{"id":308,"date":"2011-09-23T08:24:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-23T12:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom.chainstoreguide.com\/2011\/09\/grocery-supermarket-and-convenience-industry-updates-2\/"},"modified":"2011-09-23T08:24:00","modified_gmt":"2011-09-23T12:24:00","slug":"grocery-supermarket-and-convenience-industry-updates-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/2011\/09\/grocery-supermarket-and-convenience-industry-updates-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Grocery, Supermarket, and Convenience Industry Updates"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\" trbidi=\"on\"><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Personnel Updates:<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Albertsons LLC<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\"> announced that it has promoted Stewart Edington, division pharmacy manager for its <st1:state w:st=\"on\"><st1:place w:st=\"on\">Florida<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> stores, to be its new VP pharmacy operations.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Coborn\u2019s<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\"> has named Becky Estby, a former human resources executive with Atterro Inc., to the newly created position of VP of Organizational Development.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Golub Corp.\/Price Chopper Supermarkets<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\"> has promoted Michael DeSimone to the position of director, center store focusing on general merchandise and nonfoods, Thomas Tomaselli to the director of sales planning, Paul Gillis to the position of director, center store focusing on grocery food merchandising, and Mike Cormier to director, center store focusing on grocery DSD. All four report directly to Angelo Cannistraci, Price Chopper\u2019s group VP, center store, pharmacy and senior merchandising coordinator.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Kroger <\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">has announced the promotion of Joe Fey as president of the Quality Food Centers (QFC) division. Fey, 57, has been VP merchandising for the company&#8217;s <st1:state w:st=\"on\"><st1:place w:st=\"on\">Michigan<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>division. He succeeds Donna Giordano, who was recently promoted to president of the Ralphs division in <st1:place w:st=\"on\"><st1:state w:st=\"on\">California<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">H.T. Hackney<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\"> has hired Bruce as a vice president of marketing.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Marsh Supermarkets<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\"> promoted several executives and hired another executive from Price Chopper. <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">David Siegel, senior vice president of merchandising and marketing strategic initiatives, has been promoted to senior vice president of sales and merchandising. He will continue to report to Joe Kelley, chairman, president and chief executive officer, Marsh Supermarkets. A search is under way to fill Siegel&#8217;s previous position. <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Bill Buck, a 43-year Marsh veteran, has been promoted to VP and general manager of Marsh&#8217;s 27-store MainStreet Market operations. He will continue to report to Bill Holsworth, Marsh chief operating officer. <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Bill Erickson, a 13-year Marsh employee, has been promoted to VP of Marsh Supermarket operations with responsibility for the company&#8217;s 70 Marsh stores, including three O&#8217;Malia&#8217;s Supermarkets. He also will continue to report to Bill Holsworth. <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Don Rix, a 32-year Marsh veteran, has been promoted to VP of pharmacy, HBC, and general merchandise. He will report to David Siegel. <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">In addition to these promotions, <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Marsh also named Larry Ritzert VP of meat merchandising, reporting to Siegel. Ritzert has 40 years of experience in the meat business, most recently at Price Chopper Supermarkets, <st1:place w:st=\"on\"><st1:city w:st=\"on\">Schenectady<\/st1:city>, <st1:state w:st=\"on\">N.Y.<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>, where both Kelley and Siegel worked before joining Marsh earlier this year. <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">The Pantry, Inc<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">. announced that Terrance M. Marks, Chief Executive Officer and Director of the Company, has informed the Board of Directors of his intention to resign. The Company&#8217;s Board of Directors has formed a committee to immediately begin the search for a new CEO. Mr. Marks will continue in his role as CEO of the Company for up to sixty days and will work with Edwin J. Holman, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company, on the leadership transition. Pursuant to a plan previously adopted by the Company&#8217;s Board of Directors, upon Mr. Marks&#8217; departure, Mr. Holman will be named and assume the position of interim CEO to serve until such time as a successor has been retained by the Company. <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Mergers and Acquisitions:<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Three <b>Albertsons<\/b> stores in TX were acquired by <b>H.E. Butt Grocery<\/b>. The transaction is expected to be finalized in October. The store in <st1:city w:st=\"on\">Kerrville<\/st1:city> will become an H-E-B, but those in <st1:city w:st=\"on\">New Braunfels<\/st1:city> and <st1:city w:st=\"on\"><st1:place w:st=\"on\">College   Station<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> are close to recently opened H-E-B stores and so will be used to attract other retailers.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Kroger<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\"> announced that its Kroger Delta Division, based in <st1:city w:st=\"on\"><st1:place w:st=\"on\">Memphis<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, has acquired eight Memphis-area Schnucks grocery stores that the company will convert and re-open under the Kroger banner over the next few weeks. Currently, Kroger operates 37 stores in the <st1:city w:st=\"on\"><st1:place w:st=\"on\">Memphis<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>metropolitan area, and the acquisition ups the area store count to 43, with two of the acquired Schnucks locations replacing two smaller existing Kroger locations. The Delta Division operates 109 stores and 68 fuel centers in five states under the Kroger banner. In related news, Kroger\u2019s Convenience Store Division, based in <st1:city w:st=\"on\">Hutchinson<\/st1:city>, <st1:state w:st=\"on\">Kan.<\/st1:state>, said Friday that it has acquired seven convenience stores in the <st1:city w:st=\"on\"><st1:place w:st=\"on\">Memphis<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> area currently operated by Schnuck Markets. The convenience stores will be operated by Kroger\u2019s Tom Thumb division under the banner name Kwik Shop.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Industry Insight:<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Marsh Supermarkets<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\"> will abandon self-distribution and turn over the supply of its stores to C&#038;S Wholesale Grocers, <st1:place w:st=\"on\"><st1:city w:st=\"on\">Keene<\/st1:city>, <st1:state w:st=\"on\">N.H.<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>, both companies said Monday. The <i>Indianapolis Business Journal<\/i> reports that Marsh Supermarkets has decided to outsource all of its distribution services to New Hampshire-based C&#038;S Wholesale Grocers. According to the story, C&#038;S will handle distribution services for all 97 of Marsh\u2019s stores in <st1:state w:st=\"on\">Indiana<\/st1:state> and <st1:state w:st=\"on\"><st1:place w:st=\"on\">Ohio<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, managing \u201cpurchasing, in<\/p>\n<p>ventory management and distribution of products from its distribution centers &#8230; Marsh said 250 logistics workers will become employees for C&#038;S and work from Marsh\u2019s distribution centers.\u201d In a prepared statement, Marsh said that \u201cwith this agreement, Marsh will be leaving the logistics business\u201d and \u201cwill realize greater operational efficiencies and&#8230;focus exclusively on its core retail business.\u201d<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Meijer<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\"> has unveiled its newest concept, Meijer Marketplace, opening a store in <st1:place w:st=\"on\"><st1:city w:st=\"on\">Melrose   Park<\/st1:city>, <st1:state w:st=\"on\">Ill.<\/st1:state><\/st1:place> At 90,000 sq. ft., the new store is nearly half the size of Meijer&#8217;s largest supercenters. The smaller-format store, described as a &#8220;mini&#8221; supercenter concept, will focus on providing local customers with a tailored grocery shopping experience with fresh quality meats and produce, as well as a wide variety of deli, bakery and pantry items. <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.csnews.com\/search-ricker_oil.html\">Ricker Oil<\/a><\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\"> has selected wholesale distributor Eby-Brown to provide distribution services to its stores. The retailer currently operates 50 Ricker\u2019s convenience stores in <st1:state w:st=\"on\"><st1:place w:st=\"on\">Indiana<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, as well as a petroleum dealership and other enterprises.<b><o:p><\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">La Popular Supermarket<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">, selling specialty Mexican products as well as fresh bakery items, meat and produce, opened in <st1:place w:st=\"on\"><st1:city w:st=\"on\">Rosemont<\/st1:city>, <st1:state w:st=\"on\">Calif.<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>, at the site of a Mexican supermarket that went out of business. Owner Manuel Pineda owns another store in <st1:city w:st=\"on\"><st1:place w:st=\"on\">Sacramento<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>and was seeking a second location.<b><o:p><\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Real Estate:<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Aldi<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">\u00a0 supermarkets occupy spaces of 16,900 sq. ft. in freestanding locations.\u00a0 Growth opportunities are sought throughout GA, excluding the <st1:city w:st=\"on\"><st1:place w:st=\"on\">Atlanta<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>metropolitan area, during the coming 18 months.\u00a0 A land area of at least two acres is required.\u00a0 The company will also consider locations in inline spaces of shopping centers.\u00a0 <b><o:p><\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Fresh &#038; Easy Neighborhood Market<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"> is slated to open its first six stores in the <st1:city w:st=\"on\"><st1:place w:st=\"on\">Sacramento<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> region in 2012.<b><o:p><\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Golub Corp<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">. is seeking growth opportunities are sought throughout its existing markets during the coming 18 months.\u00a0 Typical leases run 20 years.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Roundy\u2019s Supermarkets<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">, Inc. trades as Copps Food Store at 26 locations throughout WI.\u00a0The supermarkets occupy spaces of 45,000 sq. ft. to 70,000 sq. ft. in freestanding locations and strip centers.\u00a0 Growth opportunities are sought throughout the existing market during the coming 18 months.\u00a0 Typical leases run 20 years.\u00a0 Specific improvements are required.\u00a0 Preferred cotenants include general merchandise retailers.\u00a0 Major competitors include Walmart.\u00a0 A land area of six acres is required for freestanding locations.\u00a0 <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Norrenberns Foods<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">, Inc. supermarkets occupy spaces of 15,000 sq. ft. to 25,000 sq. ft. in freestanding locations.\u00a0 Growth opportunities are sought throughout the existing market during the coming 18 months.\u00a0 A vanilla shell is required.\u00a0 Preferred demographics include a population of 10,000 within two miles earning $35,000 as the average household income.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Winn-Dixie Stores<\/span><\/b><\/span><span><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\"> has announced that it will convert all SaveRite-branded grocery stores to conventional Winn-Dixie-branded stores and discontinue the SaveRite banner.<\/span><\/span><b><u><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\"><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/u><\/b><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Technology News:<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">A&#038;P<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\"> has selected DemandTec&#8217;s Deal Management software service to help streamline its deal and allowance management capabilities.<b><o:p><\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Winn-Dixie Stores<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\"> has selected IBM point-of-sale and self-checkout technology to help transform customer service, speed innovation and increase the operational efficiency of 484 Winn-Dixie store locations, and other store formats across the <st1:place w:st=\"on\">Southeastern United States<\/st1:place>. Winn-Dixie, working in collaboration with IBM and SAM Group Inc., will implement a network of 6,000 IBM SurePOS 700 systems armed with IBM&#8217;s SurePOS ACE and Retail Integration Framework software, which are components of IBM&#8217;s Smarter Checkout solution. \u00a0Winn-Dixie will also install IBM SurePoint infrared touch displays and SureMark thermal impact printers.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Green Initiatives:<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-bottom: 12.0pt;\"><span><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Kroger<\/span><\/b><\/span><span><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\"> announced that two of its Smith&#8217;s stores in <st1:place w:st=\"on\"><st1:city w:st=\"on\">Albuquerque<\/st1:city>, <st1:state w:st=\"on\">NM<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>have installed photovoltaic energy panels.<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\"> <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div><span><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Food Lion<\/span><\/b><\/span><span><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\"> stores was awarded the 2011 gold-level GreenChill store certification award by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.<\/span><\/span><b><i><u><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\"><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/u><\/i><\/b><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Fresh &#038; Easy Neighborhood Market<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\"> announced it has installed solar panels on the rooftops of 10 stores in <st1:city w:st=\"on\">Phoenix<\/st1:city>and one in <st1:place w:st=\"on\"><st1:city w:st=\"on\">Los Angeles<\/st1:city><\/st1:place>.<b><i><u><o:p><\/o:p><\/u><\/i><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Personnel Updates: Albertsons LLC announced that it has promoted Stewart Edington, division pharmacy manager for its Florida stores, to be its new VP pharmacy operations. Coborn\u2019s has named Becky Estby, a former human resources executive with Atterro Inc., to the newly created position of VP of Organizational Development. Golub Corp.\/Price Chopper Supermarkets has promoted Michael&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/2011\/09\/grocery-supermarket-and-convenience-industry-updates-2\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Grocery, Supermarket, and Convenience Industry Updates<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"post-template-no-sidebar.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[6,11],"class_list":["post-308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grocery-convenience","tag-csg-old","tag-eupdate","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}