Weis. The company also announced that Michelle Dorin will be Director of Dairy, Frozen, Specialty Foods, and Beer; that it has promoted Maria Panko to Director of Marketing and Private Brands; and that it has promoted Brent Mertes to Regional VP where he will oversee the day-to-day operations of 51 Weis stores located in south-central Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia.

Mergers and Acquisitions

Coborn’s acquired Marketplace Foods, a four-store grocery and liquor chain in western Wisconsin.

Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. acquired The Pantry.

GPM Investments LLC took ownership of 42 convenience stores in Illinois, Iowa and Kentucky from Road Ranger LLC.

Real Estate

Aldi opened a location in Royal Palms Beach, FL.

Bashas’ reopened its store in Maricopa, AZ.

Costco Wholesale Corp. will open a location in Pearland, TX.

CST Brands Inc. opened a new 365,000 sq-ft distribution center at 19500 Bulverde Road in San Antonio, TX. The new warehouse is the primary food and merchandise distribution hub for approximately 600 Corner Store locations throughout Texas.

Diaz Foods opened a 100,000 sq.-ft. distribution center in Manassas, VA.

The Earth Fare opened a 24,000 sq.-ft. location on March 25 in Morrisville, NC.

Festival Foods will open a 77,000 sq.-ft. store in Janesville, WI.

Food Lion will close three stores in Raleigh, NC. The stores located in Dunn and Fayetteville will close on or before April 22, and the store in Goldsboro will close in August.

Fresh & Easy plans to close as many as 50 of its 200 stores.

Fred Meyer will open a location in Happy Valley, OR.

The Fresh Market will open a location in Boca Raton, FL.

Fresh Thyme Farmers Market plans to open 60 stores by 2019 and will open its first Michigan store on April 29, in East Lansing.

Hannaford Bros. is planning to open a 20,000 sq.-ft. supermarket in Scarborough, ME, this summer.

The four Harris Teeter stores owned by Kroger in Nashville, TN, will be closing on or before June 15. Three of the stores will re-open, but under the Kroger banner.

Jerry’s Foods is opening a store on April 19 in Woodbury, MN.

Kwik Trip will open a location in Wichita, KS.

Kroger reopened a store in Fort Wayne, IN; it is also buying the former Nash Finch Co. distribution facility on 25 acres of land in Blue Ash, OH; and will open locations in Lewisville, Bartonville, Granbury, and Burleson, TX.

Loblaw Companies Ltd. will open 50 new stores and renovate 100 existing stores in 2015.

Marsh Supermarkets announced that it will close four of its Indiana stores within the next month. The stores are located at 7400 E. Fishers Station in Fisher; 435 Town Center Street North in Mooresville; 3825 South Street in Lafayette; and 35 Lynhurst in Indianapolis.

Martin’s Super Markets will open a new small store called Martin’s Express on May 7 in Goshen, IN. 

Meijer will open a store in Sheboygan, WI.

Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage opened a location in Tyler, TX, and wil open a location in Denver, CO, on May 19.

New Seasons Market opened its first California store in San Jose.

Presidente Supermarkets will open a 45,000 sq.-ft. store in Palm Springs, FL.

Publix will open a store in Charlotte, NC; Troy, AL; and a 45,600 sq.-ft. store in Trinity, Fl. The company also announced that it has entered into an agreement with Lowes Foods, LLC under which Publix is expected to purchase two closed and vacant Lowes stores in NC: 1949 Hoffman Road, Gastonia and 3480 Kildaire Farm Road, Cary.

Roche Bros. will open its Boston flagship store in the restored Burnham Building on April 29.

Schnuck Markets will close its store in eastern St. Louis on May 2.

Sheetz plans to open 30 stores in 2015.

Sprouts Farmers Market opened a store in Hoover, AL, and a 27,000 sq.-ft. store in Birmingham, AL. The company also plans to open eight new stores during the third quarter.
Three will be in Texas (Fort Worth, Pearland and Rowlett); two in Georgia (Roswell and Sandy Springs); and one each in Denver, CO, Lawrence, KS, and Germantown, TN.

Trader Joe’s opened a location in Schaumburg, IL, and Dr. Phillips, FL.

Target Corp. will open a TargetExpress in San Francisco, CA.

Walmart will open a store in Shepherdsville, KY, and a Neighborhood Market in Fresno, CA.

Wawa announced that it plans to open its first store with indoor seating in Philadelphia, PA, later this year.

Whole Foods Market opened is newly relocated 45,000 sq.-ft. store in Houston, TX.

Green Initiatives

B & R Stores, parent company of Super Saver and Russ’s Market, is partnering with Prairieland Dairy to turn organic waste into beneficial compost.

“The Environmental Protection Agency has recognized Food Lion with a 2015 Energy Star Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence Award for its continued leadership in protecting the environment through energy efficiency achievements. This is the 14th year Food Lion has received the award, making it the only grocer to achieve this honor for so many years consecutively.”

“Raley’s Family of Fine Stores has launched a new cleaning and sanitation program, saving approximately four million gallons of water, lowering energy consumption by 7.5 million kilowatt hours of energy, saving 100 tons in shipping and reducing labor by more than 23,000 hours a year. Implementation began at the end of 2014 and will be complete and in all stores by the end of April 2015. The West Sacramento, California-based supermarket chain is the first retailer in North America to implement the entire Ecolab program, which focuses on simplifying food safety processes to ensure proper cleaning and delivering operational savings through the use of less labor, water, energy and waste.”