In Other Business News

Supermarket, Grocery, & C-Store

• Earth Fare Healthy Supermarkets will close its grocery store in Ballantyne, NC, this month.

• Foxtrot Ventures Inc. will reopen its convenience store in Dallas, TX.

• Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. will open three new supermarkets in northeast Ohio within the next month.

• New Seasons Market announced its CEO, Nancy Lebold, has left the company. Dave Kauder will take on the position of Senior VP of Retail.

• Tops Markets LLC has promoted John McCaffrey to Senior VP Operations. He succeeds Mike Patti, who is retiring.

• Wegmans Food Markets Inc. reported it is planning to open a new 115,000 sq. ft. grocery store in Cranberry Township, PA.

Retail

• Advance Auto Parts has named Shweta Bhatia as Exec VP and CTO. She succeeds Sri Donthi.

• BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings Inc. will open a new location this week in Maryville, TN.

• Do it Best Corp. recently named Skiler Lehman as its new Director of Ecommerce.

• Family Dollar Stores Inc. announced its Chief Merchandising Officer, Lawrence Gatta Jr., will leave the company at the end of its fiscal year.

• Filson Company announced it has named Tim Bantle as its new President.

• Jo-Ann Stores Inc. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

• Kohl’s Corporation plans to close 27 underperforming stores in AL, AR, CA, CO, GA, ID, IL, MA, NJ, OH, OR, PA, TX, UT, and VA by April 2025. The retailer is also closing its distribution center in San Bernardino, CA in May.

• Macy’s Inc. reported it plans to close 66 Macy’s store locations in AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, ID, IL, LA, MA, MD, MI, MN, MO, NJ, NY, OH, OR, PA, TN, TX, VA, and WA.

• National Retail Federation reported that Robert W. Eddy was elected Chairman. He succeeds John Furner.

• Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. has partnered with Instacart to offer same-day delivery.

• W.E. Aubuchon Co. Inc. will acquire three Noble Ace Hardware stores in Cambridge, NY, Cobleskill, NY, and Rutland, VT.  The stores will be rebranded to Aubuchon Ace Hardware.

• Westlake Ace Hardware announced it will acquire Augusta Ace Home Center, in Augusta, KS. The acquisition will be completed on March 17, 2025.

Restaurant

• Captain D’s has announced their first expansion in Europe with a 20-unit franchise agreement in the United Kingdom.

• Chipotle has invested in a new plant-based protein and in methane reduction technology as part of their Cultivate Next Venture Fund.

• Church’s Chicken has named Alisa P. Cleek as Chief Legal Officer and Navin Sharma as Chief Marketing Officer.

• El Pollo Loco is finally testing their first chicken sandwich.

• Krispy Krunchy Chicken has named Jim Zielke as Chief Financial Officer.

• La Madeleine has named John Dillon as President.

• Panera Bread has named Robin Seward as Senior VP, Brand and Integrated Marketing, and Scott Uehlein as VP Culinary.

• Papa John’s new CEO is committed to returning funding to local advertising after the company made cutbacks last year.

• Portillo’s is adding new technology that will alert managers when customers have been in the drive-thru too long.

• Twin Peaks plans to begin trading on the Nasdaq on Jan. 30 under the ticker symbol TWNP.