Industry News: Grocery

To contact us Click HERE



Personnel Updates:
Big Y Foods, Inc. announced that Michael P. D'Amour was named Exec VP; Guy W.McFarlane VP Fresh Foods; Michael J. Galat Senior Sirector of Employee Servicesand Nicole D'Amour Schneider as Senior Manager of Pharmacy Services.AndreaWagner, VP of marketing for Save-A-Lot,will be leaving the company at the end of August 2012.

Delhaize Group hasnamed Roland Smith, the former president and chief executive officer ofWendy’s/Arby’s Group, as President and CEO of Delhaize America.
Giant-Landover has appointed Gayle Shields asits Director of Pharmacy Operations.
Piggly Wiggly Carolina Co. hasnamed former store manager Jeff Harrell Director of deli/bakery operations.
Roundy's has hired two new senior executives: Don P. Hamblen as ChiefMarketing Officer and Jessie W. Terry as Chief Human Resource Officer. Hamblensucceeds Ronald Cooper, group vice president, marketing; and Terry succeedsColleen J. Stehold, group vice president, human resources, both of whom haveretired, according to a company spokeswoman.
PilotFlying J announced that Jimmy Haslam is moving to Chairman and John Compton,former PepsiCo president, is named CEO of the travel center company. Haslam hasserved as CEO of Pilot since 1994. He will assume the role of chairman of PilotFlying J and Maxum Petroleum, and his father, Jim Haslam, who founded thecompany with one gas station in Gate City, Va. in 1958, will be titled founderand chairman emeritus.
Save Mart Supermarkets has hired two high-level executives: Greg Hill as CFOand Eric J. Nadworny as Chief Human Resources Officer and Chief Legal Officer.

Sprouts Farmers Markets announced thatShon Boney, who has served as CEO since the company's founding in 2002, willassume the role of chairman of the board of Sprouts. Long-time Sproutspresident Doug Sanders will become president and CEO, whereby he will continueto be responsible for all day-to-day aspects of running the business.
SUPERVALU announcedthat Robert Bly joined the company as President of SHOPPERS, a 56-store division in the Baltimore/Washington D.C.market. Bly will report to Chuck Elias, SVP of Retail Operations. Bly replacesTim Lowe, who recently accepted a new leadership role in SUPERVALU’smerchandising organization.
SUPERVALU also announcedthat Kevin Holt has taken on an expanded role as President of SUPERVALU Retail.As part of this change, Exec VP and chief marketing officer Michael Moore willnow report to Holt, as will Tim Lowe, who has been promoted to Exec VP of Merchandising.In addition, Janel Haugarth has accepted the newly created position of Exec VP,Business Optimization and Process Improvement.
SUPERVALUINC. announced that Bill Parker has been named the interim president of FARMFRESH Food & Pharmacy. Parker will replace Gaelo de la Fuente who becamethe company’s president in April 2010 and is leaving the company to pursueother interests. Parker will assume the new role on September 15, 2012.
Mergers and Acquisitions:

AlimentationCouche-Tard Inc.'s subsidiary Circle K Stores Inc. hasclosed on its acquisition of the assets of Orlando,Fla.-based Florida Oil Holdings LLC. The deal consists of 29 directly owned convenience stores with gas stations in thegreater Orlando FL area.

LittleGeneral Store Inc. has taken over of operations of five locations formerlyoperating as Prima Marketing/7-ElevenStores in Washington, Pennsboro, Scott Depot and Hurricane, W.Va., andAlbany, Ohio (the company's first Ohio location). With these five additionallocations, as well as one additional land parcel, plus the takeover of the twoPrima Marketing/7-Eleven sites in Princeton and Kegley, W.Va., in April, LittleGeneral Stores have now taken over a total of eight locations from PrimaMarketing/7-Eleven in 2012.

Industry Insight:
DeCicco's isplanning on opening its ninth loctation in Westchester/Putnam in Harrison, NY.

Real Estate:Heinen's Fine Foods will open its 18thstore in a Chicago suburb where the company has spent $10 millionbuilding its first location outside Ohio. The 38,000-sq. ft. store willfeature nearly everything the company's Ohio stores do, but it will not offerparcel pick-up service.
ThorntonsInc., an independent gasoline/convenience-store retailer, will open its firstFlorida location in Clearwater on the site of the former Krispy Kreme doughnut shop in late November 2012.
Whole Foods Market said it will triple its store count to 1,000,adding locations in smaller markets and underserved communities. The chain,which will open its first Detroit store in 2013, is in talks to bring stores toparts of Chicago and Newark, N.J., which have little access to fresh food
Green Initiatives:

Giant Eagle was recognized by the Environmental ProtectionAgency for the fourth time in five years as having the lowest corporation widerate of refrigerant leakage among retailers in the GreenChill AdvancedRefrigeration Partnership. The award was announced during FMI's Energy &Store Development Conference.

 

K-VA-T Food Stores upgraded to an LED lighting system in vertical refrigerated and frozencases.

Grocery chain Food Cityshould save $337,000 a year in lighting and maintenance costs following theinstallation of GE Lighting.
Wawa Inc. installedvertical refrigerated display lighting with Immersion RV30 LED technology fromGE Lighting. In addition, GE helped the operator of more than 600 conveniencestore/gas station locations drive down energy consumption. As a result, Wawanow enjoys combined energy and maintenance savings.