Personnel Updates:
Bi-Lo Holdings appointed Ian McLeod President and CEO, effective March 2, 2015. Mr. McLeod succeeds Randall Onstead, who will remain in charge through March 2, 2015.
Mark Verdi, President of C&S Wholesale Grocers, has left the company.
Earth Fare announced that Frank Scorpiniti has been named CEO.
PCC Natural Markets hired Cate Hardy as its new CEO.
Sam’s Club named Tracey Brown as its new Chief Member Officer.
Unified Grocers promoted Kue Klug and Joe Falvey to Exec VP and Gary Hermann has been promoted to Senior VP.
Weis Markets announced that Rick Bhandari has joined the company as Director Pharmacy Operations and that Adam Edwards will become the Director, Information Security.
Insights
Walmart began testing online grocery delivery in Phoenix, AZ.
Mergers and Acquisition
Dahl’s Foods Inc. was auctioned off and seven of the sores were bought by Associated Wholesale Grocers Inc. The other three will be closed. The seven bought will continue to operate as grocery stores, but under a new name.
Jacksons Food Stores Inc. purchased 13 car washes, 11 convenience stores and other assets of Danny’s Family Car Wash.
Real Estate:
Aldi opened a location in Spring, TX.
Dahl’s Foods Inc. was auctioned off and seven of the sores were bought by Associated Wholesale Grocers Inc. The other three will be closed. The seven bought will continue to operate as grocery stores, but under a new name.
Earth Fare will open its first Michigan store in Portage.
Fairway Markets plans to open one store in late 2016, two in 2017, and three in 2018.
Fiesta Mart opened a store in Cypress, TX.
The Food Emporium closed its 32nd Street location on the East Side of Manhattan, leaving the chain with 12 stores.
The Fresh Market Inc. will open a store in south Charlotte, NC, and Guilford, CT.
Fresh Thyme will move its headquarters from Phoenix to Downers Grove in spring 2015.
Haggen will begin converting the 146 Albertsons and Safeway stores to its own banner, with all the stores expected to be converted within the next 120 days.
HEB plans to open a 12,000-sq-ft grocery store and gas station on South Flores Street and East Cesar Chavez Boulevard, San Antonio, TX.
Kroger Co. will open a location in Columbus, OH.
Lucky’s Market opened its first store in Florida in Gainesville. Its first Michigan location is set to open in February.
Mars Supermarkets will be closing 4 stores in the coming months.
Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage will opened its first store in Tucson, Arizona. It expects to open 18 stores in 2015.
Price Cutter will close two stores in Springfield, IL, but will reopen at two former Dillon’s sites.
Roundy’s Inc. expects to open five new stores in fiscal 2015. It will open its newest Mariano’s location in Evergreen Park, IL; this will be the 30th Mariano’s location for the company.
Speedway will remodel dozens of Florida Hess stores by March.
Sprouts Farmers Market Inc. is looking for sites in the Tampa Bay region.
Tops Friendly Markets has completed renovations of Tops stores in Buffalo and Warsaw, NY.
Trader Joe’s plans to open a store in Kentwood, MI.
Walmart Neighborhood Markets opened three new stores in the Houston area, one in Bluffs, IA, and will open a store in Rock Hill, NC. It also plans to open 29 supercenters in Canada in 2015.
Wawa Inc. has launched the Wawa Remodel Program, an initiative in which the company will remodel older stores to reflect Wawa’s latest design. It also plans to nearly double its Florida store count to 109 locations by the end of 2016.
Whole Foods will open two Houston-area stores, nine new stores across Florida, six new locations in Chicago, and plans to increase its store footprint to 500 in 2015.
Winn-Dixie reopened three renovated stores in the Birmingham, AL.
